Well, it was a hectic spring and summer but I'm back to blogging about curly hair.
Lately I've been thinking about growing up with curly hair. And as funny as this may sound, it's hard to grow up in a straight haired world.. I know many people with straight hair might laugh at this comment, but it really is. From the hairstyles presented in magazines, to the 'ideal' images of long flowing hair. This isn't our reality. Our reality is dry hair, fragile hair where the ends break more easily, hair that cannot easily be combed and should NEVER be brushed, hair that can't be shampooed daily, and hair that is costly (we spend $100.00's in products). It's something all curlygirls must face as they grow and learn to manage their hair.
And Curlygirls hair has really grown lately. It can now be stretched midway down her back. And it's beautiful. I can't get over how amazing her curls are. We've had a few interesting comments from straight haired children.. this spring curlygirl had a few issues with a boy at preschool who wouldn't stop pulling and touching her hair. Thankfully the preschool teachers put him into a different group and talked to his family. Thank goodness for preschools and teachers who understand that touching her curls is not appropriate. I think their exact words were "he was crossing into her personal space and he shouldn't be touching her hair"- score 1 point for good teachers!.
Curlygirl also had a very good friend tell her that her hair wasn't "good" because it wasn't long. In reality curlygirls hair is longer than this friends hair.. but the perception of long vs. short hair was hard for her. She went through a period of time where she said her hair was "poo poo", but I think through positive reinforcement and positive speak, she doesn't think that anymore.
And then there are the comments from uneducated strangers. I had a woman in a bank ask me "wow, how come her hair isn't frizzy?". I almost choked. To me that's akin of asking, "wow, how come her face is washed". It isn't something special that curlygirls hair isn't frizzy, it wasn't "frizzy" that day because we spent a lot of time defining the curls, and moisturizing them. And honestly, even if it was, why would someone think they could comment on that. Totally unacceptable.
I can't even remember what I said, but it probably wasn't too eloquent.
I've been experimenting with hairstyles a bit more, double width cornrows (where you braid braids together into rows). I really like this look and find it lasts a bit longer. The one challenge is that her hair still will only hold a style for maximum 4 days. And now she has opinions about what hairstyle she wants. Usually she wants beads. Another sweet little girl at daycare told her that her beads were beautiful jewellery in her hair (love this girl) and made curlygirl feel so special- exhausting to always be putting beads back in her hair, particularly when after 4 days her hair needs to be re-done, but if she feels beautiful it's a small price to pay.
Here are some photos of some of our recent hairstyles:
Thanks for checking in on my wayward blog!
One of my favourite hairstyles. The braids are braided up on the sides, and then tucked into the top cornrows as we go. It's finished with a top ponytail that can be twisted into a bun (for ballet). I love this look on her, and you can have fun with it by adding bows and fun clips to the pony tail.
Consistently one of my favourites. Braided back off her face, then loose in the back. Easy for care and washing. You can do the parting and cornrows straight, or you can do them at angles for something different.
Love this sleeping photo and how you can really see her beautiful curls. In this one I'd used a detangler/ leave in conditioner, then massaged a shea butter into the hair to help moisturize the cuticles. I finished this off with curly curly cream, and let it dry. What I end up with is a head of beautifully defined and shiny ringlets.
A different take on the half braid style. She likes to choose fun coloured elastics. Her other new favourite style is to have her hair in a "pony tale like mommy".. hmmm.. she doesn't know that mommy does this because I don't have much time to style my hair (lol). But it ends up looking like a headband of braids/ elastics. supercute.
A fun and easy summer style. Using the curly defining and moisturizer I discussed above, I do one simple braid to hold her hair off her face. This takes about 5 minutes and is perfect for busy mornings and summer days. Her hair does get much more tangled and dry this way, so I don't do this style very often.. I find it's way more work at the end of the day for me.
Another side view of a pony style (day 3). The side of the hair is braided into a larger cornrow and pulled back. This was after a day of swimming (and it's in a cap of course). The shorter fine hair starts to fall out by day 3, but overall this is quite a durable style.
Lately I've been thinking about growing up with curly hair. And as funny as this may sound, it's hard to grow up in a straight haired world.. I know many people with straight hair might laugh at this comment, but it really is. From the hairstyles presented in magazines, to the 'ideal' images of long flowing hair. This isn't our reality. Our reality is dry hair, fragile hair where the ends break more easily, hair that cannot easily be combed and should NEVER be brushed, hair that can't be shampooed daily, and hair that is costly (we spend $100.00's in products). It's something all curlygirls must face as they grow and learn to manage their hair.
And Curlygirls hair has really grown lately. It can now be stretched midway down her back. And it's beautiful. I can't get over how amazing her curls are. We've had a few interesting comments from straight haired children.. this spring curlygirl had a few issues with a boy at preschool who wouldn't stop pulling and touching her hair. Thankfully the preschool teachers put him into a different group and talked to his family. Thank goodness for preschools and teachers who understand that touching her curls is not appropriate. I think their exact words were "he was crossing into her personal space and he shouldn't be touching her hair"- score 1 point for good teachers!.
Curlygirl also had a very good friend tell her that her hair wasn't "good" because it wasn't long. In reality curlygirls hair is longer than this friends hair.. but the perception of long vs. short hair was hard for her. She went through a period of time where she said her hair was "poo poo", but I think through positive reinforcement and positive speak, she doesn't think that anymore.
And then there are the comments from uneducated strangers. I had a woman in a bank ask me "wow, how come her hair isn't frizzy?". I almost choked. To me that's akin of asking, "wow, how come her face is washed". It isn't something special that curlygirls hair isn't frizzy, it wasn't "frizzy" that day because we spent a lot of time defining the curls, and moisturizing them. And honestly, even if it was, why would someone think they could comment on that. Totally unacceptable.
I can't even remember what I said, but it probably wasn't too eloquent.
I've been experimenting with hairstyles a bit more, double width cornrows (where you braid braids together into rows). I really like this look and find it lasts a bit longer. The one challenge is that her hair still will only hold a style for maximum 4 days. And now she has opinions about what hairstyle she wants. Usually she wants beads. Another sweet little girl at daycare told her that her beads were beautiful jewellery in her hair (love this girl) and made curlygirl feel so special- exhausting to always be putting beads back in her hair, particularly when after 4 days her hair needs to be re-done, but if she feels beautiful it's a small price to pay.
Here are some photos of some of our recent hairstyles:
Thanks for checking in on my wayward blog!
One of my favourite hairstyles. The braids are braided up on the sides, and then tucked into the top cornrows as we go. It's finished with a top ponytail that can be twisted into a bun (for ballet). I love this look on her, and you can have fun with it by adding bows and fun clips to the pony tail.
Consistently one of my favourites. Braided back off her face, then loose in the back. Easy for care and washing. You can do the parting and cornrows straight, or you can do them at angles for something different.
Love this sleeping photo and how you can really see her beautiful curls. In this one I'd used a detangler/ leave in conditioner, then massaged a shea butter into the hair to help moisturize the cuticles. I finished this off with curly curly cream, and let it dry. What I end up with is a head of beautifully defined and shiny ringlets.
A different take on the half braid style. She likes to choose fun coloured elastics. Her other new favourite style is to have her hair in a "pony tale like mommy".. hmmm.. she doesn't know that mommy does this because I don't have much time to style my hair (lol). But it ends up looking like a headband of braids/ elastics. supercute.
A fun and easy summer style. Using the curly defining and moisturizer I discussed above, I do one simple braid to hold her hair off her face. This takes about 5 minutes and is perfect for busy mornings and summer days. Her hair does get much more tangled and dry this way, so I don't do this style very often.. I find it's way more work at the end of the day for me.
Another side view of a pony style (day 3). The side of the hair is braided into a larger cornrow and pulled back. This was after a day of swimming (and it's in a cap of course). The shorter fine hair starts to fall out by day 3, but overall this is quite a durable style.
This is not curlygirl, rather a friend whose hair I do. Older curlygirls have a lot more ideas about what hairstyle they want. I was asked to do a "side pony with something fun". So we did side braids over to a pony and then finished the hair in the pony by doing 2 strand twists. This style lasted for about 3 weeks. It's partly because the hair is longer, and partly because she has much curlier hair than curlygirl.. so her hair (4b) holds styles much longer.
It's also way more difficult to part and takes longer.. so for you curly mama's who have 4+ curly hair to manage, kudos, it's way more challenging than curlygirl's hair.
I love this style. Was inspired by a friends daughter's beautiful hair. A series of side braids that end into a side pony. Love this style, very pretty and looks quite dressy. I find that curlygirls hair isn't quite long enough at the crown (only 3-4 inches for some strands) to hold the side parting/ braids for much more than 2-3 days. It's quite time consuming to do this style, so I generally reserve it for special occasions.
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