We Had A Discussion....

This morning I was driving one of the kids and we got off on a discussion about blackness. I love that kids are so profound. We were talking about hair this morning because one of my kids has the most beautiful curly brown hair and after the very nasty frowhawk he came home sporting one day his hair is finally getting long enough for him to have a nice style again. Anyway we immediately moved into the discussion of hair and some of the mixed young girls about town. Okay I am not going to point any fingers or anything but if your child is black and you have no clue how to take care of her hair, you need to learn. I have seen some of these kids, pretty babies mind you but their mamas don't know how to take care of their hair. It is amazing that even with the information super highway you still see some of these little girls and their mothers don't know how to manage the wildness that mixed hair brings. I am mortified because I know how important it is for little girls to fit in to some degree but the hair is dry, wild, and quite frankly.. nasty.

Though my kids are not girls, I can tell you that mixed hair is a breed of its own. My brown haired boy is a classic example of this. I have to stay on him about which products he can and can't use on his hair. One of the last things you want as a black person is dried out hair. I've seen plenty of the little girls walking around with some tore up hair. Poor things, I know that it has to be so frustrating for them to have this hair going fifty-thousand directions that hurts when it's combed, breaks off in chunks because there is no product on their hair etc. (This is so not the direction I was going to take but let's get it out there),

You know me and my links. I went out to a website and got a down and dirty link for you. As usual click on the title above to familiarize yourself with some tips for caring for African-American hair. By all means if you know somebody who needs help refer them to this website. Some of the tips are comical. I love the one that talks about how to handle the tangling problem. Check out the last line on that tip.

You know this is a touchy subject for people. The last thing that any mother wants to hear is that she doesn't know how to care for her child properly. Hair is a big issue. I am just tired of seeing these little girls about town with beautiful hair but the parents don't know how to take care of it. I think the reason that this bothers me so much is that I have a little cousin who hands down has the most beautiful hair I've ever seen on a child. Her tresses are long and beautiful like her mother's hair. I just couldn't imagine what she'd look like if her mother didn't know how to take care of her hair. Her hair is so long and beautiful that her mother keeps it in ponytails most of the time. On those rare occasions when she does wear her hair down I've heard that the poor child risks neck injury from swinging her hair around. I mention this because to some degree, MOST not all but MOST little girls want to look special and feel equally so. We are Americans and we do care about our appearance and one day that little girl is going to grow up and want to have nice hairstyles.

I'll finish this up. One of Nita's little friends that lived next door was mixed. That girl had some wild child hair. I ask her mother if she wanted me to come over and show her how to care for her daughters hair. She was very receptive to the idea because she was frustrated and so was her daughter. You know, I've seen this girl a couple of times and she's kept up doing her hair all these years and she looks so pretty, she's got confidence in herself etc etc. I also remember when I was in high school and one of my friends Areatha. I know my Mom remembers Areatha. That girl had some naps on her before we were friends. Anyway, I remember I showed her how to put some product on that mess she had. It was like a whole new world for her. I remember that she kept up relaxing her hair all through High School. I know from being her friend that she felt better about herself. It seems trivial in a way but it's really serious.

People like to have nice hair, even my boys try to have a little something going on with their hair. I look at the old pictures of myself and my mother took such wonderful care of my hair. Of course I did not appreciate it at the time. Mind you this was back in the pressing days too and I hated getting my hair pressed. The worst part of it is the heat when your hair is still a little wet and you have to get that comb next to the scalp. Anybody remember those days?