Black Hair

I don't typically do Peacock's hair.  I feel like I don't really know how to care for her hair properly and it's so much harder to style than I ever imagined.  Ms. Donna usually comes to our house every other week to do Peacock's hair.  I pay Ms. Donna $40, which I think is really reasonable considering she comes to our house, has a flexible schedule, and Peacock loves her.  She typically spends 2-3 hours at our house when she comes.  (I have Peacock's hair out of the previous style & washed before Ms Donna comes over.)

When we lived in Pittsburgh, we took Peacock to Wal-Mart's salon a couple of times to get her hair styled ... I think after a tip, we usually spent about $60, so Peacock only got her hair done for special occasions.  I always had plenty of friends or people from church offer to come over & help me with her hair, but for whatever reason that just seemed too hard to actually do with two babies ... I couldn't sit for hours doing hair.  Just. could. not. 

By the time Peacock was almost 3 years old, I just felt like I needed some serious help and I had a little more cash in my pocket, so we hooked up with Ms. Donna.  Ms. Donna has been on bed rest for the last couple of weeks, so it's been up to me to do Peacock's hair again ....

I was getting tired of it looking like this:

 ... always matted, dry, & full of tangles.

Last night when I got home, my good husband had given all the kids a bath and washed 3 heads of hair.  After breakfast this morning, I felt determined to do something about Peacock's hair.  So, I came up with this:

Not the greatest pics, but I think you get the idea.

So, for all you adoptive momma's out there, I thought I'd share what I did and maybe sometime you can share some ideas & tips.

Here are my supplies:

#11: (not pictured) A hand towel ... something to wipe your hands on cause they're going to get wet & greasy.

#10: Super Stretch hair elastics.  I got mine from Sally's ... 500 for $1.39.  Now I know every black woman you talk to says to never use them, but cause they're so cheap, I just chop them out with scissors when it's time for a new hair-do.  SO much easier than trying to pick the hair off a cute elastic you paid more money for.  And you can always put the cuter hair elastics top of the black ones.

#9: Hair Straightener.  Peacock has her own ... I do NOT share my nice Chi straightener with her because I don't want the grease off her hair getting into my hair.  I got Peacock's straightener at Costco for about $35 and it works really well.

#8: Leave-In Conditioner &/or Detangler Spray.  I have Motions brand pictured here, but even the Suave Kid's stuff works great.

#7: Blow dryer. 

#6: Spray bottle with water ... or just washed hair is even better.

#5: a good DVD to keep Peacock's attention

#4: Comb & Brush.  If you look closely, my comb has a long, metal, sharp end.  This is so helpful for making parts & then picking out skinny braids when it's time for a new style.  I've tried cheap versions of these combs from Wal-Mart & they're no good.  Go to Sally's or another hair supply place and get a nice one.  I most recently bought one for $12 from the professionals hair supply shop ... you'll have to have someone with a license get you in, but it's the best one I've found so far.  The brush is one that's supposed to be good for curly hair.

#3: Motions Shine Enhancing Pomade.  I think any pomade will work fine, but I think you can buy Motions brand at any local Wal-Mart.  Motions puts some glitter into theirs which is kinda fun.

#2: Organic Olive Oil Root Stimulator.  This is just a grease that I prefer these days.  Good for the scalp & hair.  Again, you can find this at Wal-Mart.

#1: Blue Magic Conditioner Hair Dress.  Another grease, but it's thicker than #2.  I avoid putting this on Peacock's scalp because it causes her scalp to get clogged & she gets lots of zits, but it's good to just put on the hair  ... it keeps the hair oily for weeks if the hair is in braids or twists.

K, so I didn't take pictures of the process cause I wasn't really planning on doing a post like this, so bear with me & feel free to ask lots of questions.

Step #1: After Peacock is comfy in a chair in front of the TV, I wet her hair down pretty well and spray in lots of detangler.  I then take her brush and pull the hair straight out from her head as I blow-dry her hair.  I go around her entire head always pulling the hair straight out as I keep the blow dryer aimed on whatever section of hair I'm working on at that moment.  When you've finished drying, the hair should be pretty poofy/fluffy with curls that are less tight than what you started with a few minutes ago.

Step #2: I take small sections of hair and comb some of product #2 (Olive Oil grease) through her hair.  While I've still have that small section of hair in my hand, I grab the straightener and straighten it.  Go around the entire head until all hair has been straightened.  Also, as I'm making these sections of hair, I generously rub lots of #2 on her scalp so by the time the hair is all straightened, I'm also done greasing the scalp.

Step #3: Now you've got much more manageable hair to work with & you can style however you want.  I decided to take the sharp end of my comb and make a zig-zag part so I could have two side pony tails.  After making my two ponytails, (the Easter Bunny brought the cute polka-dot elastics ... I think he found that at Target less than a week ago in the big girls' clothing section) I divided each pony tail in half.    K, so picture with me ... you're looking at one of the pony tails & you've got that pony tail divided in half.  Now I take product #1 and rub a bunch of grease into each 1/2 of the ponytail.  I make the hair as smooth as possible and twist each 1/2 clockwise.  If you're still following all this you should have two long twists now.  Take the two twists and wrap them around each other going COUNTER-clockwise ... don't lose your clockwise twist you already made while doing this.  I know photos would be really nice right about now.  Put one of your cheap black elastics in the end of the twist and you're done!  I decided to loop the end of her hair so the ends look a bit nicer.  Then you can decorate with bows, clips, or whatever you want.  I bit time consuming, but not too hard.

Before you walk away, take your pomade (product #3) and generously rub that into the hair (mostly around the edges) to smooth down fly-aways or shorter hairs that were too short to get into the pony tail.

Good luck!!