Taking Care of Your African-American Child’s Hair

All hair is not created equal and that’s not to say that Caucasian hair is superior and African American hair is inferior, they are just different and beautiful in different ways. Viewing a picture of Angela Jolie and Brad Pitts daughter Zahara prompted me to write short “How To” manual on taking care of African American hair. That beautiful little girl’s hair is often hidden underneath a hood or hat and in my opinion it is not as healthy as it should be. So in an effort to assist parents everywhere in managing hair that is “different” than yours I am offering a few tips.

Curly Hair

If your child’s hair is curly like Zahara, I recommend keeping it moisturized especially when the weather is dry. The best method is to wash it once a week or it will dry out. Applying heat to her hair at this age should be an option, but braids or plats (as they were called when I was young) should be your very best friend. After washing your child’s hair with an alcohol free shampoo, apply a leave in conditioner. Carols Daughter has a children’s line that works for various hair types. Whole Foods Market is also a good place to go because they have high standards for the ingredients that they allow into their products. After washing and conditioning you need to comb the hair out in sections, and always use a wide tooth heavy comb or vented brush. Start from the bottom and work your way up to the top. Next you want to apply a cream like Miss Jessie’s Curly Buttercreme or Carols Daughter’s Hair Milk and then part sections and braid hair into two braids. This is a good way to allow the hair to dry naturally. If your child is going to bed, just carefully tie a silk scarf onto their head she should sleep just fine.

You should wash condition and stabilize your child’s hair at least once a week. It use to be Saturday nights before in preparation for Sunday service for me, but you pick your day. On normal days, you want to spray a light leave in conditioner and by any of the previously mentioned vendors and use a dime size of a creme before brushing your child’s hair with a bristle brush into a single ponytail with a bun or two pig tails or whatever looks the cutest.

Coily Hair

If your child’s hair is more so coily than curly, then you follow the same exact steps, when it comes to washing and drying. Coily hair that is ultra kinky or very tight is harder to maintain, but just as delicate. It’s important to keep it moisturized and trimmed by a professional. I also recommend you exploring the possibility of having your child’s hair professionally braided. However, stay away from micro or ultra small braids, as they might cause breakage around the edges of the hair. The summertime is when the most breakage occurs in African American hair, so I highly recommend braids in the summer, but do continue your weekly regiment of shampooing and conditioning, and get her to wear a swimmers cap in the pool if you can. When visiting a salon that offers braiding, be sure to be firm on what it is that you want and check around to make price comparisons.

How to Get it Straight

Typically speaking most African American girls don’t get their hair permed until they are at the very least 12 years old. Some might disagree, but if you take care of your child’s hair, it can be trained to be various textures and it will be as healthy as you make. “Black” perms are much different than “White” perms. We usually get our hair permed to make it straight, no curly. In fact curly perms on African Americans can be quite disastrous.

Unless your child’s hair is soft, semi wavy or very manageable in texture, “Blow-Outs” don’t work either. Pressing and/or flat ironing is usually the only thing outside of perming that makes our hair straight. But like anything else, heat should only be applied in moderation.

The best teacher of all is experience, so if you don’t have any African American friends or family members, try and join a club or attend social functions where you can mingle and trade tips with African American moms. And lastly, if you get frustrated, always remember that most little girls like looking like little girls so ditch the baseball caps and hoods and buy her a sparkly head band that will buy you some time as you learn how to care for your baby girls’ hair. Best of luck to you.