[ranade3]

I have a two year old Liberian daughter who came home in July. I hired a hair dresser to do her hair the first few times and I watched very closely, asked a lot of questions. I do have to say that EVERYONE that I asked for advice had a different opinion on what hair products to use, what works best, etc. One person will tell you one thing and then another will tell you that's the worst thing you can use on your child's hair and tell you something else to use. I finally figured out that you really have to decide yourself what works best on your own child.

After trial and error I decided to use the Just for Me products but I use my own shampoo and conditioner on her hair because its made for curly hair and doesn't leave a residue on her hair. I bought both "It's All Good Hair" by Michele N-K Collison and "Kids Talk Hair" by Pamela Ferrell and they are both excellent references on hair care.

I now corn row my child's hair myself and am quite proud of the results. Deborah came home from Africa with 21 little braids going into a top knot (ponytail) and I can do 19 so I'm getting there. My daughter will sit at the table in her booster chair easily for 1 and 1/2 hours with plenty of toys in front of her (special toys that she can only play with during hair time) so that I can braid her hair.

In Africa they start braiding their hair when they are just babies so my daughter was used to it and if you knew her you would know that sitting still is very hard to do. She is very active, loves to run, jump, wiggle, dance, etc. but during hair time she knows how to sit and seems to enjoy it.

With the corn rows in I wash my daughter's hair one week and the next week I take out the braids one evening and the next day I will wash her hair and then braid it again. The corn rows last 2 weeks. I really enjoy doing my daughter's hair and I enjoy the time we spend together. Her hair is about 8-10 inches stretched out so it is a lot of work but its worth it!

When I first started doing Deborah's hair I practiced doing braids and other styles as long as she would let me and many times my daughter still would end up wearing her hair in afro puffs. Eventually her hair looked nice enough that we dared to go out in public :-)

I am here to tell you that caucasion people CAN learn to corn row!

Nanita