Banku, Pho and Fried Spiders: Hair Evolution: 2+ years in

I haven't posted about Kendi's hair "evolution" in quite some time. To be quite honest, I haven't done much with her hair over the past 6-8 months. We condition. We de-tangle. We moisturize. We don't see much (if any) growth. She cries often because, "Mommy, I want long hair. When will God give me long hair?" [Ugh--break my heart!] She asked for long hair for her b-day. She is asking for long hair for Christmas. I tell her every single day how absolutely beautiful she is with her short spunky hair, and she is! =-) When we meet a black person with short hair I am always sure to point it out to her so that she can see she isn't alone, and some people CHOOSE to keep their hair short. Still, she's a little girl. She wants pigtails and braids and beads.

I guess somewhere along the line we just fell into the habit of wearing it free or free with a headband every day. It's quick and easy and she looks super cute that way.

The last week or so I have decided that I must get out of the Kendi hair funk and start trying to be more creative with it again. Well, I don't know if "creative" is the right word because I don't do anything creative with it even when I'm trying to style it!

While it seems to never get longer than 2 inches, it definitely has gotten thicker over the past few years. And just in the past several weeks I've noticed these beautiful little ringlets popping up naturally. Are those not too cute?! Can you see them? I wonder, if her hair ever did get long, if it would break up into these beautiful little boings?!

In preparation for OU-Texas weekend (football) we did some french twists with red and white snaps. I've done this style several times because the top and sides of her hair are longer than her back.

By this evening her cute little twists were full of fuzz, and some of the snaps had fallen out. Re-style time! Actually, I intended just to sit and massage her little ringlets into a thing of beauty but ended up making little coils all over her head. People either love this style, or hate it. My mom hates it (says it looks like worms)! I like it. It only takes about an hour. It is an actual "style" rather than free hair. And I feel like it's more protective than just leaving her hair free.

I suppose a stylist might be able to do cornrows with her hair, but I can't. The hair is too fine and too short for me to work with. Ironically, I can rock out some cornrows on my (Asian) daughter Taevy's long sleek hair.

I have promised Kendi that for Christmastime we will put in another batch of yarn braid extensions. She just loves having "long hair" so much. Some people say that yarn braids are protective, but our results are a LOT of breakage and shedding. I feel like we go way backward with hair growth. We pay a price for putting them in, but as an extra special thing once or twice a year I will do it for her.

We are almost out of product for Kendi's hair. I spent quite a long time yesterday comparing brands and prices. It is so hard for me to drop 50 bucks on my 4 year old's hair when good 'ol Suave is sitting in my own shower! We have been using a mixture of Bee Mine, Organix, and Quenched Curls, along with good 'ol coconut oil and shea butter. I love these producs. But in the end I decided to try to save some money this time around. It came down to Organix, or "Africa's Best Organics" (which I realize is not fully organic). I *LOVE* the smell of the coconut Organix products! The particular items I wanted in the Organix line weren't in stock, so I went with "Africa's Best Organics." Anybody used them before? Good or bad results? For $25 (including shipping) I got these 5 items. [Actually, one is "Soft and Beautiful" line.]

1. Africa's Beat Organics (ABO) Mayo Leave-in Conditioner, 6 oz, $2.81

2. ABO Kids Olive and Soy Growth Lotion, 8 oz, $3.35

3. ABO Ultimate Organic Therapy Coconut Oil Stimulating Growth Oil, $3.49

4. ABO Kids Olive and Soy Moisturizing Lotion, 8 oz, $4.00

5. Soft and Beautiful Just for Me Hair Milk Styling Cream, $4.49

I figure if these totally stink I haven't broken the bank! We can always go back to the more expensive stuff.

Love,

Anita

4 comments:

Laurel 1:33 AM: Love the french twists, but think the "worms" are cute, too. Great job! I am so not a creative hairstylist. My 15 y.o. has started doing the girls' hair, so maybe Taevy will decide to take on the hair tasks in a year or two.

With the yarn braids ... have you tried the "sport weight" yarn. It is lighter and thinner than the regular Red Heart, so might not cause as much breakage. Just a thought ...

Hope your week is BLESSED!

Laurel
Janel 10:53 AM: Oh, I love those little ringlets that are popping up in her hair! I am excited to hear what these yarn braids are all about....I have no idea what they are but they sound fun!
A. Gillispie 12:25 PM: Janel, yarn braids are a more natural-looking alternative (I think) than regular hair extnesions for African hair. The yarn looks more like normal kinky African hair than the straight hair extensions you see. And it's SUPER cheap--just the cost of a skein of yarn! I've put them in Kendi's hair twice. We use a black "fiesta" yarn that has flecks of color. That way, any fuzz she collects sort of mixes in with the flecks! You can see our experiences with putting in yarn braids by searching "yarn braids" on my blog. http://gillispiefam.blogspot.com/search?q=yarn+braids
In His Dust 12:38 PM: I thought that Madi was losing a lot of hair when we took the yarn braids out as well BUT it was just normal hair shedding that was being held in the yarn braids instead of just falling out of the hair. When Madi's hair is in yearn braids she had some major growth! I heard on lady say that is was because of the wieght of the braids and how with movement it stimulates the scalp and caused more growth. Just a thought. Love ya!