Guess who is back with more hair care tips? This mom. If you read 7 Hair Care Tips for Your Black and Mixed Babies, I wrote that when my son was almost two-years-old. His hair was probably 1/5 of what it is now. It’s a lot and we love it. He loves it, which is all that matters.
Nonetheless, I am a Biracial woman with a Black son who has my hair — it’s curly and big and soft. It’s too cute. People still mistake him for a girl, somehow. But if he was a girl, there’d be a bow or two thrown into those curls. It’s a learning curve because he has a lot of hair and I have a lot of hair, it’s a lot of hair to do in this house.
Our hair reacts to products differently. His hair curls with most moisturizers and just bounces, while mine might get wavy or just not do what I want it to do. There are a lot of products in my bathroom, right now.
The point is that I have to switch out routine up and try out different products for his curly mane or teach myself how to braid which I did that. Plus, I have a tenderheaded child so I’m constantly trying to find the best detangling product.
Night Care
Night care is something that I will always hype up because it makes a difference. I am a person that forgets to wrap her hair or put on a bonnet, and I can tell you that my hair is dry some mornings when I wake up. Or my son doesn’t wear his bonnet and his hair gets tangled so easily! We are very big on night care over here and making sure the hair is easy to do in the morning.
Our night routine includes a moisturizer and oil—I spray with water to add moisture before locking it in with product. From there, I either put his hair in braids or a ponytail with the bonnet on top. It’s easy to plop off in the morning and the braids or ponytail are simple to take out. It has saved us a lot of time and tears because no tangles.
Protective Styles
My son is at the age where I’ve started braiding his hair. He’s very tenderheaded so we have yet to go to a braid stylist as I refuse to let him endure the pain of someone else doing his hair. When it comes to braiding, you still have to be cognizant of how tight people braid and the different types of hair. I braid his hair with the knowledge that it won’t last too long and I don’t mind because I don’t want his hair to be too tight on his head. Protective styles are perfect for those active kids and giving your hand a break for a few days. From braids to twists, there are so many things you can do. Just be sure to read before and after care tips so you are handling their hair correctly.
Moisturizing Products
As the seasons change, I notice that our hair reacts differently. Right now with the fall weather and chillier temperatures, our hair is starting to get dry. With that knowledge, I’m all about deep conditioning and hair masks because dry hair just feels weird. And, it’s not fun. Moisturizers are our best friends during this season — I’m talking leave-on conditioners and conditioning correctly. Anything that will keep the moisture in the hair, we are using in our household.
Introduce oils
This is a big one for us. A lot of people don’t like to deal with oils, but we are not those people. Oil helps lock in the moisture for my son. There are so many brands at Target with different oils and we are not against trying out the different ones to see what works. Right now, I’ve been working in the Aussie Miracle Curls oil and it has been amazing. It brings his hair back to life when it is dry and needs the moisture locked in. Research your oils and see what they do so you don’t over do it.
Trust me, I’ve been there and done that — not a good look.
Teach them to love their hair
If there’s one things I’m going to do, I’m going to teach my child to love his hair. People are always going to say things and try to diminish his confidence and it’s on me to make sure that doesn’t happen. I speak life into him about his personality and his looks. We’re an positive affirmations family and there’s no shame. My parents never talked negatively about my hair and went with the flow of how we wanted to do our own hair growing up. I never brought up rude comments that people said to me. I don’t want my son to deal with that so we’re working early on to establish the confidence and hair love, plus knowing that he can come to us with anything.
Honestly, I think we should all be speaking life into our children.
When I say speak life into them, I mean hype them up about any and every thing. I am that little boy’s number one fan and will always be his number one fan. If I can do anything in life, it’s to make sure that he has a happy childhood and that I don’t disappoint him because the world and other people will do that for me.
His hair is just one of the few things that we can get under control in life.
Talk those curls uo. Hype up your child on the days when their hair is up or down. Teach them that other children are not always going to be nice and will make comments. Some kids might try to touch their hair, teach them to use their voice and tell those kids not to do that. And if your child doesn’t have curly hair, teach them about accepting other kids and their hair. Teach them not to touch hair that isn’t the same as their’s so they aren’t the adult that touches someone’s hair in the workplace — that has happened to me, growing up and as an adult.
My son has beautiful hair and he knows it. We love on his hair and we have chats that not everyone is going to say nice things and that is on them, not him.
Hopefully, this follow-up piece on taking care of your kiddo’s hair is helpful. I’m always here to help or chat if you’re trying to figure out how to have these discussions.
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