Just finished reading a good book about an adoptive mom and her black daughter. (“Weaving A Family: Untangling Race and Adoption” by Barbara Katz Rothman.)  It talks about the importance of hair in the black community.  She mentioned that you can expect an African American girl's hair to take 2-3 hours of care a week. 

The mom shared the story of seeing a black friend, who, upon seeing the child’s ‘Mickey Mouse-ears’ ponytails laughed and blurted out, "Oh, she has bad... more

My 3 year old's hair turned out extra-cute yesterday so I thought I'd share a photo. All I did was divide the hair into 4 sections, ponytail each section, then made half a dozen single-stranded twists in each ponytail. You can also finish this by braiding each of the 4 sections. Or you can even braid each little twist if you want. Cute and very easy. If you plan on leaving it in overnight, you'll want to choose smaller ponytail holders than the ones shown, as these would probably be uncomfortable to sleep in.

I thought I‘d share a couple of the easiest hairstyles I’ve found so far for my little girls. One thing I always begin with is something to occupy the child. Put in a video or set her at the kitchen counter with a snack or some toys. I‘ve found out the hard way it is too late to add in entertainment after they are already bored, squirming, or crying and you have your hands full of half-braided hair. Once she's occupied, I wet her hair and gob on conditioner generously.

I rub... more

I’ve always been a low-maintenance-hair kind of girl. Even in the big-hair 80’s when friends were getting up at 5 a.m. just to perfect their ’do’s’, I would come to school with hair still damp. These days easy is still important to me. My hair cuts have to pass two criteria: long enough for a pony-tail, and short enough that it dries fairly quickly. But these days I also have two Ethiopian daughters, which means hair has assumed a new importance in my life.

When my first daughter came home from Ethiopia she was 20 months old and had very little hair. The longest bits were maybe 2 inches long... more