Happy Halloween

Is Halloween a favorite holiday at your house? It's definitely my kids' favorite. They start planning for the next year the minute the current costumes come off.  It's a total thrill for them. The first year they experienced it, they were so overcome by the whole thing that they completely forgot about all the candy the collected. When we got well into November and they still didn't remember, I ate it for them. All that sugar would've been bad for them, and I can't waste candy, right? They've since gotten used to Halloween and are very protective of their candy. I can't blame them.

What does all this have to do with hair? Halloween candy has nothing to do with hair, but Halloween costumes often do. The first year my girls went trick or treating, their costumes came with pink and purple yarn hair attached to a headband. They also came with lots of glitter that didn't stick to the costumes very well. I spent the next two weeks picking it off their scalps because it just wouldn't wash off. You can even see some on Little R's forehead in the photo. See that tiny silvery speck? Glitter.

The second year, I made flower costumes using headbands and lots of felt. The petal headbands were a little looser than I wanted them to be, so we had to do big, fluffy hair to help keep them on. The ability to puff their hair out and the prodigious use of bobby pins saved the day. It was a hair-raising Halloween. (Sorry.) They sure were cute as little flowers though, huh? 

This year, Little B will be a kitty and Little R will be a puppy. There costumes are in no way dependent on their hair styles. We have to be careful not to catch their hair on the velcro that closes their masks, but their hair can be styled any which (witch? ouch.) way.

Are your kids dressing up? What are they going to be? Does their hair need to be styled any particular way for their costumes? 

Protective Braid Update

Well I'm pleased. Little B has been wearing her protective little braids for almost two weeks and they look a whole lot like they did on day one. These bands are random, not parted, and they are not banded. I haven't had to rebraid any or retwist any of the ends. Yay!

We've been having a good time styling the braids in different ways - and just letting them be. I think Little B enjoyed having a week off from styling. I'm pretty sure we can get a least another week out of these. So I'm going to go for it.

Oh look! Another braid knot. Surprise, surprise.

Little Side Braids

Little B's braids inspired me to keep Little R's hair simple this week. Well, that and the fact that she was moaning and whining about being called away from her drawing to have her hair washed and detangled. Once she got settled back at the table with her pencils, paper, and markers I got busy with styling.

I sectioned off the right front side of her head and then parted off rows and fairly small boxes. I braided each little section of hair using a bit of pomade for hold. I clipped the end of each braid while I did the others; I didn't want to band them, but I didn't want them to unravel on me either.

When all the little boxes were braided, I braided them together using a Dutch braid technique (scroll to the end of that post to learn to do Dutch braids). I gathered up the hair on the left side of her head in almost a C-shaped part. I did that so the hair coming from father back on her head would cover up the part line in the middle. Like so:

I twisted the tail of the Dutch braid with the hair from the left side and then twisted the whole thing into a little knot. I secured the knot with a small elastic band and left the curly ends hanging down behind. I love braid knots. In fact, I might love braid knots a little too much. The rest of the hair was left loose.

I braid the back each night to keep it from tangling up a whole lot. In the morning, I spritz it and add some leave-in. I give the braids a quick spritz and redo the knot. I have been adding clips in back to dress it up but this morning we went with a side knot and left the rest loose. I've been doing a lot of half up/half down styles on Little R lately. She likes her hair loose. I like to see her cute little face. It's a nice compromise.

Cheap and Cheerful Ouchless Bands

When I need a quick style or an update, I reach for my big, colorful Goody Ouchless bands. I have a set of bright and pastel big bands, and a set of slightly smaller, brightly colored, striped and solid bands. These things are inexpensive, available all over the place, washable, and pretty durable. Most importantly, they don't cause breakage when used gently. Can you tell that I may have removed these in a bit of a hurry once or twice? It's true - and, um, I don't advise it. I've had my big bands for a couple of years and a few are just starting to wear out now. That's not too shabby for a piece of elastic that's in near constant use.

Last weekend, we used our bands to do a between styles style for Little R and half up/half down braids for Little B. In case you're wondering about the, ahem, interesting color pairings, we chose bands that matched their little multi-color dresses.

Which hair accessory gets the most use in your house?




(BTW, no one asked me, or paid me, to talk about my love for Ouchless bands. I just really heart them.)

Whip My...

If you'd been a fly on the wall in my house over the last week or so, you might have witnessed a scene like this:

Me: "Hey Girls!"
LB and LR: "What?"
Me: "I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH! I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH!"
LR: rolls her eyes
LB: makes a goofy face, giggles, and swings her braids from side to side

And then there are the lyric variations like, "Dog whips his tail back and forth. He whips his tail back and forth." and on and on. To say that Willow Smith's Whip My Hair has become an ear worm around here is an understatement.

The girls like the song, but I wasn't sure if I should share the video with them. Considering their passion for all things shiny, I was a little worried that glittery bits on Willow's lips and eyes would spark a request for bejeweled faces. I figured I could hide behind the fact that Willow is nine - and she is styled for a video. I appreciated the fact that none of the clothing in the video was particularly suggestive, colorful yes, but not age-inappropriate. I really like the I Love Me shirt she wears too; I'd buy that for my girls. The video has a fun concept too. And there's a baby. And it includes kids who have hair that technically doesn't whip at all.

So I let them watch the video a few times. When asked for their opinion on it, they gave me an indifferent "cool" and moved on. Later Little R could be seen doing the Willow "shake them off" hand wave thing and singing, but she got the lyrics wrong.

At six, my girls are betwixt and between. I sense my girls' disinterest in the Sesame Street video means they are just a bit too old for it, but they are a little young to fully understand the Whip My Hair video. Even so, I'm glad to have both and happy my girls were able to see them. I'm hoping that exposure to hair-positive messages, delivered by confident girls (or girl muppets) contribute to their overall sense of pride and possibility.

Over-production and Auto-tune aside, what do you think of the song? What do you think of the video? 


I know many of you have children who are far too young for this, but would you show it to your kids when they are older, and at what age? 


For those with older children, did you let them watch the video? If so what was the reaction? 



PS Here's a short NPR article about both videos titled The Best Week Ever for Black Girls.

Saturday Spotlight: A Growing Girl

At the risk of sounding trite, I'm going to take a moment to marvel at how quickly our daughters are growing. A tiny baby I feel as though I met yesterday will be turning three a few days from now. (Hi J & G!) My girls are expanding and blossoming in every way imaginable. And today, we are visiting with Little IW. Except she isn't Little IW anymore. She was, and here is the proof, but now she is Miss IW. Mommy R has shared some of the details of their routine as Miss IW learns to care for her own hair and chose her own styles.

IW is 7 years old and chooses her hair styles. Our detangling method is done in the bath with hair saturated with mask. First, I detangle with my fingers and wide-tooth brush, after that give her the kakakiki and she detangles the ends in sections and does pretty well!

For Ethiopian New Year she chose a style she saw on Keep Me Curly. For her birthday she got a computer and she loves see all the style blogs. For her birthday chose a medley of cornrows and Princess Tiana bun. Lately we are using Taliah Wajid products for braids. We like the smell and texture.  We also use it as a detangling mist. We use Herbal Essenses for washing and conditioning.

The next week she chose a veil style. She chose and strung the beads. This week has asked for cornrows and two bows. She also asked to learn how to do cornrows.

Usually our hair day is on Saturday morning, but now she helps so much we can do on Friday afternoon after school.

Yeah, okay, we all know that they grow up so fast. But, but, but, THEY GROW UP SO FAST! It's so cool that Miss IW is big enough now to really help braid, bead, detangle, and tell her mom exactly what she wants. Thank you for sharing Miss IW with us, Mommy R!

In Tribute...

I know a few people wanted to see how we accessorized Little B's braid this week, but instead I want to share a little style we did in honor and memory of the fearlessly unique Ari Up, founding member of The Slits, who died this Wednesday of cancer at the age of 48.

The girls and I have been listening to The Slit's Cut intensely for the last month or so. It was released in 1979 when Ari Up was just 17. I've been so pleased to see my girls embrace this The Slits' challenging music. We've been listening on the way to school to start our day off well. The girls have also been wowed by Ari Up's pretty amazing locs and creativity with them.

Yesterday, Little B and I styled her hair in a tiny tribute to Ari Up. It's not really about hair, or image, or imitation, but a small reminder that it's okay to push boundaries and try new things as we all discover who we are. As Ari said, "Find out who you really are, then accept who you are. Fight for your life every day to be who you are.”

Here is a great tribute to Ari Up that appeared on the NPR music blog All Songs Considered. 

Offset Something or Other-Now With Cornrows

We've been having a great time with Little R's hair lately. She is open to trying anything, and the more interesting, the better. She loves her off-center ponytails, so I thought we'd do that but with a twist, or actually a cornrow or two.

I washed, conditioned and detangled her. I sat her down and parted a line from forehead to neck on the right side. I next parted four sections on both sides of the part line. I started at the long part so the sections would meet up, but going out from there toward the side of her head, the parts veer this way and that way; Little R is not about straight lines.

I added some pomade to each section and cornrowed some big, wide braids. Where two sections met on that off-center part, I banded them together, leaving the ends of the hair loose. When finished, we had four puffy, offset ponytails.

Now, here's where it gets fun. The ponytails can be worn as is, but there are lots of options too! They could be twisted, braided, twisted or braided together, made into mini sock buns, knotted, or formed into Bantu Knots, or coiled. They could also be shaped with pipe cleaners for something really distinctive (crazy hair day, anyone?). And those are just the things I can think of.

We twisted them together and tried some Bantu knots. I loved the Bantu knots. I had a lot of fun with it and loved, loved, loved the Bantu knots.

Little R just didn't like those knots. I started to take them out but after the first one, she stopped me. "Like that!" said Little R. "Like that? Stop now?" asks mom. "Yep. Just like that." Alright then. We went with three Bantu knots and one pony tail swinging in her face. I can guarantee I would not have thought of that on my own.

I hope that as Little R grows, she has no trouble continuing to be exactly who she is. This is who she is at six, can you just imagine her teenage years?

Little Braids 4 Little B

We went for a long-lasting (oh, please let it be long-lasting) protective style this week. It's a bit odd that we did this one as soon as we got back from vacation, but we are contrary that way. This style is dead easy to accomplish but it does take time, time, and more time.

I started by adding coconut oil to her hair the night before her wash, which was also the night we got back from our road trip. Are you impressed that I had the presence of mind to do this after a ten hour drive back home? Thought so.

When we took out the protective cornrow from the last style, her hair was pretty stretched and she commented on how long her had gotten. I took a look in back and was pretty surprised myself. That just snuck up on us. I think the regular trims (Hi Miss S!) are a huge, huge, factor in length retention for Little B's hair.

The next morning, after a long, slow wake up over cartoons for her and a whole pot of coffee for me, we washed and conditioned her hair. We got comfy and cozy and began detangling her hair. As I detangled, I took a roughly dime-sized bit of hair, added pomade and braided. When I ran out of hair to braid, I twisted the end to secure it. This is a no parts/no bands/no beads style.

The style itself isn't at all creative; the fun is all in the accessories, which I have somehow neglected to photograph. She'll be wearing this with headbands, barrettes, clips, and later we may put it up in pig tails or do a half up/half down style. If I can get two weeks out of this, I will be thrilled. I'm eager to see what the inevitable braid out will look too.

How do you dress up protective styles that are a little plain on their own? 


And one more thing...

I know we have a lot of newer HGH readers (Hi Everyone! Welcome!) who may be wondering why I've made the choices I've made for this style. The braids are not very sleek and the back looks a bit like there are wonky parts and a lot of fuzz at the base. Let me take the last issue first and tell you that sometimes the camera's flash is not our friend. It really doesn't look much like this in person. The (non)part lines aren't even visible. Okay, now that I've blamed the camera a little, let's take a quick look at the rest of the choices made here:

Parts/No Parts:  I think a head full of tiny, well-parted boxes and twists or box braids looks amazing. They can make even plain box braids look intricate and fancy. I also like no parts for a more organic, free-for-all look. I think it's just a matter of personal preference or what we each have the time and inclination to do. We chose no parts this time, but another time we may choose to part.

Banding Bases/Braid Tension: Little B has a scalp that isn't happy about tension. Any more than a tiny bit of traction makes it all kinds of angry. For me, it's all about individualizing styling and care. I had to unlearn braiding with tension so Little B's scalp wouldn't suffer. It wasn't easy to learn to braid small, yet loose, braids. Learning to braid loose but tidy cornrows also took some doing. Banding the bases of the braids would keep them neater longer, but the bands would mean unnecessary tension. I do my best to reduce pulling and I'm rewarded with a scalp that is happy, happy, happy.

Braid Smoothness: These braids are not perfectly smooth. Nope, not at all. It seems like we all have our own personal tolerance for braid fuzziness. As the years pass, I find my tolerance for inching up. I'm happiest if braids look pretty defined when new and I'm okay with the fuzz happening as it will. We always start with thoroughly detangled hair and we use moisturizing styling creme or a coconut oil pomade that leaves her hair feeling great when we take the braids out. I could probably get even smoother braids with a heavy shea product or silicone (or both) but those cause massive, icky build-up on Little B (but strangely, not on Little R). Again, it's all about personal preference and tailoring everything to the head of hair and scalp you are caring for.

Happy braiding!

Alright, Let's Talk About the Sesame Street Video.

By now, you have probably seen the Sesame Street I Love My Hair video. It's been featured on many, many hair and beauty blogs, Tweeted endlessly, and as of this moment, viewed on You Tube almost 300,000 times.

The video, featuring an adorable muppet girl singing about her happiness with her hair, has been almost universally praised - but not quite. This criticism of the video on This Week in Blackness makes some interesting points. Go ahead and read it and then come on back.

I'll admit that it wasn't until I read the criticism and watched again that I noticed that Little Muppet's hair went from  a cute, little, coily afro like Little B's, to Little R loose and loopy curls at a minute and six seconds in. Thirteen seconds later, Little Muppet has braids down to her bottom. How did I miss that the first (and second) time? I dunno. I had my mind on other things. I showed the video to my girls and they couldn't have been less interested. I guess their minds were on other things too.

On the whole, I think I think the video is cute, positive, engaging, and fun. It's an important step for Sesame Street and a valuable message that has been too long in coming to our littlest girls. I hope Sesame does a lot more of this type of thing and considering the response they got, maybe they will.

What I'm not so sure about is the wisdom of a video aimed at very small children that includes hair that, based on the tightly coiled afro shown for the first minute of this two minute video, seems to be altered by chemicals and/or extensions. Maybe the immense good of this video outweighs any potential concern. Maybe not. Maybe it's up to parents to encourage Sesame Street along this path and help them frame future hair videos.

Edit 10/21: Here is another great take on the video from KMBA titled 10 Things Marketers Can Learn From a Multicultural Muppet.

What do you think of the video?

What is your opinion of the criticism presented on TWiB?

How did your children react to the video?

And how cute is this muppet?

Let's discuss.

***************************************************************************

Update: I just saw this on Coily Crowns and nearly fell out of my chair laughing. I find myself singing this song in the shower, or while I'm driving, or making dinner, or trying to fall asleep. 

PS If anyone wants to discuss Whip My Hair, let me know and I'll post the real video later in the week and we can talk about it.

Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding Review

Whipped Pudding is one of the trio of Oyin Handmade products I recently decided to test out. This was Oyin's first product and they describe it as a "superior, rich, penetrating moisture in an all-purpose, head-to-toe product."

Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding contains purified water; unrefined shea butter; organic aloe vera gel; cocoa butter; castor oil; coconut oil; sweet almond oil & olive oil; vegetable emulsifier; beeswax; palm stearic acid; vegetable glycerine; honey; optiphen (preservative); fragrance. A 4 oz. jar is $12.

Whipped Pudding is one of the lightest shea butter creams I've ever tried. It's non greasy and works right into both hair and skin. The scent is delicious, chocolate goodness. When we first tried it, Little R kept telling me it smells like ice cream. I could see was having a hard time believing that this Whipped Pudding isn't for eating.

I used the product as a styling aid, as a leave-in over water or Oyin's Frank Juice, as an overnight treat for very dry spots, and as a skin moisturizer. By chance I discovered that if we used the combination of Frank Juice and Whipped Pudding on really dry hair at night, the dry patches shaped up nicely by the next morning.

I didn't use Whipped Pudding as an all over moisturizer because I would have run through the whole jar in a couple of applications, but I did try it as a face moisturizer. It not only worked well, but I didn't have to be concerned with getting it into the hair line - it was all the better if it did. It was also excellent as a morning moisturizer for the girls; it did the job without leaving their faces shiny. Little R really needs a rich moisturizer on her face at twice a day but no one wants to go to school with a shiny face.

As a styling aid, it didn't provide much hold and when I styled in braids or twists, they were quite dry by the time I took the fuzzier-than-usual styles out, even with a daily moisturizing spritz. I like my styling aids on the heavier side, with lots of hold and this just didn't go the distance for us. It was however, one of the few shea-based products we have used that didn't cause build-up for Little B.

I give Oyin Handmade's Whipped Pudding four out of five star beads.

One Busy Mama

Whew! We got back from our long road trip yesterday and I thought I'd be able to do hair and share a post about it today. Hahahahaha. Silly me. I did get hair done, but now I have to make dinner and do fifty gazillion loads of laundry. Okay, I exaggerate. It's more like thirty gazillion. And the dog and needs a bath. And so do the kids. Don't worry though, they won't be bathing together.

I'll be sure to share the styles we did later this week. For now, I'll leave you with two photos Joyful Dad took. The first is from my shift of yesterday's ten hour drive, and the second is today's hair day container o' stuff. 

Oyin Handmade Frank Juice Review

Have you ever carefully selected a few new products and then put an extra something in your cart on a whim? Has that afterthought product ever turned out to be an absolute favorite? Yeah? Me too. Just now.

I've been meaning to try Oyin Handmade products for ages and I finally got around to ordering some. I added a bottle of Frank Juice to my order, simply for the fun of trying something with such a funny name. I didn't really have any expectations. 

Oyin Handmade's Greg Juice, Frank Juice, and Juice and Berries are herbal leave-in spritzes for moisturizing and detangling. They can be used as braid, twist, and loc spray moisturizers, or for braid removal.  An 8 oz  bottle of any of the three varieties will cost you $11. It can be purchased directly from Oyin Handmade either in full size or a 2oz travel size. It can be purchased at Curl Mart, which is a nice option for those who are picking and choosing products from many different companies.

The Frank Juice I chose has a light, mellow scent of frankincense and myrrh. That's a scent we all love and while it would be perfect for men and boys, it's not overtly masculine. It seems to dissipate pretty quickly for us and never fights with the scent of other products.

Frank Juice contains "purified water infused with horsetail, lavender, nettle, roses, and chamomile; organic flaxseeds; aloe vera juice; vegetable glycerine; essences of lavender, sweet orange, ylang ylang; grapefruit seed extract; critic acid; fragrances; and love!"

We used this as a quick morning spritz on braids, twists and loose hair. We used it under other moisturizers and as a detangler. We found that it was really nice as a light moisturizing spritz both on braids and loose hair, but it if we needed to really wet the hair, we had to use plain water. We were able to detangle Little R's hair with just Frank Juice, but Little B's required additional product. We found it really handy as a braid removal spray too.

I think the best thing about Frank Juice is the way it plays with others. Frank Juice used under Oyin's Whipped Pudding is fabulous moisture kiss. Spritzed on loose hair mid-day, it's an instant curl pick-me-up, even when used over another leave-in or curl definer. 

I think Oyin Handmade Juices will replace Taliah Waajid Protective Mist Bodifier in our product line up because of the way it works with other products and the fact everyone in the house can find a use for it. I'm giving Oyin's Frank Juice five out of five star beads with the note that it may not be enough to detangle really tightly coiled hair.

Easy Does It

To get Little R travel-ready, I kept her hair simple, simple, simple. I washed, conditioned and detangled her, adding lots of lovely leave-in. I let her hair air dry and shrink up. Shrinkage and lots of curls help some styles last longer with less styling product.

Holding my rat tail comb like a pencil, I drew a squiggle part down the center of Little R's head. I stopped every after every curve to define the part by moving the hair to the appropriate side. After drawing the basic part, I stepped back to look at it and then took my pin tail comb and refined it.

With the part done, I spritzed each side of her head with a little water and added a moisturizing styling aid. I used her natural bristle brush to gather each side into a low ponytail right over each ear. I banded it and braided a couple of inches. I banded again and did a rope twist as far down as I could. I banded the end and fluffed the curls.

This style will be so easy to switch up. In a few minutes she can have braids, twists, buns, pig tails, bantu knots, or anything else I can think of. The curved part will ensure that no matter how we change the style, it will be playful and fun.

Vacation Hair

We are not conesiourers of tropical beach vacations or luxurious resorts covered just so with snow. No, we are road trip people. And it's just about time to hit the road again. Whether you are into lounging in the very lap of luxury or collecting a nice protective layer of road grime, hair is an issue that can't be ignored when traveling.

I know a lot of people style using braids and twists when traveling. That's logical. They are long-lasting and require little upkeep. But I have found that styling counter-intutively works better for us when we travel. When I style in braids or twists, they are starting to look tired just when we are starting to look road-worn and weary. I really dislike the feeling of stopping in small towns or trudging through airports when we are feeling tired and looking a little rough around the edges. It may be a vain and superficial thing, but there it is.

I like to do simple styles that take less than 5 minutes to freshen up each morning. I'm happiest when it's a style that can be redone in a few minutes if the hair really needs a wash. My feeling is that it is totally worth the few extra minutes in the morning for the girls' hair to look great all day. I favor simple puffs, wash 'n' go styles, four thick braids, and chunky afros for travel. I realize this is not how most people approach kids' hair during travel, but time and again I have found this is what works best for us.

What works for you during vacations and other travel?

And the Satin-lined Hat Goes To...

It's time to tell you who won a cozy, toasty satin-lined hat from Curly Zebra.

Congratulations Deb! Please email me at joyfulmom@happygirlhair.com by October 15th to arrange for delivery of the hat of your choice. (Pick a great one! Oh wait, they're all great!)


Thank you for making this possible Curly Zebra!