Good to Know: Lice.Yes, Lice.

One day you are merrily going about your business when you walk into school or daycare to pick up the kids and you see it - a sign declaring the presence of lice. Or maybe a note comes home in a little backpack. You read it and suddenly your heart starts racing and your head starts itching.

Don't panic - at least don't panic too much. Lice is a part of life that, according to the CDC, an estimated 6 to 12 million kids in the US experience each year. Of those millions, it has been reported that a small percentage are African American children. The prevailing theory is that the claws of the head louse in the US are adapted to a rounder hair shaft and don't as easily grasp the more ovoid hair shaft that comes with tightly curled hair.

There are a lot of alarming myths about lice. Many people fear lice and are embarrassed by an infestation. I'd like to encourage each of us to be brave and really learn about lice so we can deal with them effectively. First off, let's dispel some myths. Lice have nothing to do with personal hygiene, they don't "prefer" clean hair - or dirty hair for that matter. What they do like is human blood, and we all have that. A louse is a parasitic insect that doesn't fly or jump. While lice are annoying and irritating, the good news is they really don't cause harm. They aren't dangerous and they don't spread disease.

There are a few things you can do to help prevent the spread of lice to your child. If there is an outbreak at school or daycare, tell your child not to share hats, combs, brushes, play with another child's hair, or let another child play with hers. It's also a good idea try to teach her to avoid hair-to-hair contact with other children. Lice don't jump or fly from head to head; there has to be direct contact for lice to spread. Although many believe a heavy application of hair products, or using coconut shampoo or coconut oil, prevent lice, I could find no science to back it up.


If you suspect your child has lice, check with your child's doctor to confirm the diagnosis before using a chemical treatment. Sometimes dandruff, product residue, debris, or other insects that may have flown into the hair, can be mistaken for a lice infestation. If the presence of an active lice infestation is confirmed, you can use an over-the-counter lice treatment. Please remember OTC and prescription lice treatments are insecticides. It is critical to use these precisely as directed. Don't treat infants or anyone who does not have an active infestation.

Folk remedies abound on the internet and are also passed by word of mouth. While there are many web sites reporting anecdotal evidence of lice being smothered by olive oil, Vaseline, or mayonnaise, or being killed by Listerine, I could not find a formal study proving the efficacy of any these methods. Even if they do smother or kill the adult lice, they probably will not kill the live nits which may be days away from hatching. Tea tree oil is widely recommended too. However, I could not find any large studies proving its efficacy, confirming exactly how it should be used and in what concentration. It's always important to remember that natural is not synonymous with safe, especially when working with potent substances like essential oils.

If you prefer a non insecticidal method of removal, or a chemical treatment hasn't worked, you can try manual removal. Although the thought of a lice comb can be scary for those with tightly coiled hair, it may be the safest, if most time-consuming, option available. Try detangling the hair, dividing it in very small sections and using either a good quality lice comb or fingers to remove the nits (egg casings of unhatched lice) and lice. Doing this under a strong light is helpful. Although there may seem to be many, many eggs on the hair, few of them will be active. As explained by Dr. Pollack at the Harvard School of Public Health,

Adult female lice usually cement each egg to the base of a hair shaft near the skin.  As the hair grows (from the base), these attached eggs are transported away from the scalp.  Eggs more than one-half of one inch away from the scalp are nearly always hatched and do not, by themselves, indicate an active infestation.

Manual removal of lice and nits must be repeated several times until all lice and live nits are completely removed. During treatment and after the final treatment, wash hair tools in very hot water and let them soak for at least five minutes. Use a washer and dryer to clean bedding, hats, stuffed animals, and towels several times throughout treatment and again when the child is clear of the infestation.

There is no need to spray the house with a lice spray. Lice don't live long away from the warmth and blood provided by a human body. The sprays available are insecticides that are unnecessary and could be toxic to inhale. A simple vacuuming will do. It's a good idea to vacuum the child's car seat too.

For excellent information on head lice, images of lice, a FAQ, and a flowchart detailing what to do if you suspect your child has lice, visit Dr. Pollock's site IndetifyUS. They also have helpful information on bed bugs!

Just for the record, we have not had a lice warning yet, but I'm sure it's coming. I think I'll be able to meet it calmly and competantly, and I hope you are too.

Natural Hair Care Products. Lots, and Lots of Products!

I have my favorite hair care brands and I tend to feature them heavily here. What can I say? I find something that works and I like to stick with it. While I'm happy to tell you about my favorites. Alaffia, Aubrey Organics, Blended Beauty, Darcy's Botanicals, and Qhemet Biologics are not the only companies for curls and coils. They are all amazing and tried and true, but there is a big universe of hair care products out there my friends.

There are lots of other natural, and semi-natural, hair care brands available and waiting to be discovered by you - and me. Many of these are on my list of products to try. I'll buy and review as I can, but in the meantime, here is a list of hair care companies that specialize in natural products for curly hair for you to check out.

I've tried to stick to Curly Girl guidelines in this list, meaning no really strong cleansers in the shampoo (with one exception), and no silicone, mineral oil, or petroleum in the conditioners and leave-ins. I also tried to list companies with a several products to choose from. Some companies are big, some are very small, some are in-between. I didn't include drug store brands on this list; I think that should be a separate list. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it's a decent starting point. Enjoy!

Companies which list product ingredients online:
Bee Mine Products
Brown Butter Beauty
Carol's Daughter
Curl Junkie
Curls (includes Curly Q's, It's a Curl)
Curls By Sisters Smith
Jane Carter Solution  (also available select Target stores and Whole Foods)
Jessicurl
Karen's Body Beautiful
KomazaCare 
Little Penguins
Mop Top (includes Fuzzy Duck)
My Honey Child
NaturalCurls (UK and EU only for now)
Nature by Design Cosmetics
Oyin Handmade
Shea Moisture (available only at select target stores & Target.com)

Companies which do not have full ingredient listings online: 
Afroveda
Anita Grant
Deva Curl
HPO
Kinky-Curly (also available select Target stores and Whole Foods)
Orginal Sprout
Taliah Waajid Black Earth Products (also available select Target stores and Whole Foods)


Have you tried any of these companies? Which products did you like? Which didn't you like?

Coils and Two Buns

I've always thought of coils as a great style for short hair. They're cute, easy, and so gentle on the scalp, so I thought I'd try them out on Little B's longer hair and see how it goes.

Last night, I took Little B's three-strand twists and Little R's ponytail/bun out, and added coconut oil to her hair. I put extra coconut oil on my fingertips and gave their scalps little massages while I was at it. This morning, we did quick co-washes. After the wash, I added hair lotion and some jojoba oil.

I detangled and parted Little R's hair. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I was thinking french braids so I gathered each side back and banded it down the length to gently keep it from shrinking as it dried.

Meanwhile, I started coiling Little B's hair. Since her hair just came out of twists, it was already pretty well detangled, so I did not need to fully detangle today. I chose to do finger coils, or single-strand twists. They are so simple to do. I took a small section of hair, added some styling creme with hold, and twisted counter-clockwise. I was careful to make sure the hair was well-twisted from the scalp to the end - and then I let go and had a great coil. I repeated that many, many, many times. It's such an easy style to put in, but it is time-consuming on a very full head of hair. At least I didn't have to concentrate and I was able to think about plans for the rest of the day, and then the rest of the week, and then the rest of the month.

 Twisting with fingers produces a nice long coil. 
Shorter, plumper coils can be made with end of a rat tail comb.
If you want to try comb coils, check out this video for instructions.

Most sections were just a little smaller than a dime.

I gave french braids a shot in Little R's hair, but I wasn't happy with the results. I guess I've just forgotten how to do those properly. Instead, I just gave her two little buns decorated with flowers. I think it suits her, and it sure was fast and easy.

It will be interesting to see how long Little B's coils last. What are your favorite simple styles?

Saturday Spotlight

Happy Saturday Everyone! Let's welcome Mommy D and her Little T to the Spotlight. Mommy D is sharing some of her favorite styles with us.

The top four are pics of my very favorite new style on little T that I did a couple of weeks ago.  It was my first adventure into curved parts---not so easy for me. I parted the basic five sections on a Saturday night before bed, then in the morning, parted the sections for the cornrows and got to work.

We went through 1 episode of Sesame Street plus 1 (maybe 2?) episodes of Super Why and I barely finished in that amount of time. The parallel curved parts for the cornrows were the most time consuming aspects of the style (very tough for me to get the cornrow parts evenly sized and following the same curve lines). I cornrowed from the hairline top to the crown of her head, then split the braid into to sections which each went to her ears.

In the back, I cornrowed up from the nape to the mid section, then split that cornrow into two separate corn rows to meet the others at the ears. After I gathered all the corn rows at her ears into her flower hair bands, the five big sections were box braided and beaded with big beads and ballies, then later in the week we switched to simple twists, since my little T doesn't sleep well with big beads or ballies.

For the cornrows, I used a bit of Aveda Control Paste along with plenty of my homemade jojoba oil/shea butter/coconut oil mix. The box braids/twists were just done with a bit of the homemade stuff. To dampen her hair as I worked, I spritzed with a mixture of a few drops of jojoba in a bottle of water. The style looked good all week---I redid her box braids/twists every day or two, and spritzed the jojoba oil/water around her part lines and corn rows every day (otherwise, she seems to get itchy along her parts). The style held up very well, but I took it down after a week, since I wanted to give her hair a break and I don't like getting stuck redoing hair midweek if it gets too fuzzy. I think when I redo a style like this I will not split the cornrows---that was more difficult and clumsy than I thought, and I think I could've gotten away with just starting a new one corn row at the intersection, maybe tucked back a bit under the main one, instead of trying to split it.

The next two pics are of little T's journey into free hair land this week. We did a very loose flat twist along the hairline, and set the headband behind it. Since little T tends to fuss with a headband a lot, I found that this method worked well at keeping the headband in place and avoiding the damage from rubbing we would normally see with a headband. 

I did mostly detangle it every night and put it in very loose big  twists for sleeping. In the morning, I spritzed it a bit and added the homemade hair butter, especially in the places where her hair typically gets a bit more dry, and following the techniques from your loose hair video.  On the day she wanted to wear her pumpkin t shirt, we had no orange headbands in the house, so I attached those little orange lady bug barrettes to the mesh black headband. She received so many compliments on this style. Her hair is really starting to get long, and we all enjoyed seeing those amazing curls around her face. As I commented on your blog, this was a huge accomplishment (3 whole days with no busy hands in the hair) for my little T to show such good loose hair responsibility.

The headband behind the flat twist is brilliant! What a great way to protect the hairline from rubbing. Thank you for sharing your darling Little T, and some of your skills with us today.

If you would like to share a style you have recently completed, we would love to see it! Please email me at joyfulmom@happygirlhair.com with a few pictures, the first initial of your little one's name, how long the style took to complete, products/tools used, and anything else you want to share. Let's learn, share and grow together! I look forward to hearing from you.  

Curl Up With A Good Read

There have been some great hair posts on some of my favorite blogs this week. In case you missed them, here is a little roundup.


Honeysmoke
Read Honeysmoke's post, Look, Don't Touch about inappropriate hair-touching, and then click over to the link she provides to the NPR essay, Keep Your Hands Off the Hair.

Beads, Braids & Beyond
Check out the very good news about Curls products that may be headed to a Target store near you! While you are there, don't forget to enter the giveaway for Curlformers.

Afrobella
Read an excellent post called The Natural Hair Tax about finding a salon to do natural styles for a reasonable price. Don't forget to read the comments too, they are insightful and interesting.

The Natural Haven
The hair loss poll results are in and very interesting. Check out the suggestions for those experiencing hair loss at the temples.

Happy Reading!

Sand in the Hair!

We had an unexpectedly gorgeous afternoon a couple of days ago. The girls happily played in the backyard for a bit and then asked if they could uncover their sandbox and use it. I was half thrilled that they are still interested in sandboxes and half sad that Crabby the Sandbox will continue to take up precious space on our tiny patio this summer. I checked the sand for any winter yuck or creepy crawlies, and gave them the go-ahead to climb in.

When my husband came home two hours later, they were still at it. He looked out the patio door and said, "Oh, the sandbox? No hats?"

ACK! NO HATS! During the summer months I am diligent about putting hats on the girls before sandbox fun. Some might even say I'm obsessed. This time, the thought never even crossed my mind.

Naturally, when they came in, Little R informed me that there was sand in her hair. It seems that although they are now old enough to know not to dump sand over each other's heads, they are still five and cannot resist pouring sand out of cups help high off the ground. If a slight breeze carries the sand into their hair, they didn't get sand in their hair, the wind did. Turns out, Little R  had sand everywhere. Little B had not one stray grain on her body or hair.

 This is sand way down at the base of her twists. Good times!

Little R's pretty rope twists had to come out. I washed he hair and rinsed away the little pile of sand left in the tub. I put her hair in a side ponytail. She wasn't bothered at all by losing her swingy twists. She took a look at her pony tail and said, "This looks cute when I smile." Yes, Little R, it does.

Happily, Little B's three strand twists are holding up beautifully. They may be my new favorite type of twist. I've been giving the slightly bent ones a little spritz and that seems to be all they need.

                                     Little B: "Why are you taking a picture of Crabby?"

                                     Me: "For Happy Girl"

                                     Little B: "But Mom, she doesn't have any hair!"

Good to Know: Diluting Products

Hello and welcome to Good to Know, where we discuss tiny bits of information that you can keep tucked away until you need them.

Do you ever dilute your hair products? Maybe you want to make them last a little longer. Maybe you need to make a heavy product just a little lighter and easier to use. Sound familiar?

If so, be careful how you dilute your products. Product preservative systems are meant to inhibit bacteria growth in specific formulations. They are not set up for dealing with the impurities, or microscopic ick, of tap water. That's why it's a good idea to use distilled water any time you want to dilute a product that you want to have around for a while. Watering down your Protective Mist Bodifier in another spray bottle? Use distilled water. Making an AOHSR hair milk in an old bottle? Use distilled water.

Distilled water has had almost all of it's impurities removed through the distillation process. Distilled water comes in gallon jugs, is cheap, and easy to find. And it might save you from an, "AAACKKK! WHAT IS THAT GROWING IN MY HAIR MILK?!" moment.

Edit: Lauren made an excellent point in the comments. She said,

It still may not be ok to dilute. Preservative work at particular concentrations. So diluting them may reduce their concentration to a level no longer effective at killing the stuff that may grow even if you use distilled water.

Thanks Lauren!

Taliah Waajid Lock it Up

I received a little free sample of Taliah Waajid Lock it Up with my Protective Mist Bodifier order. I know a few Happy Girl Readers are looking for a gel, so I thought I'd give it a few tries and tell you what our experience was.

Lock it Up contains, "Black Earth formula, which consists of Pure Deionized Water T.E.A. Natural Herbs, Indian Hemp, Yarrow Roots, Rosemary, Nettle, Natural Hair Locking Recipe Hydrolyzed Protein, Carbomer 940, Natural Preservative, Nipa Guard, Fruits Fragrance, Bio-Flavonoids."

I've typed the ingredient list out exactly as it appears on the package. It seems like a few commas might be missing, and that made it challenging to look up some of the ingredients. Anyone out there able to decode "Pure Deionized Water T.E.A. Natural Herbs"? I tried Googling it all together, and broken up, but didn't get any meaningful results. I don't like to see nebulous terms like "Natural Preservative" or "Natural Hair Locking Recipe" on ingredient listings either. It makes me wonder why the company chose to be so indirect.

Lock it Up is an amber gel with a light, coconut scent. It can be used on braids, twists, locs, or to define curls. We tried it with box braids and cornrows. I found it easy to use. It wasn't sticky or goopy, and it left a soft feel on the hair and my hands when it dried. It held the styles very well and helped reduce the frizzies. It didn't flake or feel heavy at all. When we took the styles out, the hair felt somewhat dry, but not alarmingly so.

There is a lot to like in this gel, but I just can't get on board with vague ingredient list. For that reason, I give Taliah Waajid Lock it Up three out of five star beads.



Have you tried it? What are your thoughts? What would you rate it?

We Have A Winner!

Thank you for the amazing participation in the Darcy's Botanicals drawing! You all seem as excited about this line as I am! We had over 140 entries, but there can only be one winner. And the winner is:

cul-ture-queen

Congratulations cul-ture-queen! Please email me at joyfulmom@happygirlhair.com with your full name, address and the 3 Darcy's Botanicals products you would like.

Many thanks to Darcy's Botanicals for their generosity and terrific products!

Split Rope Twists and Three Strand Twists

Today was all about twists. Little B was in the mood for swingy hair, and Little R wanted twists too. I planned ahead (ha! no pun intended) and washed, conditioned and detangled last night. I gave both girls some big, big twists to keep their hair detangled through the night.

I started with Little R this morning. I dampened and parted her hair in a patchwork of sections. I was going for a quilt-like pattern or the feeling of looking over farmland from a distance. I must be feeling unusually whimsical today. I banded each section at the base with a soft, pastel, cloth elastic. I then divided each ponytail into two sections and made a rope twist out of each. I banded the end of each rope twist with different colored, pastel elastic. Does it just shout Spring? I think so.

I quartered Little B's hair, and the divided it into boxes. Beads, Braids & Beyond posted a great tutorial on banded three strand twists. Go watch it when you are done here, really! I'd never done three-strand twists before so I gave it a try. I loved it! It was easy and the twists are very pretty.

Essentially, the hair to be twisted is divided into three sections. The section of the far right is crossed over the other two. So it goes until there is no more hair to twist. One thing to note is that for the first couple of crossovers, it looks like nothing is happening. Keep going, the twist will reveal itself in the next few crosses. I experimented with holding my hands different ways and found that I got different results. I went with a method using my whole hand and I like the twists it produced.

I banded each end with a holder that matched the base. Again, I was thinking Spring and Easter eggs.Now she can swing and shake her hair to her heart's content.

P.S. For those of you thinking of buying Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose products through Amazon, please note that the $.99 shipping which made it an awesome deal is not currently offered by the seller, The Vitamin Shoppe. Oddly, the other AO conditioners are still offered with $.99 shipping. I suggest looking elsewhere for this great product for now.


So what styles are you all doing this week?

Saturday Spotlight

Welcome to the Saturday Spotlight! Mommy B and her six old Little D are visiting Happy Girl Hair from South Africa today! 

My husband and I adopted D about three months ago, although we have been "weekend parents" to her for the last three years. During that time, she was living in an orphanage, and for as long as we, and she, can remember, she never really had hair any longer than a few millimeters. The orphanage has a policy of shaving them bald every few weeks.  So, having some hair to style has been a new frontier for all of us! Even though she now only has about 2 - 3 inches of VERY curly, thick 4B hair, she was desperate for us to start playing, so I have been experimenting with styles (apart from head bands and clips) which can be done on super-short hair.

Our first attempts were at some very random, unplanned twists all over her head. They were only one stranded twists, but it still took a good hour to put them all in, and gave me some pretty awful cramps in my hand! She enjoyed them, though, and they looked especially cute with a headband over the top in front.

The next time we tried these tiny little puffs (don't know if you could call them that - they are so small!) in little boxes all over her head. We used a rat-tail comb for the parts, and then banded them with a tiny silicone elastics (they kept needing to be replaced all week, as they broke easily. I am struggling to find good quality hair products in South Africa). I used the tiniest smear of gel around the edges of her hairline, just to keep the fuzzies in place, but the little boxes seemed to hold really well. It took us about an hour and a half to do this, but remember I am a serious beginner, and it is tough getting a firm grip on such tiny bits of hair! 

Our third style comprised of flat twists going back (almost) to the crown of her head, and then held in place with rainbow clips. I am now a big fan of flat twists - we seriously had so little hair to work with, but I was amazed at how firmly we were able to put them in place, and how well they lasted. The secret was working with relatively small sections of hair, and then only picking up tiny amounts at a time. It still only took us about 45 minute though. This is definitely one we will do again. 

We'll keep experimenting with what we can do while we wait for a bit more length, but are in the meantime a bit more encouraged, knowing that we are slowly getting there!

Good work, Mommy B! Little D's styles look great! Thank you so much for sharing your skills and your daughter with us today.


If you would like to share a style you have recently completed, we would love to see it! Please email me at joyfulmom@happygirlhair.com with a few pictures, the first initial of your little one's name, how long the style took to complete, products/tools used, and anything else you want to share. Let's learn, share and grow together! I look forward to hearing from you.  

A Happy Girl Interview at Natural Selection!

Hey there Happy Girl Hair friends! This week, I had the privilege and pleasure of being interviewed for Natural Selection, a great natural hair blog chronicling the journey of one very beautiful woman and her spectacular curls and coils. Read the interview with yours truly here and check out the rest of Natural Selection too!

Enjoy!

Style Update

Good Morning! I'm sharing some photos from yesterday because I have a dentist appointment right after I drop the girls at school this morning.

Yesterday, our theme was throw on something green. Aren't we clever with our St. Patrick's Day style? I was all ready for St. Patrick's Day a few days ago, then I promptly forgot about it. I remembered yesterday morning and was trying to pull green shirts out of the girls' closets, in the dark, while they were still sleeping. Eh, whatever, none of us are even Irish.

I kept the styles and ornamentation for the day simple too. I put Little R's hair up in a ponytail and then divided the hair in half. I braided each bunch and secured it with a small, black cloth band. I then took each braid and wound them counter clockwise, forming a little bun. I tucked the ends under the holder securing the whole pony tail. I left a little bit of hair out in front and just drew it back with a little barrette decorated with a butterfly.

I wanted to decorate the braid bun too, but didn't have anything I could just stick in there. What I did have was an old butterfly decoration that had fallen off a pony holder ages ago, a bobby pin, a hot glue gun, and a couple of minutes. With that, I threw together a little decorative element for her bun. I knew that carefully saving those little decorations that come apart would be worth it someday.

Little B got little fabric, flower clips in green and floral patterns. I clipped the tail of her big cornrow up so it looks more like a hair headband. I am sad to report that the translucent, plastic flower clips we all love are nearing the end of their little lives. No less than three broke on Tuesday. The clip part is snapped right off. I broke one, a little boy at school broke one (Little B cried), and then another broke later at home. I'll have to try to pick up a fresh pack, since they are so cute.

Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? What did you do? Did you do a St. Patrick's Day hair style?