WARNING: You will see pictures of my daughter's head looking a hot mess due to me not knowing ANYTHING about caring for curly hair. I am embarrassed and ashamed! But I am pleased to show how much of a difference hair blogs have helped changed our life! Sorry for the quality of the photos..its all from my phone.
Here are some photos her hair growing:
I always felt like her hair "grew up" and not down..I didn't know what to do! It was always so knotted and tangled that I would dread trying to brush it out. I didn't know anything about hair, let alone hair that was different from mine! It all began when she was around six or seven months when her hair started growing. I had no knowledge of how to care or style her hair at all. I was told from different people to “use baby oil”, “don't use baby oil”, “don't use water”, “grease her hair” ..on and on and on. I didn't know what to do! It seemed like every product I put into her hair would soak up and leave it drier than it was before. Most products I used contained mineral oil and petroleum/petrolatum. Her hair would feel so coarse and
knotted and I felt like it never grew. Her only style was pretty much a ponytail slapped on top of her head.
These are her famous hair dos back then:
I would just put them into a ponytail on top of her head. I also believe one of the photos shows how much tension was put onto the hair always being in ponytails for a long period of time which caused breakage. Eventually, I became really frustrated and last year around August when my daughter was 19m, I decided to look online for anything having to do with "mixed/biracial haircare, hair style, products etc". I honestly don't remember what I typed into Google but up came Happy Girl Hair! I was so obsessed with the site. I browsed the blog for hours looking at all the great information and hairstyles. I learned about all the no-no ingredients like mineral oil and petroleum (like I had been using!) a few hair products to try, the basic hair products I needed to begin with and hairstyle ideas.Now, just because I saw all these hairstyles it didn't mean I knew how to do them right away. I had no idea how to cornrow AT ALL here's a few examples to show you how horrible I was:
For some reason my cornrows always came out different and would even be really skinny. My first "mohawk" was done while she slept and I was really proud of it! Most of the time, though, I just experimented and was way to cautious of having her wear them out in public lol. I had my days. Some days I would style good and others my hands would just not work with me! From Happy Girl Hair I found the talented mommies of Beads, Braids and Beyond and Princess Hairstyles. One of the first few hairstyles I was really able to copy and did often was the veil look (sorry I have no decent photo of it). I kept practicing, reading, practicing, watched videos on YouTube, oh, and practicing! That was it and the rest as they say is history. I’m not the best stylist but I know for a fact I have come a long, long way and improved. Thanks to blogs like HGH, BBB and Untrained Hair Mom, this was all possible.
I recently improved during BBB Protective Style Challenge. I did many styles I never even knew I was capable of. It also benefited my daughter's hair in many, many ways. Now, 10m later at almost 2 1/2 yrs old LOVING her hair! Here are a few styles I have been able to do and some photos of her hair out:
I wanted to share this for all the mommies out there just beginning because I KNOW how frustrating it feels. I don't want to sound like an infomercial but - It does happen! It can happen! You can style your kid's hair and have it grow and look beautiful and healthy! Its all about trial and error. Finding out what works and what doesn't work. I learned to stop comparing my daughter's hair to others. I learned that just because one product worked for someone it doesn't mean it would work for us. I learned to NOT care what people thought about her hair. And most of all I learned and taught my daughter to love her hair!
Do you have any “hair nightmares” you would like advice, information or tips on? Would you like to share your story in hopes of reaching out and inspiring others? Please email me at untrainedhairmom at gmail dot com
