My own hair is not as curly nor as thick as theirs so styling their hair has been a learning experience for me. I can easily wash, condition and air dry my hair and it looks just fine but not so with my girls. They must have their hair in braids, plaits or twists or it will get very tangled and be impossible to manage. Not to mention that each of them has a different texture to their hair so it requires different treatment. I once received a comment on this blog asking why I don't style my girls hair. That actually hurt my feelings because I spend TONS of time each week on the girls hair and I really try to make it look nice. We spend almost all day Saturday on hair.
What I do each and every Saturday is wash each girls hair. My 9 year old washes her own hair. If I wash their hair more often it will become very dry and break easily. I wash and deep condition then apply some sort of hair oil Usually I use a product called Hair Pudding which my good friend Tanisha makes. Here is a link to her site. She and her family some great products! Sometimes I use Alberto VO5 (the oil in the small tube). I am also planning to buy some products that I found which I think will work well for my 9 year old and myself and possible my 4 year old. It is from a company called Mixed Chicks. It is kind of pricey but if it works then it will be well worth it!
Once I wash, condition and oil their hair I usually do 9 year old and 4 year old first. Their hair is has the loosest curls so I usually give them each two braids or plaits. Sometimes I get more fancy with 4 year old and give her several plaits on each side so she can pull them back into a pony tail. This usually lasts for about 2 or 3 days. Then I re-do them. Rarely I make 4 year old puffs. She loves her puffs but they don't last and her hair gets more tangled when I do it this way. She's got her puffs on the photo in the sidebar. They are loose puffs because her curls are so loose.
I do 2 year old after that. Her hair is so short it's fairly easy to do at this point. I like to keep her in two braids but if she's restless I just make her two puffs which can be easily re-done daily.
7 year old has the thickest and coarsest hair so it takes much longer. Her hair is very delicate and falls out or breaks off easily. I have to be very gentle with her combing and section it off into small portions to get it nice and tangle free. I then put it into many small two-strand twists all over which she can pull back into pony tails or I put it into 4 or 6 braids on each side which she can also pull back. This usually lasts 4 to 6 days then I re-do it. Her hair takes about 2 to three hours from start to finish. The re-do only takes about 45 minutes because it's already nice and smooth from being in braids or twists already. Most days I just un-do any braids or twists that look "fluffy" and re-do those and leave the rest alone.
I have been reading up a lot about multi-racial hair care and I am going to be buying a spray bottle so I can give them an all over spraying with an oil (olive oil) and water mixture every day to retain more moisture in their hair.
Does anyone else have children with very curly or multi-racial hair? I'd love to hear about your hair routine!
