Totally off Subject

Okay, this post has nothing to do with hair, but it is about Paula's Daughter. Why is it that M1 keeps tearing up her uniform pants???? She has ripped the knee on 2 pairs of GAP khakis. I am so done with her. She's going to have to figure out how to make her 4 pair of uniform pants last her 5 days. She is too old for this foolishness. I'm not buying any more pants this late in the year. I am not doing any extra washing. She's going to have to get real creative, or be the girl in class with dirty pants on. At this point, I got to keep it pushing.

Such a Bum!!

You know what they say, the best laid plans........
Okay, so I only got M2's hair washed and put into ponytails this past weekend. M1's cornrows are pretty fuzzy at this point, but it's going to have to do what it do until I get to it. I had a family emergency on Friday, and spent alot of time at the hospital so I did good to get anything done. I HAD to do M2, because it had gotten to "what's that smell " stage. I put her hair in a cute ponytail style that will get me through this week and I will braid this weekend. I will get M1 done this weekend, I don't know how I will style it though.

Now that I think about it, I am really spreading myself thin with these children's hair. M1 might be in for a trip to the braid salon. It would so help me if I didn't have to fool with her hair. Between graduate school, work, the baby, room mom, and hair it's getting real crazy around here. M1 does not like to get her hair braided at the salon because of the time committment. However, if she gets the kinky twists at the end of this month, they can carry her until the end of April. Decisions, decisions.

Practice What You Preach

Okay, so I did not get to my appointment with M2's hair. I just simply ran out of steam. Since I have M1 on the books for this weekend, that means I have to squeeze in M2. My go-to hair style for a time crisis is the AFRO-PUFF!! I plan on washing and putting M2's hair into afro puffs at my earliest convenience. If I can get that done tomorrow, I can do a 2 week style on her later this weekend. As for M1's appointment, I will shampoo and condition her hair Friday night and style on Saturday morning. I probably will do a 2 week style on M2 after I get M1 washed and conditioned Friday night. Maybe one day I'll practice what I preach!

My Favorite Twisting Product

Okay, so you probably have figured out by now that I love the Organic Root Stimulator line of products. If you are doing the two strand twists, I highly recommend using the ORS Lock & Twist Gel. It is so not like a gel. It doesn't make the hair hard or flake up. It makes the twists smooth and shiny, provided it's used on clean hair. Just fyi, most products only work as advertised when they are used on clean hair. I had forgotten how good this stuff was when I ran across it under my sink while looking for cotton balls! So, the ORS lock and twist gel is back in the rotation.

On another note, I was reading a concern about thinning edges on another site. It stirred my memory to yet another great ORS product. During M1's relaxed days, her hair did thin out around the edges considerably. I ended up trying the Fertilizing Temple Balm from ORS and it worked like a charm. The ORS website offers "free" samples, however there is a shipping fee of $1 for every 2 products. I sincerely hope I don't turn you into the product junkie that I am. Until the next time, *two fingaz*

How to Cornrow

Finally, I have found a good how-to video for learning how to cornrow! Cornrowing is one of those things that you have to "see" to be able to practice and do. This video is from a talented lady in Brooklyn, NY. I was going to do a series of pictures for my "how-to" posts, but I think videos will work better. So, as soon as I can, I will start recording how to do twists, cornrows, and braids. But for now here's the link to najahface's video on youtube. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IlHSEf9BHo

Preventative Measures

After you take all that time to get those ponytails just right, it's ruined after 1 serious naptime or 1 fitful night's sleep. That happened to me one to many times before I figured out I need to treat my daughters' hair like I do my own. Thus, the head scarf, sleeping cap, bonnet, or whatever else you want to call it comes into play. I don't know about you, but when I have a fresh style I want to preserve, I definitely break out all preventative measures! So, for my girls, I have satin/silk scarves that they wear nightly. Even when they were little, like 3 years old and their heads were too little for the scarves, I bought the "doo-rag" wave caps. Yes, the ones that have the long back and the two long strings to wrap around your head. They work like a charm on that little one that sleeps wildly. My 6 year old still uses hers. My 9 year old has graduated to one of "mommy's scarves" now. I've even seen lately, the satin bonnets made especially for kids in the underground beauty supply stores If you don't have one, I suggest you try it.

Scheduled Hair Time

After checking my palm, I realized that it's M2's weekend to get her hair washed and styled. Out of my 3 girls, she has the most hair. So, I definitely have my work cut out for me!

As I said in a previous post, it's important to plan when you can do your child's hair and also how you are going to style the hair. You have to consider how long you need the style to last in contrast with how much time you have to actually "do" the hair. If you don't have much time right now, you should do a style that will last at least a week or two that doesn't take much time. My favorite time saving style is the 2 strand twist. It doesn't last as long as braids, but it's quick to do and it's way easier to take down when you're ready to wash the hair again. Now if you have more time, I would suggest a braid style, which would also last longer. The braids take longer to do and take longer to take down for washing. But, if you have the time to invest, it's well worth it, like during summer vacation or long holidays.

When I say "braids" I am talking about the individual braids that can be moved around or put into ponytails. Cornrows are the flat braids that do not move and just lie next to the scalp. Cornrows are a bit time consuming, but they are easy to take down. To me, they are somewhere between twists and braids as far as how long they last.

I will begin posting how-tos very soon so you can try some of these things on your little darlins'!