Adventures in hair care

As male Caucasian parents of an African-American girl, one of the questions we are often asked is, "How do you care for her hair?"  

Initially, I didn't think much about it.  Peanut's hair was straight when she was born - and we were so busy learning how to be the parents of a newborn, we didn't really give much thought to difference in hair care.  However, when Peanut was about six months old, the head teacher in her day care classroom suggested that we needed to take better care of her hair and recommended a product called Pinks (which appropriately comes in a Pink bottle).  She was the first of many helpful women who have stepped forward to offer suggestions, advice, or hair care tips.

Since then, all manner of products have been recommended to us - from Crisco, Vaseline and olive oil, to Curly Q's, Kinky Curly, Hair Milk, and Moroccan Oil.  My mom even participated in the conversation by giving us a copy of Chris Rock's film "Good Hair" (which I will admit we have yet to watch).  

Early on, we learned that because of the texture and dryness of her hair, we needed to limit washings to once per week (which is challenging when you have a child who likes to put all manner of things on her head: sand...yogurt...the odd dirty diaper).  We quickly developed a daily moisturizing regimen, combined with once weekly washings and comb outs using a thick tooth combed and a special conditioner.  And this more or less was working...except that Sunday washings were absolute hell.  Peanut's hair was knotted and tangled from a week without brushing, and no matter what we did, she would spend the bulk of the bath screaming, "Daddy....nooooooooooo!"  It may break your heart...but it was damn annoying.

And don't even mention braids.  I am reasonably capable of braiding long straight hair (hours of practice on my sister's Barbie dolls).  But that's a cake walk...try braiding short curly hair on a constantly moaning, struggling toddler.  Not a pretty picture.  I continue to be envious when I see little girls with cornrows or braids...envious that I both have no idea how to reproduce that, and I have a child who wouldn't even sit still to let me (and I can't really blame her - I don't want a novice rooting through my hair either).

So this last weekend I finally broke down and decided to take Peanut for a haircut, with the hope that it would simplify Sunday washings and be easier to style.

That's when we discovered detangler!  The woman at the kids salon used it to brush through Peanut's hair.  And while her idea of a hairstyle left something to be desired (seriously, using 25 butterfly clips is a total mess, not a hairstyle) she gave me a great idea!

Now detangler has become a staple of our daily routine, and Peanut's hair looks absolutely gorgeous.  I have been in love with her curls from the beginning (I sure hope she is when she gets older - I recently purchased the kids book "Happy to be Nappy" by Bell Hooks and Chris Raschka, which is a celebration of curly, nappy hair, to help reinforce that she has beautiful hair) but a daily brush through with detangler makes her hair look so much healthier.  We follow-it up with a dab of Moroccan Oil, and Peanut is good to go.  And she has been a real trooper about it.  This morning she read a book while I set about my work, which is a huge improvement over the moaning and screeching.  

Next step - learning how to braid curly hair...any suggestions?

And if you haven't seen this Sesame Street video, aptly titled "I love my hair," you have to check it out.  Thanks to Beth for sharing it with me!

I really love my hair!