Part One

Continuing with Connie's series on boys' hair: ----

In the process of all this, we switched to an African American church. When Isaac was about 4, I noticed that some of the boys at church had much nicer hair than my son. At first I wasn't sure if it was a difference in hair texture or styling. Isaac didn't look bad, but the other boys looked positively sharp.

I asked a few people and they said, "I shouldn't attempt to work with his hair, just take him to the... more

I am really excited to have a guest blogger here this week sharing her expertise with little boys' hair. Connie is the mom of 4 kids, two boys adopted domestically, and twin toddler girls from Ethiopia. For the next few posts I will be sharing her words with you about boys' hair.

Isaac, our oldest, has kinky, coarse hair. Isaac was 3 wks old when we got him. His hair was at least 2 inches long, with loose soft curls. This lasted all of 2 months. At promptly 3 months of age, his texture changed to a head of coarse tight curls.

AA friends said not to cut it until... more

Don't forget to come see me this next week. While I was talking about haircare recently, several people requested information on little boys' hair. I was hesitant at first to talk much about boy's hair, since none of my boys are AA. However, I am pleased to say that I found a friend with lots of experience with her sons. She will be sharing her best tips in a THREE PART SERIES beginning on Monday. If you have little boys, you won't want to miss it!!

And for today, I want to send you to an amazing collection of photos http://aistigave.hit.bg/Logistics/ highlighting the ingenuity of people around the world, and proving definitively... more

I've shared before about the fun of hair snaps. They are an adorable way to finish little girls' braids. In my previous post on this, I shared a source for the snaps that had a really high minimum order, which is a little off-putting unless you have several people to split an order with. I mean, who really needs $100 of hair doodads all at once?

Since I wrote that original post, I've found another source: http://www.snapaholics.com/ This site has lots of different varieties, reasonable prices, and NO minimum! My next order will come from this company. Below I have included a picture from the snapaholics website, showing the sizes of various... more

Here is a photo of my daughter's braids at 4 days old. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. She has very soft hair and usually within a couple days there is lots of fuzz. This time, however, the braids are still very crisp looking. In fact, a friend of mine looked at the braids yesterday and said, "Wow, these look like extensions...they're so shiny!"

I really think the difference is related to using the Dudley Creme Press while braiding them. I think I will be using this product more in the future. Oh, and if you are interested... more

As I promised, here is my account of our first attempt at straightening my daughter's hair with Creme Press and the blow dryer. This first picture is of my 4 year old's hair after I combed it and before I used the blow dryer. I approached it somewhat cautiously because I didn't want to damage her hair with the heat.

I sectioned off the hair and did a small section at a time, coating each section... more

As I mentioned yesterday, the beautician recommended two products for my daughters' softly-curling hair. Both are made by Dudley Cosmetics.

Dudley's PCA Moisture Retainer is a leave-in moisturizing hairdressing that can be used every day. The beautician called it 'light-weight' and said it would add shine. If put on loose hair just after washing, she said it would preserve that just-washed shiny 'ringlets' look all day.

The other product she recommended was Dudley's... more

Would you like to know how to straighten your daughter's hair with a blow-dryer every now and then? Braid with fewer fly-aways? Keep your daughter's hair in tip top condition?

So did I. That's why I went to a hair care class last week. It was taught by a 40-something Black woman with a ton of experience who actually specializes in helping adoptive moms work with their Black daughters' hair.

I showed up with my daughters in tow. We'd been told this expert would look at our girls' hair and give us care recommendations. There were probably a dozen adoptive parents there, with 15 or so little girls.

The teacher was lively and humorous and really knew her stuff.... more

Shawnda asked me recently which haircare books I have found most helpful. I have 3 or 4 different books, I think, but the two bests ones are Kinky Kreations and It's All Good Hair.

'It's All Good Hair' is nice because it even talks about what to do with a baby's hair. There are quite a few different styles, with diagrams, for both girls and boys. The author also includes a good discussion of the... more