Cherish My Daughter

Sometimes you can't. At least, that's what I've discovered with Mocha Baby. She communicates much better than her siblings did at her age. I'll credit that to the fact that she's constantly stimulated by four other siblings who find whatever she expresses to be fascinating. When it's time to do Mocha Baby's hair, she says, "No hair! All done!" Before scampering away. I've only got so much time to chase her around and present a convincing argument that a new style is important in her busy little world. Sometimes I just give up and try again later or wait for another day. When it's not practical to wait, the following has worked for me: 1. I try to keep it simple. Diva sessions are coming soon enough but for now, Mocha Baby will be two years old in October, and her attention span is very short. I try to plan styles I know will only take me twenty minutes or less to complete. This includes detangling. 2. My goal of 20 minutes or les...

...in the kitchen sink! We video taped it to share with you here .

Here's what I did: 1. I mainly kept her hair in a baby 99.9% of the time for almost the entire first year of her life. I used an occasional head band for special occasions, making sure it wasn't too tight around her head. 2. I washed her hair as needed with a mild SLS free shampoo and followed up with a moisturizing conditioner. Sometimes I rinsed her hair with plain water and followed up with a moisturizing conditioner. I allowed her hair to get wet as she splashed in her bath. Nappy hair loves water. While all the moisture will probably wreak fuzzy havoc on our carefully designed styles, the resulting suppleness means more growth retention. 3. When MB's fro got long enough in the back that it was constantly flattened whenever she rested her head on a surface, I began styling her hair in about 6 loose puffs. I used tiny rubber bands LOOSELY to secure the puff and removed them carefully with a seam ripper to wash and re-style. I braid up the puffs in the back becaus...

Mocha baby's hair has just had a dramatic growth spurt--over the past week. As you know, I've been twisting and coiling it to expose her scalp for coolness in the hot weather. The temperature dropped over the pass couple of days and I've returned to the fro. I can't believe how big her fro is now. My first thought was maybe the twists stretched her coils out--but I've been rinsing the fro daily and letting it do what it does. I fluff it out with my fingers as always. I'm scratching my head. In the past I've noticed growth once I started styling my babies' hair but I've experienced breakage too--with my too tight and over the top methods. The twists/coils were very gentle....I'm wondering if we're on to something here.....time will tell, and I will keep you posted.

It's been so hot and Mocha Baby has been sweating profusely. Her hair is dense on top and my husband suggested trying a style to expose her scalp. I was reluctant to bother her fro, because I've been keeping myself on a tight leash as far as bothering her hair. See my post here for the details. Clearly the time has come to move in a different direction. First, I tried finger coils, which I thought were very pretty but they rubbed right out any time she rested a portion of her hair somewhere. I'm not interested in using heavy product on her hair for hold at this time. While playing around with one of the coils that came loose, I discovered that I could twist Mocha Baby's hair and it stayed much better. The twist kept curling over until they looked like little bantu knots--loved it! To twist I spritzed her hair damp with water and topped it with a very small amount of my shea butter mix. I think plain castor oil, coconut or any oil your daughter's hair likes wi...

Hair time can be a nightmare when we're working with really young babies and active children who'd prefer to be elsewhere. I was really overwhelmed with my first. Whenever I asked other mothers what worked for them, I was told to wait until my baby was sleeping to style their hair. Unfortunately my daughter always woke up the minute I started manipulating her hair, and if you're anything like me, you'll take a messy head over missed sleep any day. I've used different methods at different ages. Below is a list of suggestions to consider while grooming your baby's hair, followed by older children. When picking a style always have a realistic expectation of how long your child is physically able to sit for the style. Expect some interruptions. You may have to break the styling session up into several segments. Try to avoid waiting until you have to be somewhere in a short amount of time before moving to style your child's hair. How much maintenance doe...

I haven't been doing much with Mocha Baby's hair. I will occasionally run a super soft brush through it to loosen what little cradle cap she has. When she takes her evening bath she loves for me to slowly pour water over her head. The plain water is enough to rinse away sweat and even spit up. I'm careful to keep her face dry. I always have my face buried in her hair. If I don't like the smell I may do a gentle shampoo with diluted castille soap. Otherwise, I leave her hair alone. The other day, I noticed some dryness and tried the following: 1. Wash with diluted castille soap. Try 1 tbsp castille soap to 8 oz water (you'll have plenty left over to use many times). 2. Rinse profusely. 3. Pat dry with soft towel. 4. Dime size Trader Joe's Refresh Conditioner (suave natural tropical coconut may be another good choice). Massage through hair and leave in. 5. Dime size drop of Grapeseed oil (may also try jojoba,unrefined coconut, or other light oil). 6. All...

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...