I remember as a young girl seeing “Just for Me”, commercials and thinking, “What is wrong with my hair the way that it is”?
My aunts were beauticians so I was very familiar with black hair in all of its forms and found it strange that you had to go to the store to find something to make you beautiful.
I had a long, thick variety of hair that caused the neighbors to become alarmed because of my “tender head,” they could never know that my mother was such a puritan that she would NEVER been seen putting Pink lotion or any other souped up relaxer of the day on my tresses.
As I style my own young daughter’s hair I think about what she may have to face due to ignorance. With a head of thick hair like her mother’s, I see the need to stress the fact that it’s not what’s on the top of the head, as much as what is in it.
Your children have to know that they are valued and beautiful regardless to trends and tantalizing advertisements that favor ease over health time and time again.
Many of these products never divulge the damage that they do to the actual strand and follicle of the hair. While plenty of them say that there is not enough of the chemical “lye”, to actual harm the scalp, many parents almost always burn the scalp, causing damage because the product is applied to long and this can cause it to get in to the blood stream. Once the strand is “cooked”, this cannot be undone and you must wait until the the hair regrows or breaks off due to prolonged damage.
Coconut Oil, Shea Butter and all natural products are great when styling your child’s hair and water works miracles. A weekly hair regimen will keep your babies hair tangle free, healthy and manageable! Use a wide-tooth comb and start from the ends of the hair. Moisten with a bit of water and work with small sections at a time. You just have to put in a little work and it pays off! Don’t be concerned with the length of the hair as much as the health. Every one’s hair grows at a different rate any way.
You can never win if you favor ease over overall health and this applies to the body as a whole! We all can be found guilty of taking shortcuts, however, when you know better you do better. We are responsible for teaching our children the best way first and leading by example. They are most beautiful in their nature state contrary to what this society leads us to believe.
Teach them to value themselves and that hair is just that! What’s in the head counts. We have to work together to build up children of substance and value to build a new world that is not convoluted with ignorance and lack of love for one’s self.
