When we first decided to adopt a little girl from Africa, some of my first thoughts were... "I wonder if I will be able to figure out how to do her hair". I know I am not the only one who has had these thoughts as I get questions all the time regarding caring for her hair. I thought I would try to document some of our journey here. Our journey is still a work in progress as her hair is always changing and I am always learning and trying new things. I knew it would be very important to learn how to care for her hair so before we even left to meet her, I was reading all the hair blogs I could find and asking any African American female I could for their tips on hair care.
Our hair journey began when we accepted a referral for this little 9 month old girl named Sifan...
We are fortunate to have many pictures of her as a baby, and at 6 months her hair looked like this...
At one year old , she wore the headband we sent her for her first birthday...
Soon after her birthday she moved to the YWAM home in Adama where we got a picture of her hair in puffs for the first time...
Soon after this we received another picture showing her "free hair " as it had gotten longer...
When we saw our baby girl for the first time, her hair was fixed by the nannies in little finger coils...
On the second day , they had her hair braided in several braids...
Her first shampoo by mommy on Gotcha day...
I took baby shampoo and the "Just For Me" Hair milk I used as a leave in conditioner.
A headband was the first style of choice that first night after her first bath...
I tried my hand at twisting her hair in several twists the following morning...I still was getting used to how to even think about combing through it...I had read the blogs but experience is everything....
Yes, those are little rubber bands, I don't recommend them as they are bad for hair breakage, though her hair is very fine and does not hold twists without something to hold them in place...
Until I had time to practice more on her hair , I opted for headbands most of the time while in Ethiopia, as well as after we returned home...
Here she is at the beach one month after returning home...
We began a routine of shampooing only once or twice a week and washing with conditioner only in between. I first began using Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner. I could find it on sale at The Vitamin Shop for around 8 dollars a bottle..It was pricey but seemed to do a good job of getting her hair looking nice and healthy..It also provided a lot of slip for detangling with a wide tooth shower comb...
At 3 months home her hair was looking like this...
By 4 months it was looking like this...
At 5 months home, wearing a twist across the front of her hairline which we did regularly for awhile...
At 6 months home she is in two pigtails , another favorite for awhile...
Soon after this, I began experimenting with braiding. I had not even figured out how to part the hair at this point, I was just pinching little bits of hair and braiding..
..
I then branched out and tried to learn corn rows..
Here are my first ones, with some pinch braids in the back....
When I began doing the corn rows, I found that you need a thicker styling product with some hold to get a smooth look and prevent the fly aways and fuzzies...
From here I began to learn how to part the hair and experimented with my first set of box braids...
Box braids up in pig tails...
We have had fun trying lots of different things...
finger twists...
PonyTails...
Pig Tails...
Afros with hairline twists...
Pig tails with criss cross braids and corn rows...
Lots of corn rows...
and snaps...
we experimented with bedtime routines...wish I had introduced this sleep cap from the very beginning...
And banding at night to make detangling a breeze in the morning...
Our first set of yarn braid extensions...
Combinations of pony tails and braids...
Bows...
and more bows...
And more braids...
loose hair is always a favorite...
On her 3rd birthday last month...(loose curls here defined by Kinky Curly Knot Today)
We have tried several different products from the inexpensive to the very expensive.
Currently we are using Aussie Moist Conditioner mixed with water in a spray bottle as a leave in conditioner for detangling. Most of the time I use nothing else. Occasionally I will use a curl definer like the one above.
It has been a fun journey with my daughter. The time spent doing hair has been good bonding time.
She loves her hair and she is a beautiful girl inside and out!!
I look forward to many fun hair times ahead!!!
