Blog Entry
Posted by Kristen Alldrin on June 17, 2010 to Family Life blog
As soon as we met our kids in Ethiopia, I knew I was in over my head in the hair-care department.
(click any image to enlarge)
A Hair Braiding Party
Our friends wanted to learn how to do yarn braids, so they came over and spent a couple of hours with us on one of our braiding days.
Naomi with a few braids
We were just getting started on Naomi. Her hair is so short, that it was difficult to do.
Naomi's New Hair
She loves having long hair.
Olivia's Finished Braids
This was a lot of work, but it sure looks pretty.
Samuel Gets in on the Action
Samuel plopped down in front of Mackenzie and said, "Hair, hair, peas". We'll show this one at his wedding some day.
Thankfully, I had a sweet friend in our travel group that had some experience. Lisa helped me comb out Olivia's hair and get it tamed enough to hold us over until our visit to the hair salon the next day. We paid to have Olivia's hair cornrowed in Ethiopia and it lasted for a couple of weeks. I was thankful to not have to worry about hair maintenance while I was getting over jet-lag.
Once we were home, my friend Abby came over and gave me some pointers and set me on the path to success with the girls' hair. She told me that I would learn by trial and error about how to best care for and style their hair and she was right.
Caring for my Ethiopian childrens' hair is not a job I take lightly. I want them to look nice and well-kept. It shows them and everyone else that I love them enough to spend the time it takes to care for their hair properly. I have also found that the time I have spent lotioning, combing and braiding their hair has been wonderful for bonding. Physical closeness came naturally with my biological children. Breastfeeding, holding and diaper changing helped me bond with my babies. With our adoption, I have had to find different ways of developing the physical closeness. It is a lot easier with Samuel, because of his age and size. I carry him around a lot and he loves to be held. With the girls, it was a little awkward at first. When I held them on my lap, they didn't "melt" into me like my other girls do. They are really too big for me to pick up and carry, so we have to use a lot of hugs, kisses, pats on the head and, of course, tickling. Hair care just creates a natural physical closeness.
We have settled into a routine and a style that my girls and I both like. It is labor intensive to put in, but then it lasts for a couple of months. With my busy life of caring for seven children, I found it difficult to set aside 2-3 hours each week (usually on a Saturday) to devote to a new hairstyle. The braids I had been doing (box braids) looked sad after one week, which was discouraging for me. I did a little bit of research on YouTube and some other adoption blogs and found what I was looking for: yarn extensions.
I didn't know if I would be able to do it, but thought I would give it a try. I bought some black acrylic yarn at the fabric store, popped in a movie and set to work. Olivia was my first victim...er...customer, since she was the one who had hair! She was very patient with me (it helped that she loves movies). I was blessed to have Mackenzie's enthusiastic help and we were very pleased with the results. Nine weeks later, we decided it was time to do them again and this time, we would also try them on Naomi. Naomi's hair is still very short from being shaved last October in Ethiopia. Her hair is almost two inches long, and it was very difficult to get the braids started.
Here are some photos of what we have done with the girls' hair. Samuel's hair is very simple. I cut it myself with some clippers I bought at the drugstore. After trying many different hair lotions, we finally found some Hair Butter that we like. It is all-natural and made locally by a homeschooling mom. She even featured a video of Samuel on her website:
www.hardlotion.com/hair-butter
How long did it take to do both girls? Well, with Mackenzie and I both working, it took about 10 movies. You figure it out!
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