Bantu Knot Bun | Teen Natural Hair Styling

Hey Mocha Family!

This business of making myself available IF Head Mocha Girl (HmG) asks for help is pretty difficult.

Old habits die hard.

I keep wanting to suggest she try things my way, and if her interpretation of my ideas are less than exact, it's not always easy to school my features.

I talk to myself.

This was no less easy when HmG was mastering braids and twists.

Loose hair is more susceptible to breakage, but I've been here before when HmG's hair was breaking from rough handling during her wash and detangle sessions with the braids.

This process is about hair, but it's also about parenting older children. We've taught them as best as we could, but they have to make a life of their own.

Head Mocha Girl will accept what works for her best, change things up so that they suit her personal style, and possibly reject some things all together. As a parent, it may be difficult for me to let her.

Maybe I see some things as mistakes I had hoped she would avoid since I already made them.

I am learning that some of these mistakes are possibly just as important for her to make for herself.

Be Blessed!

Comments

Please leave that baby's hair alone!

I'll never forget the first time I saw Mocha Girl One (HmG) . She was an emergency c-section, and had to spend several days in NICU. She was born four days past her estimated due date and looked huge in her incubator. I imagined her to be especially delicate and feminine. I couldn't wait to frill her up, and more importantly to do her hair ! The only reason she wasn't sporting a barrette the day we took her home from the hospital, was because the one I brought to match her lacey outfit, slid right out. Mocha Girl One's baby hair was silky straight and fine. As the weeks rolled by, it became wavier until she had a lovely curly fro. I washed it all the time . I brushed it several times a day . I tried snap clips, and moved to velcro barrets when the clips slid out. I bought a different head band for every outfit. Meanwhile her curls continued to wind tighter and tighter. I kept everything in a pretty box, dubbed the hair bin . I was really frustrated at not b...

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There's some controversy about the use of castille soap as a shampoo. For example, popular YouTuber Kim , of KimmayTube tested the ph of Bronner's Castille Soap and found it to be much higher than the recommended range for hair (between 4 and 5). You can watch her explain her findings. She also did an informative series fraught with good visuals on understanding the effects of ph on hair. That said, I've been using diluted castille soap successfully for YEARS, but I've never tried Bronner's Castille Soap. I had a bottle of Trader Joe's Castille Soap . Turns out Trader Joe's formula includes Aloe Vera --which has an acidic ph---probably bringing down the overall ph of the product--perhaps balancing it for hair. The manufacturer recommends it's use as a shampoo right on the bottle's label. I did not get a chance to personally test the ph of my bottle, because by the time I noticed Aloe as an ingredient of my castille soap, the bottle was empty...

Cherish My Daughter

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