[oceanica]

So here is my attempt at puffs for Athena. Sorry you can't see too well - this pic was taken at work on a cell phone. She really looked adorable though.

[heart_string]

awww oceanica, your baby is beautiful & her hair is so cute!

as an AA woman, I just want to remind you moms - condition, condition, condition.

A good conditioner will go a long way towards making your little one's hair easier to manage.

I wash & condition my own hair 1-2 times weekly. For my 13 yr old daughter, I wash & condition hers' once weekly. I have her get in the shower and wash her hair, rinse, then apply the conditioner.
She leaves it in while she shaves (my daughter is SHAVING!!!) then when she's done, rinse the conditioner out.

Same routine I use for myself - you'll find the hair is much softer than without conditioning. Please don't use the all in one type of products, I've found they are harsh and drying to our hair.

I love the hairstyles you moms are doing with your babies' hair - keep up the excellent work!

[oceanica]

Thanks heart string!
Btw I use redken conditioner and try to leave it on for the bath so it sits for a few minutes. Her hair is washed every other day and it's soft all except for a little patch in the back right above her bald spot. I use a little olive oil on it and work that through the all hair. It's not my favorite smell but I like it better than some of these hair oils... yuck.

[saj]

My daughter is 8 and has hair almost to her waist. I get it relaxed 2 or 3 times a year. I have an AA beautician at JC Penny's that braids her hair every 2 weeks. We have gone as long as 4 weeks though and it still looks passable. I never comb it between braidings. I do take the braids out before each visit. My daughter's hair is in beautiful condition. The beautition tells me what products to use. We only wash once a week, but my daughter swims a couple of times a week in the winter and daily in the summer. I have in the past used local AA salons, had AA women come into my home, gone into the homes of AA women to have her hair done. I am happiest with this situation. I pay $45.00 for braids and $60.00 for relaxing. Also FYI Walmart has gals who can work on AA hair. AA hair can be straightened with a flat iron.
When you wash it it goes back to its natural state. Sorry, no pictures as my DH will not allow putting pictures of our DD on the internet. Trust me she is a beauty.

[MB80sgirl]

All of the pictures are just beautiful. My heart aches for a little girl to love & do her hair.

[oceanica]

MB80s, I hope you get her soon!

[MB80sgirl]

Me too. We've been waiting almost a year & a half with the 1st agency & we signed on with a new agency about 3 months ago. I never thought it would take this long or be this hard! Your baby is really beautiful, I love her puffs.

[Suebean]

Ok, these are really cute hair styles, but how long does it take to do one of these? We are considering adopting a sib group of 3 or 4 and we want mostly girls. I may have to rethink that. Those styles look complicated. My DD is white, so this will be a new adventure for us. Don't get me wrong I am looking forward to it and am trying to learn as much as possible now rather that later. Any help you can give would be appreciated. I don't know even how to properly care for futher childrens hair. But we do want AA children.
Thanks in advance for help!

[MB80sgirl]

For the cornrows you're looking at at least an hour, usually an hour & a half or 2 hours, & that's not including washing or conditioning the hair. The puffs & twists take less time.

[oceanica]

Samantha would have a lot of good input on this. Athena's puffs only took a few minutes because she doesn't have a lot of hair.... if she had cooperated more it wouldve been even quicker.

[ocracoke]

The length of time it takes to do the styles depends on what you are doing. My daughter pretty much refuses puffs at this time. She loves beads and puff don't allow for beads. Her hair is also getting longer so it takes more time. As already mentioned my hairstyle times do not include washing, combing out, or conditioning. I like to do hanging twists because they are easy to put in and easy to take out. I can do her entire head in hanging twists in less then an hour. Hanging box braids and corn rows take much longer. I have her hair up in a set of 3 rows of cornrows right now and I would say that that took about 4 hours to put in - not all done in one sitting. If I do the hanging box braids then it normally take about 6 hours to put them in. Keep in mind that cornrows (at least for me) can stay in about 2 weeks and hanging box braids can stay in for about 4 weeks. So while you put a lot of time into it up front, you then get a long break from doing hair. Also keep in mind the length of time it takes to take the braids out. It takes me about 20 minutes to takes out the hanging twist, cornrows take about 1/3 the time to take out as it did to put in, and box braids take about 1/2 the time to take out as it did to put in. I wash her hair in between styles and I spray her head with a leave in spray conditioner every other day while in a style. Having her hair in braids or twists helps keep it healthy and strong. The day after a style I will sometimes leave it down with just a little finger combing -- great coils and curls. But I pay for it with needing to comb out her tangled hair -- it takes no time at all for it to become tangled.

Probably more then you wanted to know,
Samantha

[oceanica]

Hey that was really helpful! I LOVE the box braids. And all the pretty beads.
That takes awhile though.. and what if it doesn't come out right after all those hours? I'm going to have to get help with this for the first few times! Good thing she doesn't have enough hair yet so I can take some time to practice.
Hey Samantha, have you ever done those little small braids like they do in Jamaica?

[ocracoke]

I assume you are talkign about micro braids? I have not done those on my daughter. She has a lot of hair but it is thin. If I were to braids I would have to add in hair. Maybe someday -- or maybe I will let a professional do it.

One of the biggest hints someone gave me about doing hairdos -- especially intricate ones -- is to start at the back. You start at the nape of the neck and work your way up and over the head. As ridiculous as it sounded to me -- it works. Also if you start doing hair when your daughter is young you will make mistakes and have the bad hairdos before she is old enough to feel shame for having a bad hair day.

Samantha

[Suebean]

Thank you all so much. What a great wealth of info. And really cute pics too. Also, I read something online that said I should have some silk pillowcases so that their hair doesn't break off at night while they sleep. Is tha accurate? And when you talk about a leave on conditioner every other day, what would that be. I really like the puffs and twists that I have seen, but it seems that the little girls prefer the beads that need cornrows or box braids. Well I will give it my best shot. I have some time to get prepared, our cw is coming for an in home consult next week and assures me that he will have enough for a parenting class in March. Slowly we move along.
Thank you all for your advice,
Karen

[heart_string]

The thing about the braiding though is that it gets quicker the more you do it. I know it's hard to imagine, but my daughter's hair is mid-back length and I can do her hair in french 2 long french braids in about 10 minutes! It really does get easier the more you do it - and, you get better at it from practice (take it from a mom who has cried when I had to take down thecMANY braids that I botched LOL)