What’s your child’s name and age? Tell us about him. Christopher, warmly known as CJ to many, is my 11 year little boy diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. You probably know that, but what you may not know is he has a head full of curly, curly hair! His hair is even curlier than mine. I have to push and scrunch and rake to get my hair to curl up, because it’s kind of fine and more wavy (except the stubborn crown of course). CJ’s hair is just a massive ball of curls. So much so that our cat mistook his head for a scratching post once. LOL.
How do you care for her/his hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use (i.e., how do you detangle), etc.? Caring for CJ’s hair is easy peasy. Since it’s short, it never gets tangled. I wash his hair with the same products I use to wash my own hair, either Shea Moisture Coco-Hibiscus or Design Essentials shampoo. I don’t condition his hair. I just add a curl enhancer with conditioning properties and some oil to it. Then, I let it air dry.
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair?
He’s a bit sensitive to getting his hair combed (even when it’s detangled), so I figured if I could get it long enough to be braided, then it would cut down on the time of combing his hair daily. Plus, his dad frequently forgets to comb it when getting him ready in the morning for school!
What is a typical style? Do you employ protective styles? If so, how often? Well, since he’s a boy, I don’t think he really needs protective styling. It’s not like he knows or cares anything about maintaining length . In fact, he’d probably be happy with no hair! He doesn’t much care about it. I’m the one whose all into it!
Do you have plans to cut your son’s hair at some point or particular age? Please explain why or why not. I usually take CJ to the barber once every 2-3 months or so, because he doesn’t keep still. In the between time, I use a curl enhancer on his hair like what Jane Carter Solutions offers. I mainly use that one because it doesn’t do much for my own hair, so I use it on his. It enhances his curls pretty nicely.
I’ve actually decided to grow CJ’s hair! So now when we go to the barber, they only edge him up and trim it a little. I want to grow his hair out so I can braid it. When my oldest son Michael was a teen (similar hair texture), he would let his hair grow and then get it cornrowed. I loved how it looked and figured I’d try the same for CJ.
Anything else you’d like to add? If you had to classify CJ’s hair type, I’d say it’s a mix of 3a and 3b. It grows very very fast (got me a little jealous) and I have often wondered how I would manage it longer. Braids it is.
What’s your child’s name and age? Tell us a little about her/him.
My daughter’s name is Ashanti and she is 9 years old. She is my beautiful, brilliant and bright baby girl. She is into a little bit of everything: Girl Scouts, gymnastics, different styles of dance, acting and currently in the engineering club at her school, as well as the Vice President of SGA. Ashanti is a lover of anything music and/or fashion related and has been a little princess since day one. No, seriously. She has been crossing her legs (which I later corrected her to cross her ankles) since before she was a year old. She is a very loving and humble little girl who loves her mom. We have a super tight bond. I have been truly blessed with an amazing little girl and I only pray she stays this way forever. *lol*
How do you care for her hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use (i.e., how do you detangle), etc.?
It took me a really long time to figure out the best way to care for her hair, since my texture is very different. When she was younger, her texture was more like her father’s, which is type 2 and 3. Most people thought her texture type was the easiest, but not nearly. Because, as she got older, her hair changed and is now a mixture of my 4a/4b hair and her father’s type 2 and 3 hair. So, the crown of her hair, it’s more of my texture, which makes it a little more difficult to detangle. Well, thank GOD for the natural community! When I BC’d the first time about 5 years ago, when she was at the age of 4, I started my research.
I co-wash her hair weekly and wash with shampoo and deep condition every 2 weeks. I finger detangle her hair while washing/co-washing. I always use a leave-in conditioner, Giovanni, after washing. I section her hair into 6 sections and use plenty of leave-in with coconut oil. Comb each section with a wide tooth comb from the ends and work my way to the roots. After detangling, I use my own whipped shea butter mixture (organic shea butter, EVOO and EVCO) to seal her ends and then braid the sections. I use medium size braids. This is an extremely long process, because she has so much hair, but its worth it because she rarely has split ends. Her hair is wrapped in a satin scarf every night.
The products I use on her hair include:
Aussie Shampoo and Conditioner
Giovanni Leave-in Conditioner
Shea butter, EVOO, EVCO
Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk
Mizani H2O Conditioning Hair Dress
I’ve tried KCCC, but because her hair is so thick, it took almost a week for it to completely dry. It only defined her curls around the perimeter of her head. But the crown, no such luck. In the winter season, I take that time to get her hair blown straight with low heat. This is when we catch up on trimming her ends, if necessary. Also, when we wash her hair, it takes a few days to dry, since we rarely allow her to wear it out. If we do, she will for sure be able to score a part in the next Diana Ross or Chaka Khan feature. Speaking of which, because she happens to have pretty big hair and loves music, she was asked to play the lead “lady” in a music video acting as Sy Smith.
Do the same products that work for you work for your child’s hair?
For the most part, we are able to use the same products. The only products I do not use on my hair that seem to work well for her are Mizani Rose H2O Conditioning Hair Dress and Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk.
What is a typical style? Do you employ protective styles? If so, how often?
Her hairstyles are seasonal. Lol! Because she is extremely busy during summer break with gymnastics, swimming, dance class, acting class and just play dates and sleepovers, I do a protective style of double strand twists that are refreshed every 2 weeks. It takes about 3 to 4 hours each time, but it’s worth it and she loves it, because it’s the closest she ever gets to wearing her hair down. During the winter time, we have it blown straight and allow her to wear it all out and be free. Anytime around this season, it’s usually her famous ballerina bun or a few ponytails. Either style, whether protected or not, she always wears a satin scarf to bed.
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair?
The only challenge I have with my daughter’s hair is being able to keep it curly after a wash and knowing when it dries, it won’t blow up and create its own time zone. I love it when it gets big, but it loses its curl definition causing it to look like someone threw her away.
Have you ever relaxed/texlaxed your daughter’s hair? Why or why not and, if you relaxed her hair, what prompted the decision to return to natural?
Sadly, I was convinced by a member of her father’s family that I should put a soft texlaxer in hair when she was younger to calm the curls. I thought it was a bad idea as soon as I put it on, so I took it out almost immediately. Even still, I felt horrible about it and since then, no one can ever tell me what to do to her hair or touch it without my permission. I decided to make sure it remained natural, because her hair was fine the way it was. I just had to learn it and have patience.
How does your child feel about her/his natural hair?
Ashanti loves her natural hair. She loves how versatile it is; how she can wear it big and curly or bone straight, knowing it will be curly again once it’s wet. She definitely appreciates the hours of work I put in her hair and I love to see her face light up when she looks in the mirror after we’re all done.
Anything else that you’d like to add?
Continue to educate yourself and your child on natural hair. Teach them how to love and take care of their hair early, so that they can have that much more appreciation for it. Other than that, if anyone has any great tips on how to maintain curls with hair textures 3/4a, please feel free to share them with me, pleeaaasseee!!! As she gets older, she is over wearing pony tails to school and I don’t want to always straighten her hair. Lastly, along with other great natural hair communities, thank you Shelli for giving us a great tool to get great tips, motivation and inspiration in growing out healthy natural hair.
What’s your child’s name and age? Tell us a little about her. Kennedy is six years old and loves, loves, loves singing. She sings in the morning, afternoon and evening. She hums in the car and has started asking for singing lessons. She loves her curly hair, but every once in a while wants to see what it would look like straightened, which it has never been. I attempted to straighten it one time with an In-Styler type tool and, ¼ way through, decided that I didn’t want to straighten it. I washed her hair and put it in a bun. I would like to say it was out of some purist ideal, but, truthfully, I think I looked at how much hair she had and saw the hours of pulling hair through that flat-iron and opted out.
How do you care for her/his hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use (i.e., how do you detangle), etc.? I co-wash her hair about once a week. I usually do this whenever we change hair styles. I shampoo about once a month. I detangle using my fingers and sometimes lightly brush the ends while there is conditioner in it if the ends get tangled. However, because she wears mostly protective styles, I find that I usually don’t have to detangle too much or use the brush. I have recently begun using olive oil overnight as a pre-poo treatment, only because she can now stand having her hair wrapped for the entire night. I use all Carol’s Daughter products on her hair. We have just started using the Monoi sulfate-free shampoo and Hair Mask from CD. Daily, we use the lite Hair Milk and the Hair Balm. The Hair Balm is a little thicker than the Hair Elixir, which is a very light liquid oil. Although heavier, we switched to the Hair Balm because the Elixir has a strong spearmint/woodsy smell and she would get so many comments in class that she smelled like tree or grass (in a good way) that I decided to switch. The two are very comparable with the same base ingredient of sweet almond oil. Lisa’s Elixir is definitely fragrant as are most of the CD products.
Do the same products that work for you work for your child’s hair? Actually no. I have sisterlocks, which means I utilize very little products. But the question is interesting because, for the last year, my daughter has been asking me to take out the locks because she wants to see my hair. She can not recall what my hair looked like before the locks. I tell her that it basically looked the same. However, I wanted to go back to my natural hair as well. So, for the past two months I have actually been growing out my sisterlocks. As my locks are considered microlocks, I have just been growing them out and using braid outs to disguise the transition from the sisterlocks to natural. So far so good. Maybe for the next GOC I will post my pictures showing me growing out the sisterlocks. It is an interesting process.
But, back to the question, no we do not use the same products, but maybe soon. I primarily use Carol’s Daughter on Kennedy’s hair. I have managed to control my PJism and found that Carols’ Daughter’s products, although a bit costly, have all of the ingredients that I could possibly combine, mix, create or buy on my own or find in other products. I just find it easier to order online and try different products within that line. I save my adventurist side for trying new styles on her hair vs. trying new hair products. Her hair seems to respond well to CD products, so I stick with them, even when my bank account cries foul. Now, once I grow out my sisterlocks, my PJism will probably return full force, because I will personally want to try out every product under the sun on my newly free hair.
What is a typical style? Do you employ protective styles? If so, how often? I predominantly employ protective styles. Kennedy basically only wears her hair fully out on special occasions, birthdays, etc. For school, protective styles last longer and withstand the rigor of elementary school. The two styles I always fall back on are the bun and my favorite, the single flat twist with bun. Once the bun is in place I always put a decorative bow or clip to match her outfit and also ensure that it doesn’t look so adult.
Kennedy loves wearing hair clips like her Aunt Shelli. Yes, Aunt Shelli of Hairscapades. Aunt Shelli’s October post on silk bonnets convinced her that it was okay to sleep with her pink silk bonnet to protect her head, and she does not complain when we put it on before bed. And she still asks for the two strand twists that Aunt Shelli put in her head during their sleepover. I think she has found her hair idol.
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair? None really, because I truly like trying new hairstyles and accessories. She definitely also enjoys new hairstyles as well and has requested the Princess Leia on occasion or other hairstyles specifically. I would say the biggest issue is the distraction that the highly fragrant CD products caused her class. It was probably the combination of the hair products and the body products as we use those as well. LOL!
Have you ever relaxed/texlaxed your daughter’s hair? Why or why not and, if you relaxed her hair, what prompted the decision to return to natural? I have never relaxed my daughter’s hair and express to her daily that she should appreciate and love the fact that she has beautiful curls. I also instill the same self-love in my son who says he loves his curls. I hope this will be enough to ensure that she does not relax her hair, but if she does, I can relate. Hair does not define all of who we are or will be and I myself have tried every hairstyle in the world from relaxed hair many years ago, braids, natural and now sisterlocks. And for the next GOC, I will go back to natural. Sometimes curiosity does not mean a lack of self-love, it is simply that, curiosity. I know many natural women who went natural simply out of curiosity and nothing more. I hear many also say they did it just because they didn’t want to go to the salon. All reasons are valid, real and worthy. So, would I prefer that she never relax her hair? Absolutely. But, if she does, I can totally understand it. I have scratched the curiosity itch many times and always came back to natural.
Anything else that you’d like to add?
We love Aunt Shelli and Uncle Weusi!
♥♥♥
So, Yoots (as I call her) is my BFF of 21 years! We met our very first day on campus at Princeton in the laundry room. It seems like it was just yesterday. Anywho, this is my sister from another sister y’all ! So, you know a slide show to show off my gorgeous babies is up next!!
What’s your child’s name and age? Tell us a little about her.
My daughter’s name is Kayla-Iman (pure magnificent vessel of faith) and she is 11 years old. Kayla is an artist, a developing athlete and nature girl all wrapped in one hilarious package. She is known to be very entertaining and keeps those around her laughing when she gets to know them. I’ve heard this the mostly from her art teachers at the museum who also call her sweet. Shes loves to work with clay, does pottery on the wheel, paints, makes art out of recycled anything, is a fabulous cartoon artist and I am amazed at her artwork and fashion designs. She comes up with great ideas for jewelry and hair adornment, although she prefers to keep it simple -not even wanting to wear earrings unless they are stick-ons.
She is serious about her school work and will keep me up late finishing a project, especially one that gets her a treat if it is handed in before the due date *LOL*. She loves little kids and reads to them two to three times a week at her elementary school in the role of Book Buddy. She is also a Take Back the Kitchen cooking contest winner, soon to be on local tv, and makes the best deviled eggs, homemade pasta sauce, pizza, hot cocoa and popcorn in the world. I am very proud of her.
How do you care for her hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use (i.e., how do you detangle), etc.? I do Kayla’s hair about every two weeks. We condition wash sometimes at the salon, most times at home. When we do hair at home, she has to co-wash it herself. I help by lining her scalp with conditioner and rubbing it in and making sure the conditioner for her hair is at her fingertips for shower cleansing. We have a bathing suit technique as well that involves showering only to wash the hair in cold water. I have video on that. She has been taught how to work through her hair in sections and I give her the clips, but she doesn’t always use them. My signature technique is sectioning hair in 9 or more sections with my fingers and holding those sections in place with butterfly clips. To saturate every strand, it takes me about 20 minutes, but can be done in a shorter time with well-hydrated hair. Somehow she does a great job and I can section to blow out or braid.
During the two weeks, I do check in with her on her scalp, which stays fairly clean and clear. We or she adds grapeseed oil or one of my custom oil blends (Marama Lempi is her favorite) to lightly line her scalp. She sleeps on a satin pillowcase. Wraps don’t stay on her head and we haven’t tried a bonnet yet. Will only get that from PrettyAnnToinets. Until just recently, I would pin curl her blow out and ceramic press. She has now been given the responsibility to do it on her own. She chooses to ponytail or bun it. Guess I’ll have to help with the pin curling again, but she gets the job done and her next day hair has been looking good.
Do the same products that work for you work for your child’s hair? We do use the same products. Her hair is thirstier than mine as she is really all one kinky curly texture and I have three mixed textures. We both drink Dr. Brown’s Healing Water, so she no longer has a flaky scalp and both of us have thick hair. We use conditioners like Giovanni Smooth as Silk, Giovanni Tea Tree conditioner, Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Tingle and Pure Unrefined African Black Soap. Styling with Andalou Styling Cream, Giovanni Leave-in Conditioner and Curl Prep Sweet Buttah. I also make my own leave-ins with water, oils, vanilla extract, essential oils and teas. We have used the Curls Products, the Curly Q Custard, which I Iike a lot for three strand twisting.
What is a typical style? Her typical style is a blow out and ceramic press.When we do anything else nowadays it’s her doing me a favor for pictures but sometimes she actually likes it and when her friends compliment her I get big smiles afterschool. Do you employ protective styles? Protective styling to me is a contract job. Only working when you need it for something specific. I don’t believe in what people call protective styles. If your hair is in braids or a weave or bun, most times its for lower or less maintenance reasons, styling and fashion. Having fibers on top of your hair is not necessarily protecting it and you have to make sure that you give additional moisture that will penetrate to the natural hair underneath and deep treat no matter what. She mostly wears her hair out. Though, she may have braids with extensions a few times a year.
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair?
My greatest challenge with my daughter’s hair is not her hair. It’s her wanting to have it straight more than curly and working with her daily to embrace her kinks and curls. She doesn’t like to get it cut, even though we all know that hair grows from our scalp and not our ends. When the ends get damaged from being dry, it’s totally necessary. She had to get three inches cut at the beginning of the year and it took at least a month for her to stop talking about it because she wants it down her back. Having it blown-out shows her the length, so she can really see how it’s growing.
Crochet-weave w/ribbon
Have you ever relaxed/texlaxed your daughter’s hair Why or why not and, if you relaxed her hair, what prompted the decision to return to natural?
No. Never relaxed. Chemicals are too harsh and cause potential cell damage in the body. We have enough from the toxins in environment and some foods we eat. I am not adding to it by purposely slapping lye in my daughter’s scalp. Who would I be as a holistic practitioner specializing in natural hair care and having a daughter with a perm? That just doesn’t work *LOL*. We have to educate each other and our daughters and remind them of their options.
Anything else that you’d like to add? Love your site! It’s another source of inspiration and great platform for women and children who are on the journey.
What’s your child’s name and age? Tell us a little about her/him.
This is Maya, my oldest daughter and she will be 4 next week Saturday. She goes to kindergarten at the moment- kindergarten is from ages 3-6 in Germany. She’s a big bundle of energy and very (stereotypically) girly. She loves horses and horse riding and likes to dress up and play princess, but is also really into books and other stuff like, dinosaurs, music, dancing and generally being really silly. She’s been obsessed with ‘Melody’ from ‘The Little Mermaid 2’ for a while and likes to say that her name is Melody instead of Maya. This also inspired her favourite hairstyle- the low ponytail.
Maya and Rico
Maya Longstockings!
How do you care for her/his hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use (i.e., how do you detangle), etc.? I typically use Jessicurl or Aubrey Organics products, they work well for both our hair. I also like to use Kinky Curly Knot Today for detangling. Sometimes I do a glycerin rosewater spritz and I make sure to always seal with some sort of oil. To detangle, I use either Knot Today or conditioner and water, divide her hair into 4 sections, spritz and gently comb with a wide-tooth comb, starting from the ends and working to the roots. Depending on how tangled up her hair is, I might use my fingers first.
Do the same products that work for you work for your child’s hair? Yep, I’m very happy about that!
What is a typical style? Do you employ protective styles? If so, how often? I used to just do low braided ponytails until she started taking them out and twirling her hair to form knots. We had a very frustrating phase where she only wanted that style and I would get upset about the knots. So now I usually put her hair in 6 (or sometimes more) box braids (usually 3 on each side of her head) after wash day on Sundays. Then I pull all the braids into a low ponytail and just try to ignore the fuzziness as the week wears on *lol*. It lasts a week, which saves us time in the mornings and saves her ends from the twirling and knotting. She loves it, which is a big relief. Two weeks ago, I tried banding and I liked the results, but I missed her curls . They stretched out to waves which made it super easy to comb and gave her length but I wanted her curls back *lol*. She loved it and kept going on about her long princess hair *hehehe*.
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair?
There aren’t really any challenges … as long as her hair is in the box braids. When I put it in a ponytail or have her hair out, she starts twirling and knotting, and that can be a bit frustrating. I just got Kinky Curly Products in my online store and was looking forward to doing ‘wash-and-gos’ in the summer with the Curling Custard, but I don’t think I’ll be doing it now. I guess you could say the challenges here are that we are limited when it comes to hairstyles because she’s not a fan of anything that means her hair won’t be held together at her nape. But I don’t find it really problematic.
Have you ever relaxed/texlaxed your daughter’s hair? Why or why not and, if you relaxed her hair, what prompted the decision to return to natural?
I’ve never relaxed her hair and I never will. I cringe when I see little kids with relaxers. It is very important to me that both my girls grow up truly believing that their hair (and skin) are beautiful the way they were born – especially since she’s growing up in a predominantly Caucasian society.
How does your child feel about her/his natural hair? She loves her hair.
This is also a great way to procrastinate when bedtime comes around .
Anything else that you’d like to add? I think that it’s great that so many moms are learning how to properly care for their kid’s natural hair. I keep picturing a new generation of women of color where relaxers with be almost non-existent and that makes me happy .
And here’s another slide show with even more great pics that I just had to share!!
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If you want to see more of Maya and Ella’s curls, check out the Kiddie Curls feature on Laxmi’s dual language blog, blog.LuckyCurls.com!!
What’s your child’s name and age?
This is my daughter Maleah Brook Marie, she is a 2 1/2 years old with the mouth of a 5 year old. When we go out, people often asks how old she is because the conversations she has are not normal for a 2 1/2 year old. She is very spunky and loves to read (even though she can’t just yet).
How do you care for her hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use, etc.?
As much as I don’t like tackling my hair, I really hate tackling hers. I wash her hair once a week with all Shea Moisture products. Her hair is very, very curly, about a 3c on the texture chart. On Friday nights, I pre-poo with Vatika oil, olive oil, amla oil and JBCO. Her hair is usually in a braided style, so it is semi detangled. So, I use a Deman brush to loosen it.
Do the same products that work for you work for your child’s hair?
I’ve only tried a limited amount of products on her hair and Shea Moisture seems to be doing well. SO, I would have to say yes. Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioner hair treatment. I occasionally use Miss Jessie’s Baby Butter Creme for her edges.
What is a typical style? Do you employ protective styles? If so, how often?
My go to styles are ponytails, because I can’t braid too well and my cornrows only last one day.
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair?
I can’t find a style to last more than a day. My husband takes her to school and he can’t do hair, so I usually do it the night before and put a stocking cap on it. She sleeps rough and her edges unravel. Her wash and gos usually dry out and don’t stay moisturized. So moisture is our problem. (My husband’s non-hair-doing self is another problem.)
Have you ever relaxed/texlaxed your daughter’s hair? Why or why not and, if you relaxed her hair, what prompted the decision to return to natural?
I won’t ever put a perm in her hair. If she wants one as she get older, I will educate her with options.
Anything else that you’d like to add?
I need a staple style that lasts more than one day and that my husband can maintain in the mornings!
In case you didn’t get enough of Miss Maleah (and how could you?), here are some more pics of this little cutie!
What’s your child’s name and age? Tell us a little about her.
My daughter’s name is Kinsley and she is 3. She’s funny, very smart and has the most outgoing, carefree personality.
How do you care for her hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use (i.e., how do you detangle), etc.? I usually try to keep her hair in protective styles, braids or twists. We use Bee Mine products for styling (Deja’s Hair Milk and Luscious Cream Balanced Moisturizer). We use HE HH for cowashing and Fairy Tales Super Charge Detangling Shampoo for a good wash. I will usually leave some HE HH in her hair or use Giovanni Direct Leave-in. We seal with coconut oil. I wash or co-wash her hair once a week, usually on Fridays. Every other week, she gets a deep condition with Aubrey White Camellia Conditioner. I finger detangle while full of conditioner, rinse and apply her creams in sections and then smooth with our Denman brush.
Do the same products that work for you work for your child’s hair?
I am currently 8 moths into transitioning. We share the Aubreys, Giovanni, coconut oil and HE HH.
What is a typical style? Do you employ protective styles? If so, how often? Typical style would be braids or pony tails. I love her hair out but not often. I braid her hair on Sundays and usually that lasts until we wash on friday nights to start the routine over again.
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair? In the beginning, I struggled to learn her hair. It was always too dry or too frizzy. I had no clue how to care for unrelaxed hair. I was using the same products that my mom used on me when i was younger, i.e, pink lotion *lol*, which just didn’t work. So, out of desperation, I took to the web. That’s where I found CurlyNikki and then, from there, Beads, Braids and Beyond and a host of other sites that have helped me along the way.
Have you ever relaxed/texlaxed your daughter’s hair? Why or why not and, if you relaxed her hair, what prompted the decision to return to natural? I have never relaxed Kinsley’s hair and I do not plan to. I’ll let her make that decision when she’s older and pray that she will embrace what God blessed her with and stay natural!
How does your child feel about her/his natural hair?
She loves her hair and loves to wear it big!
Is there anything else that you’d like to add?
I’d just like to add appreciation for your encouraging blog/persona and your overall fierceness! Also congratulations on the engagement!
What’s your child’s name and age? Tell us a little about her.
My daughter’s name is DaKayla and she is 3 years old (she will be 4 in March). She has 4A/4B hair. She is a very outgoing, energetic and happy child. She loves anything Princess themed and loves to watch the Sprout channel.
How do you care for her hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use (i.e., how do you detangle), etc.?
I usually let her hair tell me when it needs to be washed. Although, we do usually wash her hair every week at the earliest and every two weeks at the latest. I wash her hair with KeraCare Hydrating Detangling Shampoo and KeraCare Humecto conditioner. I have been using these two on her hair since she was about 6 months old. We deep condition with ORS Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner. We use ORS Olive Oil Moisturizing Lotion. We prepoo overnight once a month. I use a Denman brush to detangle her hair while it is dripping wet. I also use Palmer’s Olive Oil Formula Olive Hairdress with Extra Virgin Olive Oil to grease her scalp.
Do the same products that work for you work for your child’s hair?
For the most part, yes. My hair is 3C and very curly. Her hair is coarse and requires a lot more moisture than mine. I can’t use mousse or KCCC on her hair because it does nothing for her.
What is a typical style? Do you employ protective styles? If so, how often?
Typically DaKayla’s hair is in braids with beads on the end. It makes life so much easier in the morning for both of us. Occasionally she will ask to wear her hair in ponytails like her friends. I guess her braids would be considered her protective style as her hair has grown tremendously.
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair?
As she gets older, she wants to wear her hair down and out because that’s how I usually wear mine. I am on the look out for some type of moisturizer/defrizz product that would allow her hair to be worn out with becoming tangled.
How does your child feel about her/his natural hair?
She loves her hair. I went natural when she was about a year old, so she only remembers my hair as curly and not relaxed. She does ask sometimes why her hair isn’t straight like her best friend that has fine 3a/3b hair. I have to explain to her that everyone is different and therefore they have different hair. She acts like she understands, but I think the conversation will come up again.
Have you ever relaxed/texlaxed your child’s hair? Why or why not and, if you relaxed her hair, what prompted the decision to return to natural?
I do not plan on relaxing her hair. I love her texture and feel that, as she grows up and sees that she can do so much more with her hair, hopefully she will not want a relaxer.
Anything else that you’d like to add?
My daughter was my motivation to grow natural. She has also inspired my mother to go natural. I am so grateful for websites like this and CurlyNikki, Tweeny Hair and Beads, Braids and Beyond. I have gotten so many different ideas for her hair. Who knows? I may submit my hair story too!
Do you have a mini-Hairscapader in your house? Wanna share his/her story?! Well then, get on it!! Answer the questions below and e-mail your responses, along with 5-6 pics, to me at hairscapdes@gmail.com.
What’s your child’s name and age? Tell us a little about her/him.
How do you care for her/his hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use (i.e., how do you detangle), etc.?
Do the same products that work for you work for your child’s hair?
What is a typical style? Do you employ protective styles? If so, how often?
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair?
GIRLS: Have you ever relaxed/texlaxed your daughter’s hair? Why or why not and, if you relaxed her hair, what prompted the decision to return to natural?
or
BOYS: Do you have plans to cut your son’s hair at some point or particular age? Please explain why or why not.
How does your child feel about her/his natural hair?
What’s your child’s name and age? Tell us a little about him.
My son’s name is Kai and he is 3 1/2. He loves animals and puzzles and cars … typical boy stuff, lol. He is the smartest kid I know (and I’m not biased because I’m his mom … the boy is a genius).
How do you care for his hair? What products do you use, how often do you wash/condition, what techniques do you use (i.e., how do you detangle), etc.?
Normally, I wash his hair once a week, usually on sundays before the school/work week begins. I begin with undoing the style he had for the previous week and slathering some sort of conditioner on his hair prior to shampooing. I then shampoo, apply a conditioner and detangle with the Denman Toddler D89 (amazing brush btw).
We mostly use Shea Moisture products, the Curl Enhancing Smoothie and the Shine and Hold Mist. For shampooing, I normally use the Suave Kids 2-in-1, because it has awesome detangling properties, prior to conditioning. But lately I have been using Cara B Shampoo. It does the job naturally without the harsh chemicals. For conditioning, I use whatever is closest to me, most likely Tressemme Moisture Rich or Suave Shea Butter Almond conditioners, anything with a ton of slip. Although, I’m really looking into starting to use more natural products. For styling, it’s either the Curl Enhancing Smoothie or Bee Mine Curly Butter. I don’t usually add additional product throughout the week, because his hair is in braids. But, I do spritz it every couple of days with the SM Shine and Hold Mist or Cara B Hair Mist.
Do the same products that work for you work for your child’s hair?
Kai’s hair is definitely a different texture than my own, so some of my staples don’t work well with his hair. But one line that I love that works for both of us is Shea Moisture. His hair loves that stuff.
What is a typical style? Do you employ protective styles? If so, how often? His hair is usually in some type of braided style. I recently started to become better at cornrowing and have tried different techniques and styles that I have seen online. I also occasionally leave his hair loose a la Jaden Smith (RIP to that gorgeous mane of his). This is reserved for special occasions or pictures because in true toddler boy fashion, he rolls around on the ground, sweats and gets something stuck in it, which ends up causing a hot tangled mess at the end of the day.
What challenges do you face with your child’s hair? I think the most challenging thing is picking styles that don’t look “girly” as he is mistaken for a girl ALL THE TIME. I also have gotten a lot of slack from other parents who don’t approve of boys having longer hair, my own family members included.
Have you ever relaxed/texlaxed your child’s hair? No, I have not because a) he’s a boy (not that that has stopped Katt Williams) and b) I don’t relax my own hair. I prefer his natural hair because I feel like it fits his personality.
Do you have plans to cut his hair at some point or particular age? Please explain why or why not. I get asked all the time (ALL THE TIME). I actually did cut his hair a few days after his second birthday and regretted it very soon after … like, almost immediately. He just didn’t seem like himself afterwards (that was probably all in my head). I decided to grow his hair back out, which in the long run worked out because he had that bald patch in the back like a lot of babies. After the haircut, his hair was able to grow out evenly. I still get asked when I’m cutting his hair and my answer is, “When he lets me know.” I don’t fuss over it or make him feel as though he needs it to complete him. It’s just another part of him that he thinks is “handsome.”
Anything else that you’d like to add? I started a blog to help other parents of boys who aren’t quite ready to cut their hair or don’t plan on cutting it anytime soon. The blog is called Hair & Heart: www.hairandheart.wordpress.com.
as told by Michelle (mother) of Radiant Brown Beauty
. In fact, he’d probably be happy with no hair! He doesn’t much care about it. I’m the one whose all into it!
! So, you know a slide show to show off my gorgeous babies is up next!! 
