It has been said that women spend around $50,000 on hair related products and services in their lifetime-although for the more ethnic consumer, I’d say that is an understatement.
With the rise of the biracial community, the issue of hair is a topic that gets any group of multi-racial girls talking for hours. As the author of the book, Just Because I’m Mixed Doesn’t Mean I’m Confused: Empowering Within and Discovering Your Hairitage, it’s been a chapter favorite.
With the additional rise of ethnic women “going natural” and allowing their textured hair to bend exactly how it was meant to bend, a variety of hair products have begun catering to their needs. The question now is no longer where to find the products, but what products to use and how. To add to the target market, the rise of interracial relationships and adoptions have now opened the same discussion up to Caucasian parents that are raising biracial children and foster kids that face the issue of hair with no experience at all.
In my book, not only do I talk about the issues that plague the mixed kid’s experiences, but I give advice on both the physical and emotional challenges including the most intriguing question of them all, “What on earth am I to do with my hair?” For a mixed girl growing up with a German mother, the beauty lessons on hair couldn’t’ be passed down from one generation to the next.
My first clue: “A cornrow? You mean a row of corn, like in the fields?”
For parents that are struggling with some of these hair issues, I suggest the following in order to make your child more confident and you less curious about your child’s hair and how it relates to agriculture.
1. Make the time for daily grooming comfortable and less intimidating. Allow your child to read a book or watch their favorite television show to keep them occupied. Brushing their hair should never feel like punishment. If you’ve got a lot of brushing to do, part the hair in sections and take a break from time to time. When your daughter is old enough, allow her to help brush one section while you’re working on another to make it a team effort. Most importantly, never make derogatory statements about their hair. It’s something that they should be proud of and is part of what makes them unique.
2. Most likely, your hair products are too drying to use for their hair. Textured hair requires more moisturizing products than straighter hair. Because of the twists and curves of the hair follicle, natural oils from the scalp have a harder time reaching the ends causing those with longer lengths to experience dryer ends. This is another reason why hair with texture doesn’t require as many washes as straight hair. Focus the shampoo product on the scalp and conditioner on the strands. This is another effort to let both products do what they were designed to do. Too much shampoo (especially if it’s drying) on the hair strands will strip the needed oils. On the other hand, applying lots of conditioner on the scalp can clog the scalp when the focus should be on the strands.
3. Hair conditioners are key products for the hair whether it’s worn in its natural state or straightened. If you look at a piece of hair under a microscope, it looks like a string coated with fish-scales that are made of keratin. With textured hair, these fish scales don’t lie as flat as straight hair. The bending allows the hair to have more flexibility although the flip side to that is the opportunity for water molecules found in humidity to gravitate to those openings, resulting in frizz. Choose a moisturizing conditioner that coats the hair and protects it from outside elements, but doesn’t weight the hair down. As a rule, go heavier on conditioners for hair that has tighter curls and courser strengths. Other products that help are leave-in conditioners and serums.
4. Brushing the hair takes a little more muscle, but the key is in the technique. Sectioning the hair when it’s time to detangle hair gives you more control of each area. When brushing the hair, use brushes that bend a little with rubber bristles and don’t have a ball at the tips, causing unnecessary snags. If using a comb, opt for a wide tooth comb as opposed to a fine tooth comb which doesn’t allow the hair to naturally move smoothly through it. Hold the hair tightly with one hand, detangling the bottom portion and working your way up towards the scalp. Gripping the hair tightly protects the scalp from the feeling of tension. Expect courser and more voluminous hair to be located around the crown of the head.
5. Despite any claims by products on the market, there is no miracle product for hair. The key to healthy, manageable hair is to keep it healthy. Watching what your child eats ensures that the hair is fed the necessary nutrients for growth. Taking care of the hair that has already grown is all about finding the right types of products specifically for their hair type. For specific hair recommendations, go to www.SwirlPower.com, click on the Hairitage page and answer 3 questions about their hair type.
Instead of reading the front of the bottle, take a look at the first 5 ingredients of each product. Shampoo products should contain Ammonium lauryl sulfate, cocamidoprpyl betaine, lauramide DEA, propylene glycol or sodium laureth (not lauryl) sulfate. Conditioners should contain a natural moisturizing ingredient such as cholesterol, lanolin, shea butter, coconut oil, jojoba, olive oil or tea tree.
Svenya Nimmons is the author of the book Just Because I’m Mixed Doesn’t Mean I’m Confused: Empowering Within and Discovering Your Hairitage, available online at Amazon.com.