Sep 25, 2013

hair hallelujah!

Yes.  It's true.  Not the hair help! I begged for as she turned one, or deep thoughts about hair after learning a bit more (or the scandalous confessions of a hair hypocrite just weeks later).  Today, we have a hair hallelujah, people. 

My friend Angel found this Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care blog.  It is great and goes into a lot of details.  This girl has some crazy intricate styles which are super intimidating, but she also gives a lot of ideas for the basics.

Where we are with hair:
  • Lucy has beautiful hair.
  • It's getting longer now (and tanglier) so if I'm at the commit-to-upkeep-or-cut decision again.
  • Girls usually want longer hair.
  • A boy told her she has "boy hair."  She has not forgotten this.
  • I love her hair big and crazy.
  • If I let her hair stay big and crazy for long, it becomes difficult to detangle and care for well.
Sooooo, this week I thought I'd try some new tips.

REVELATION #1:  Water and oil are the best, most natural, and cheapest things to use to keep her hair moisturized.  I've started using a combination of olive oil and coconut oil (yes, from the pantry).  I spritz it with plain water at night and then use a pretty generous amount of oil.  It has been softer and healthier.

REVELATION #2:  Keeping her hair in some kind of protective style will... protect it (from getting tangled and then the damage I wreak de-tangling it).

REVELATION #3:  Taking good care of her hair will be an investment of time.  An investment of time with my daughter.  Time spent in close physical proximity.  Time spent touching and talking and laughing.  Time when my actions and my words can affirm to her that she is beautiful and special and the top of my priority list.  I am choosing to see what a blessing this time with Lucy is.  And it has been lovely!

REVELATION #4:  Suckers last a looooong time and keep us pretty happy.

We're just dipping our toes into these new "hair hallelujah" waters, but here's our progress so far.

I sectioned her (badly tangled) hair into 5 sections.  Over the course of 3 days, I detangled her whole head.  It took a little over 2 hours all together.  BUT, the lovely part, she didn't scream and shake and cry.  There was mild exasperation on her part, and we got close to tears a few times, but overall we were both calm and pleasant.  This is big, people.

After I got it detangled and a little stretched (banding the sections after they were detangled) I was a stumped... what to do with it?

This is simple and just a start, but we were both so pleased!   I just divided it into 3 sections (a larger front one and then two in the back) and put in puffs.  Then we got a little fancy and I sectioned an asymmetrical section in the front and did a flat rope twist (I think that's what it was).  Basically it's twisting and adding hair like a French braid.  It ended at just the right point to add the hair at the end to the side puff.  The parts aren't perfect and it may not be tight enough to last, but we were both pretty pleased with the result!  I felt good--and "I can do this" kind of euphoria that can only be appreciated if you've detangled hair for hours.

My beautiful girl:





 

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