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Cornrow Tutorial: Learn to make a basic cornrow!

You asked for it --here it is! Check it out on YouTube.
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  1. Andrew WigginsJune 16, 2011 at 5:24 PM

    Can I ask a couple cornrow questions? We adopted our 5-year old daughter 7 months ago. She came to us with very shorts hair so it's just lot enough to start doing more creative styles. I did cornrows for the first time this week. (They're a bit crooked but they're in :)

    1) How should I moisturize her hair each day when it's in cornrows?

    2) Some friends tell me to make sure I grease her scalp in the parts but other friends tell me not to. One friend was so insistent that she bought me a brought me a product from the local hair store. Do you have an opinion on this?

    Thanks so much for your site! I have used it frequently over the last several months.

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  2. I am a Mocha MomJune 16, 2011 at 5:44 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. I am a Mocha MomJune 16, 2011 at 5:45 PM

    Congratulations on adopting your daughter. If you follow my "beginner's" tag to the RIGHT of this page you'll find some detailed info on keeping your daughter's hair moisturized. In my personal experience I've noticed that as long as the hair isn't brittle and breaking I should be careful not to over do it with the moisturizing. I generally use my shea butter mix for cornrows and I apply it to the damp hair before I stretch it out. Once I do the style I don't do anything to the hair again until I take it down. We don't worry about fuzz and never use shower caps so my girls get a daily dose of steam when they take their baths/showers. It works for us. I never put anything on our scalps. Grease can clog pores and flakes need to be treated with antifungals or something that will help the scalp to properly shed the dead skin. The grease temporarily masks the problem--often making it worse. An unhealthy scalp can benefit greatly from the examination of a trained eye--in my opinion.

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  4. Andrew WigginsJune 18, 2011 at 7:10 AM

    This is all incredibly helpful! Thank you. I especially appreciate your perspective on the scalp. Being a white mom, I'm pretty sensitive to how she is perceived by African-Americans. I want her to look well cared-for. Many older women tell me to make her scalp shine but your explanation about clogging her pores makes perfect sense. Thanks also for your comment about the fuzz. That's freeing b/c I do worry about fuzz! Thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it so much.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am a Mocha MomJune 18, 2011 at 9:12 AM

    We do have a lot of practices that are passed down from generation to generation as the right way to do things. It's not always accurate. Be ready for resistance and the fact that some people will expect you to come up short no matter what you do. Feel free to refer them to this page. You need to know for yourself that YOU are the authority when it comes to your child. Clearly you are taking special care to learn everything you need to know---don't burden yourself with other people's expectations. Be confident about what you know. Be Blessed!

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