Things I've Learned About My Daughter's Hair Through a Hair-tastrophy

About 2 months ago I decided to install braid locs (or micro dread locs) in our 3 and a half year old's hair.

Then 2 weeks ago she cut 1/4 of her newly installed locs off... in a very sad incident.

Through this all I've learned a whole lot about her hair and about locs. I am mainly recording this for future reference, but I thought it might help others out there too...

Why We Wanted Braid Locs...

Braid locs or locs of any kind aren't for every person or child. I began the process of researching them about 6 months ago. I thought they might be a good choice for her hair for a few reasons:

- We like the look of them.

- She has very fine hair (soft and very thin strands of hair) that is prone to breakage, no matter how gentle we are and what products we use. Several reports seem to think that locs are ideal for fine haired people.

- We are having a new baby and I was concerned that for at least the first 3-6 months I'd not be able to devote the time and attention to her hair that I think it needs. Locs seemed like a wonderful choice that is fairly self-sustaining and requires less intense care.

- We have very limited resources for ethnic hair in our area... so having someone else do it, isn't an option. 

- I was ok with the permanency of locs or braid locs... that they can't be taken out or aren't intended to be.

She looked ADORABLE with them!!!

We were very pleased with how they turned out and the over all result!

Preparation and Installation...

I am not going to do a "how to" but basically installing them taught me that her fine hair requires that both the sections/parts need to be bigger, but not too big. If they are too small the locs looks absolutely minuscule... and I feared that such tiny locs would end up being too tiny and fragile once actually loc-ed. However, with her fine stranded hair, if I made the parts too big her little tiny hairs also seemed to escape and pull out of the braids... and it made the over all look of the locs on her head look "sparse" or far a apart and not full on her head.

Most people recommended parting boxes/sections to be the size of a pencil eraser... this was WAY too small... the locs were way too tiny. As I worked up her head some of her part got bigger as it got to the wider portion of her head (should have added some more boxes in as I went up) and they ended up being about the size of a penny (or slightly bigger), and that was too big and made the locs look way to far apart and sparse in one of the most noticeable parts of her head.

The magic size for her hair/head was the size of my index finger nail... or a little smaller than dime sized. Next time I will shoot for this size part, over all her head.

The Ends...

When she cut her hair she cut off the ends which were twisted into little spiral cork screw curls.

I realized a few days later just how important those little twisted ends were... once cut off, the (unestablished) locs frayed into balls and started to unbraid and loosen up the entire braid locs to some extent. With a mature loc I assume this wouldn't happen. But, leaving the twisted corkscrew ends is important until they are fully loc-ed!

How long it takes to actually loc...

I had read and heard from others that it usually takes about 6 - 8 weeks to loc the hair. I am sure it depends greatly on the hair type and habits or products used. I took them out at about 8 weeks and will say that they didn't look remotely like they had even begun the process of loc-ing, they came out very easily and showed NO signs of being loc-ed at all. Only about 3 braids looked to me like they might be starting to loc... and they were very small, and along hair lines where they were probably rubbed a bit more than the others.

How did we "fix" the Hair-tastrophy???

Well. I decided to not do anything for 2 weeks after she cut her hair... mainly because if I had before that I probably would have done it out of emotions and ended up just shaving it all off or something drastic! I actually waited closer to 3 before fulling taking out all the locs. Also the time gave me the ability to see what might happen and really the extent of the damage.

In the end of decided to cut her hair (while in the micro braids) down to a more even length. I cut about 2-3  inches off of each loc... and left about 3-5 inches of hair on her head (other than the parts she ravaged which are any where from scalped to an inch or two long). 

I also decided to take out the micro braids and shelf the idea of "locs" for some time in the future.

I feared they might be starting to loc and then we'd be "stuck" with them (which as I said above wasn't true... they weren't even remotely loc-ed). I also decided that it might be a good idea to take out the locs because she had snipped many locs in the middle (but not cut them entirely off and hair was starting to fray and get loose from the "half-damaged" locs.)

 I just doubted my ability to "fix" all these inconsistencies and maintain the locs as I had planned. 

Taking out the (Un-loc-ed) Locs...

This was a process all it's own. Since they weren't fully (or remotely) loc-ed it was undoubtedly easier than taking out fully established locs. But it was still a bit of a chore. 

What made it easier was to wet the braid/area, coat in Kinky Curly Knot Today... and get a larger embroidery needled and pull them out "stitch" by stitch. I tried at first with a pin tail comb and it was just too big... it was a major chore getting it to push into the tiny braid. Then tangles would happen as I pulled it down. A needle made things move much faster. 

After I get each section out, I comb through it, apply some coconut oil and then I am rope twisting two sections of hair together to make larger (for us normal sized) twists. 

I have noticed that my hopes might be correct... there is very little loose or damaged hair as I have combed out the sections... locs might just be a great style for fine haired people!

Will we Loc Again?

For sure. 

I have loved our 6 weeks with unestablished braid-locs. I loved the care it required, I loved how they looked, I loved the styles we could do with them and how they had a versatility all their own. I loved comments we got on them and how her hair looked consistent and neat even when we had not officially "done" anything with it! 

I think we will probably wait a year to two years before attempting it again.
Why? Because my only negative is that I think her head will probably grow more and with it the boxes/parts and more hair will fill in. I knew that when I did it, and was prepared to "fix" any issues this caused. But, next time I'd really like to avoid having many repairs... 

Also, waiting until age 4 or 5 might eliminate the possibility that a child CUTS their beautiful locs off... haha!

Hair ~ Tastrophy

Addie rushes Thea in... "MOM! Thea's HAIR!!!"

Tim seeing it first... "Oh wow! Check out the back of Thea's head!"

Me... "Oh no!?! How did that happen?"

Addie... "She fell off the swing backwards..." 

(Evidently, her 'fro padded the fall... not at all hurt, thank goodness!)

Epic hairTASTROPHY! 
It was all back to normal after picking out all the big mulch, laying her on a towel on the counter and washing it with the sprayer (which she LOVED and laughed about). Then a good condition and detangle and I styled the top. Tonight I'll do the back, after her nap.

I decided that free-hair and free-play don't mix.

Hair... Yarn Braids

I love yarn.

For knitting.

For crocheting.

For crafting.

I never knew it could make a kiddo so cute!

Yes.

That is yarn in her hair.

It is used as extensions. Really.

Very simply put... You part the hair in sections and use 2 strands of cut yarn and braid it or twist (as I did) into the section of hair.

Adding- Someone asked what kind of yarn is it... which is important because if you use wool it will "lock" the hair into dread locks... not good. If you use cotton yarn it will take forever to dry and also suck the moisture out of the hair... not good. So use 100% acrylic yarn... the cheap kind at like Walm@rt... the "Red Heart" brand is what I used and what I hear many people use.

Here is a much more complete tutorial... Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care.

I had yarn braids done while we were in UG, because I wasn't really ready to take on her hair. It was a mistake with a capital "M". It was 100% traumatic to her. The lady who did it was super sweet and patient, but she used a minuscule amount of hair that really pulled and hurt Thea... she cried the whole time. It was a major "stupid mom" moment... I admit it now.

I swore we'd not do those again until she was 2. But I changed my mind.

I decided to try it again in quite large sections of hair (about 8x larger than what the lady did in UG). It had some benefits that it only took a little over an hour to do (start to finish) as oppose to like 4 or 5 hours and I still got to practice the techniques and it would not pull and hurt as badly. We had NO tears!

At the ends you can either knot it or band it off and add beads (or not).

I got the beads at Walm@rt... craft section. Yellow and pearly white seemed to sing "You are my sunshine!" And this sweet girly is!

One of the first photos we got of her was all sunny and she was in yellow!

It has always stuck with me that yellow was a perfect way to describe her in so many ways!

The advantage to adding beads to the yarn or African hair types is to add weight to the hair and to keep in laying down straight... some people don't understand that there are practical reason for the things commonly done with AA hair types. Styles like cornrows, braiding, beads, smaller sections of parts, etc... all have a practical/functional, as well as, aesthetic and cultural reasons behind them.

Plus it is just fun to swing your head about!

Oh my isn't she adorable?

Hair... Cora's Do

In reality Cora's hair is the most frustrating for me... she still has slightly more hair on one side of her head than the other... (due to her taste for pulling a strand and tickling her cheek with the hair while she goes to sleep... but it has gotten better since we got her a "ree-ree"... a fuzzy backed blanket).

But anyway.

It is just a hard head to style in any way remotely creative. So, I give up and just pull up the top and call it good most days.

I did invent this little style called the "Cora's Do" ... it helps deal with all her hair unevenness in a cute way.

1st - I have to piggy back band her front bang area to one side (the more sparse side) because it won't pull back and stay back due to her length issues.

2nd - I do a wiggly part that puts more hair on the sparse side with out the part looking obviously lop-sidded.

3rd - I put piggy tails in and keep them looped up, so you don't see that one side is twice as long as the other.

Hopefully one day she stops her hair tickling and stops pulling. But until then... her is her doo!

Hair... Zig zag twist

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hair... Another Heart

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hair... Cutting A Boy's Hair

So... it is always best to research how to do something before just diving in... general "wise" rule of thumb, right?

Right.

Well I didn't.

We decided to cut both of our cutie boy's hair (I'll get photos of Elias up too...). Tim did Eli's. It is decent.

I had watched a friend in UG cut Allan-ee's hair and thought I could just jump right in and do it. They say, "Pride comes before the fall."

Yep. It does.

I just spritzed it and started shaving away... You might know why this was bad news, but if you don't I'll go on.

See, he has super duper looper tight curls... I think 4b and 4c over all. They pack down into little coils that look almost like teeny tiny little BB's. And I didn't comb them out, so basically the clippers would catch on them and pull... it was painful. After cutting it then the little BB's decided to uncoil slightly here and there and made him look all patchy.

It was NOT a good hair cut.

He even looked at it funny.

So I researched... YOU MUST ALWAYS COMB OUT THE HAIR WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB, SPRITS WITH WATER AND GET IT STANDING UP AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!!

Then it will cut with out being painful and it will be even in length.

I re-did it today. It looks good.

It is at least even.

How do you like that hair line trim??? Pretty decent for a mama who a day before KNEW nothin' about cutting a sweet brown boy's hair.

I want to give him a mohawkish style next time... longer on top, short on the sides!!!

He thinks it is fun to smile so big his eyes close... why must 5 year olds smile so?

All of mine do this at about age 4 or 5... Eli does it too.

But such a beautiful "fake" smile it is!

Hair... I Heart My Baby's Hair!

I do love Thea's hair.

I admitted recently that initially we only wanted to adopt boys due to "the hair issue" as many people (myself included once upon a time ago) think about curly or African hair.

Oh, how glad I am I learned I was wrong.

Thea's hair is fun, an amazing art medium and even therapeutic for me (some days).

Here is how much I "heart" it...

Side part hearts, with rope twists up that have heart beads on them,

to a puffy faux hawk and twist in front!

I am super proud of my improved parting! And the hearts! It was NOT easy getting a parted heart in the same place and symmetrically placed on each side of Thea's head! But we both managed to do a pretty good job!

What a pretty and sweet face! Kisses from everyone make those cheeks chapped.

Hair... Comb Coils

I've been doing a lot of banded styles (puffs, veiled, bantu knots) with Thea and have slowly seen it do harm to her ultra-fine hair. Her hair strands are the finest I have ever seen... I don't know if that is because she is a baby or it is just her hair. But we've had some breakage do to the rubber bands. :-(

I am trying some more "protective styles" meaning that it is styled looser, but also where the hair is protected (either braided, twisted) with no bands or cloth bands.

I tried these mini twist/coils recently I really liked the look on her.

It is fun and whimsical, but still functional for me.

Here I tried pulling them back in cloth bands for a different look!

Now I just need to learn how to get the bases a bit tighter and also arrange my parts a bit more orderly!

Hair... A Big Girl Twisty Do

Here is a new do I tried with Addie.

It is easy. I took 3 sections up front and rope twisted them. To do that you start to twist but twist the section in your right hand "down" or "left" as you pass the other section to the right. Basically you want to twist the section the opposit as you are twisting the parts together. That creates the rope look.

Then I pulled all her hair into a big pony tail and put this accordian style hair clasp in her hair (over a rubber band, because she has lots of hair!)

I think it would look pretty to have one more twist on each side too!

Haircare... A Crazy Do

Here is a do I did on Thea's hair... it was sort of asymmetrical, it had a twist, a puff and a little 'fro. It was fun to make as I went.

Hair... Top Knots

Here is some straight hair do's!

I found this great site for ideas on most hair types...

Adopt 'A Do

The styles range from WAY easy to WAY hard...

but it is fun and gives me ideas for my straighter haired girls!

This was an adaptation from one of the styles shown on the site... mainly because Addie's hair isn't long enough to have it pulled together at the nap of her neck like the other style. It looks far different than the do, but turned out pretty all the same!

I took two sections on top and gently knotted them. Then pulled the 2 knotted sections back into a simple half pony along with the side hair. It creates a fun look on top.

Addie has worn this twice now and it makes a simple style much more dressy, and only took me about 20 seconds longer to do.

Hair... Afro with Curly Q Bangs

So, I like Afros a lot. But I haven't been doing too many with Thea's hair.

I kind of like it being up and up back... it is SO easy! I just do our little routine and then style it and it is set for a week or so!

But here was her hair all out and free!

I did little finger curls with her "bangs" and she looked A-dorable!

Hair... Sleep Caps

So African (any very curly) hair is very fragile, prone to breakage, growing slower and being dry. The dryer the hair the easier it breaks. And sleeping on regular pillowcases can damage hair.

Enter the sleep cap.

Don't' you just love that little pink unsocked foot? I do!

Now. I figured Thea is WAY too little to use a sleep cap, but she has inches of nice growth. I found out that the need for a cap is less about the age/size of a child and more about the length of hair they have. Thea has about 4 inches of hair (when pulled straight). Her hair is long (for her age), it has never been cut, it is thin (as in strand thickness) and she has ringlets that are as big as a coffee stirrer straw and it maintains the ringlets for the most part, even when her hair is dry.

I also learned that she needs to start getting in the habit of wearing a cap (before she gets all testy and opinionated about it).

I also figured that it would be hard to find a small enough sleep cap... it sort of was. Until a friend noticed I was looking for one and she so kindly sent me 10 of her daughter's too small caps... honestly they were BRAND NEW! How amazingly sweet is that? :-)

They are a swim cap style, made out of swimsuit material (Lycra) and they fit her perfectly!

The Lycra is smooth and doesn't rub Thea's thin hair. It keeps it in place and from getting tangled or matted.

So far I love them!

They stay on (most of the time).

They aren't too tight or smoosh her hair too much.

They are light enough to be safe if they did get over her face (but I don't think that could even be possible, it would just fall off).

There are tons of different types of caps out there... but from looking around these seem like a perfect first cap mainly because they really are baby sized. I think this could easily fit an 6 or 8 month old up to a 2 year old. I haven't found any others that small.

Hair... Veiled Puffs

My signature (or Thea's) is this cute little style we did while in Uganda.

It is veiled... meaning you start with one and section it off back, dividing each new banded section until you get to the amount you want.

I do this both from front to middle and then from the base of the neck up to the middle or crown. It is easier than trying to braid or cornrow a baby and still keeps their hair up and "protected".

In these photos I just parted the back in 3 sections and twisted each section and married it to the upper puff. Just lots of moisture and product is the key. I also find it stays in at least a week, which is nice!

Hair... Coming Home

So here is my series on hair... I'm wanting to learn to do ALL my girls hair nicely and to care for it better. But of course my biggest learning curve will be with Miss Thea.

On coming home I found both her skin and hair got almost immediately dry, as you can see from the photos. This was only 2 days after being home! Her poor little cheeks were horribly chapped... and I was putting a Shea Butter cream on them! At someone's advice I put Eucerine on them... it worked like a wonder! That is her main cream now for her whole body. I am still working on getting the right moisturizer in her hair... Haven't found something I LOVE yet. We do like Kinky Curly Not Today for a detangler... but I am learning and can't recommend a conditioner yet.

Here is a little style called "Twist outs". Basically you take some product and get it well into the hair and section off little parts and twist them together and put a bit more product on the ends to keep them twisted. The next day you can gently untwist them to have nice ringlet-y hair.

Cute. Cute.

Great Hair and Fat Legs

We got some new photos of Miss Thea! She is sitting in her bouncer, sucking her finger (like always) and looking sorta sleepy. Her hair is all done up and her legs looking a bit rounder! We couldn't be more happy!

And I can't wait to get my hand on her hair.

This use to really intimidate me... because I don't go over board on the hair care in our house. But just look at all these amazing works of art this mother has done with her daughter!

Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care

Isn't that just amazing!

I don't really favor the faux-hawk one...

but I think we'll have some fun!