Tweens and teens often find themselves somewhere between wanting to fit in and wanting to confidently embrace their own identities. So what happens when that naturally curly head of hair is suddenly too old for bows and barrettes, but not yet in need of professional adult styles? Step away from the relaxers and join us as we explore natural hairstyles that find the balance between individuality and the desire to fit in.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Doing It Herself
After Syd's last style came down, I decided to let her try doing a style on her own from beginning to end. I was right there with her for every step of the way, of course. We took down each section of the old style one at a time, and she braided each section about halfway down before moving on to the next section. By the time she finished, there were 8 sections of hair that were partially braided.
She washed her hair while it was in these braids. I made sure to stress the importance of extra rinsing to get all the shampoo out of the braids. She did a great job...there was no shampoo hiding in any of the braids.
Then we unbraided one section at a time, added some Shea Moisture Curl and Style Milk, and detangled.
Each section was then divided into 4 smaller sections, and each of those smaller sections was put into basic 2 strand twists.
I did help with the sectioning of the hair so that the twists would be approximately the same size. I also did a lot of the twisting in the back where Syd couldn't see what she was doing. But Syd did the twisting everywhere else. She did a great job taking her time and making sure the twists were done tightly.
The roots were fuzzier than when I do her hair, and the twists became fuzzy all over after only a couple of days, but she will improve with time. Overall, she did a wonderful job for her first attempt at styling solo. Well....almost solo. :)
One important lesson I stressed through this process was the art of keeping hair as tangle-free as possible when moving from one style to another. It just makes for a faster and much easier styling session.
Syd has also been learning to cornrow on my head. One of these days I'll post a picture of my own hair after a practice session. :)
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She did such a great job! I wish I could convince my sis (around the same age as Syd) to learn to do her own hair or at least let me do something with it but she's just so content with letting it look a mess! Lol.
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so sweet =) i can see my own daughter standing in the mirror attempting it too. gave me happy/sad feelings lol.
ReplyDeletei think it's great you're helping her to learn now, that way when she's 20, she won't be so frustrated with her hair and tempted to relax it or cut it all off because she doesn't really know how to care for it.
good mama points for you!
Aww! Good for her! I remember when I started doing my own hair--I felt like such a grownup. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm stuck in bed after getting my wisdom teeth removed so Bunny convinced me to let her co wash her box braids all by herself. I got to hand it to her, sounds like Syd and Bunny both did great jobs. Soon the little ones will be taking over all the blogging themselves!
ReplyDeleteWOW she really did do a great job!!! YAY SYD shes such a mature young lady! What a great momma you are teaching her the right ways and taking your time to stress the importances to her :) God Bless you and your family!
ReplyDeleteAww, she did a great job!
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