Our family of 5

Our family of 5

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Adoption Talk Thursdays: My curly girls




     Happy Thursday to everyone!!! I am looking forward to sharing some basic ideas with you about adoption and hair care on Thursdays. I hope to even start meeting some people who would allow me to share their adoption story in order to inspire you and possibly help you take a step of faith and start the adoption or fostering process.
     First of all, I love the above photo of my curly girls taken this morning. I love it that they both have curly hair and that they even look like blood related sisters. As crazy as that may sound, I feel like they favor each other in some ways. I have even had a couple of people comment on pictures that they resemble each other. Even if you don't agree with me, or think I am losing my mind, we can all agree that adoption is an amazing thing and that they are fully sisters, whether they share the same genes or not. It is an awesome picture of how God has adopted us as his sons and daughters and given us full rights to His kingdom and to Himself. He doesn't care where I am from, what I have done, or what I look like.  Out of His great love, He has made me His child. Adoption gives us that physical picture on earth. The Lord has blessed us with a daughter whom we can love, nurture, teach, and it doesn't matter if she came from my womb or not. She is our precious child in every way and she has full rights to being a member of our family. I am glad that I can tell Little A someday that I was adopted too.
     The hair care is a big priority for me with Little A. I don't think it is necessarily because I care what people think of me, but I feel like it is going to be very important to her someday. I have so much to learn, so as you read this, don't consider me the expert by any means. In fact, I am very open to suggestions or ideas, especially if you have similar hair to Little A's. I am in anticipation of the day when her hair grows longer and I can create or copy some fun styles, but for right now, we are just focusing on hydration and taking care of the short hair that she does have.
     My two curly girls both usually start the day of hair styling with their own spray bottle. K-lady's is a red bottle with plain water, and Little A's is a blue bottle with a natural conditioner mixed with water. It smells nice and seems to help re-hydrate her hair each morning. I only wash Little A's hair once per week with shampoo (I like to use Herbal Essences shampoo, especially the one for hydration, followed by the Island Naturals conditioner pictured above. I actually love how her hair feels the day before I wash it....has so much softness, moisture, and natural oil in it. I like to style her hair while it is still damp and I usually put an olive oil type of product in her hair to keep it soft. (it is pictured above in the green container). I use a wide tooth pic and comb very gently starting at the end and working my way up. I am mainly using small barrettes, flowers, clips, and soft head bands, and occasionally will do little puffs with the rubber bands. I found the rubber banded style was pulling too tightly on her hair line, so I am avoiding these kinds of styles until she grows more hair. I can't wait to try more styles as her hair grows. Sometimes at bedtime, I put a little bit of the coconut oil (pictured above) in her hair. She also sleeps on a satin pillowcase because she won't keep any kind of cap on her head at night....this is to prevent matting, tangling and hair breakage.
     Many of my ideas were taken from various blogs on ethnic haircare, but two of my favorite are: Happy Girl Hair: Natural Hair Care for Kids http://www.happygirlhair.com/.............and Beads, Braids, and Beyond. http://www.beadsbraidsbeyond.blogspot.com/  
     I have a lot to learn, but this has been very fun!!  I hope that I can possibly help someone else with some ideas or at least provide links to the blogs that are completely devoted to natural ethnic hair care.  Send me your ideas or suggestions to improve what we are doing! 
Love,
The Curly girls (all three of us) :)

7 comments:

  1. Great post! I went to an awesome african haircare session at the adoption retreat this past weekend. Would love to share the details with you sometime.....really great info on products and styles. I learned a TON and am definitely going to stock up on some things that were suggested when we bring home our ET daughter. It looks like you have a great routine down with A's hair and prob helps that you have some familiarity with curly hair :)
    I love the happy girl hair website....I've been following that for awhile and it has such helpful info!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh wow, I bet that was a great session....would love to hear the ideas sometime. Also....I respect what you said on another posting about how you pray each year for the schooling decision for your kids. I think I could take that advice too, and commit each year to the Lord and seek what He wants for our family, not what I want. :):).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Awwwwww curly girls!!!!! :-) I love that little miss A and miss K can share the blessing of gorgeous curls. Kassidy has been SO upset lately that no one else she knows has curls except her Aunt Jenny and her friend Kate...and they live far away so she says it's not the same!! Loving the advice on products...gonna have to give them a try! I think I have told you about this - but we LOVE LOVE LOVE the Regis DesignLine's Whipped Wax Defining Cream. It's great on wet or dry hair and it makes K's curls SO smooth and healthy! When she wakes up and her curls get smashed from her sleep...this stuff bounces them right back up with no crunch or residue. Anyhow! Give the curly girls a hug and kiss from their Colorado curly girl!!!! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love both your curly girls and while i know not about curls....one day maybe! I have always felt your hairstylist gifts were from Jesus to Addy with love! Thanks for the adoption post...you know I'm a fan!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rachel....I know you are a fan, and I know your heart for Jesus in the area of adoption. Thanks for always being one of Little A's biggest fans and supporters. I can't wait to do the same for you one day too!!! Praying about this for you, friend:):)

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Our mutual friend Heather Gross sent me the link to your blog on the best possible day...HAIR CARE! My husband and I adopted a little african american girl and I'm seriously trying everything to get her hair more hydrated, to no avail. She's 8 months old and I'm just needing to know exactly where you find those products that are in this post? Where did you find the olive oil stuff? I found a line at Ulta called Circle of Friends but I'm just not satisfied with it and her hair still feels really dry. I would LOVE your help on this whenever you get a chance. My email address is karizielasko@gmail.com. Thanks sooooo much!

    ReplyDelete