Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge

What can I say? Participating in the first ever Baby Big Hair Frotective Challenge has been nothing short of FROTASTIC!! An amazing group of mommies (and one big sister) swapped tips, tricks and frotos while we challenged ourselves to keep our little ones' hair big and free for four days.

Here are JJ's styles for the 4 days - we went from a shrunken 80's-style 'fro on day 1 (top left), to a stretched via twists for Day 2 (top right), to an even more stretched via banding for Day 3 (bottom left) and finally a zig-zaggy texture (also achieved through banding) for Day 4 (bottom right; more details to follow soon).

Please head on over to the BBH voting page to take a look at everyone's amazing four days of fabulous big hair! You really don't want to miss this!!

Big and Free Natural Hair

My work life has been crazy for the last few months.  As a result, JJ has been spending most of her time in protective styles that have stayed in for 3-4 weeks each. Because her hair has been in twists or braids much non-stop, it has been a long time since she has rocked her free, loose hair.

I try not to go too long without giving her some "big hair" time... I find that after seeing herself in braids and/or twists for extended periods of time, it takes JJ a while to re-embrace the big hair look. This weekend has been no exception. I detangled and separated her freshly-washed and still damp hair, applied some Queen Helene Royal Curl Creme, and told her we were done. She was unhappy. Actually - very unhappy. She expressed very clearly that she did not love her hair. It made me very sad.

Thankfully, Daddy D arrived home at that moment. Now he ***loves*** JJ's big, free, natural 'fro and is truly her hair's Number One Fan! He was very enthusiastic about her hair, and they posed for a few Daddy-daughter photos.

Then Daddy D headed out to run errands and invited JJ to come along. She forgot all about not loving her hair and accepted the invitation.

When she got back, she had gotten used to the big hair again, and added some (well, 6 or so) hairbands to accessorize. Daddy D and JJ spent some great quality time together washing the car and enjoying life.

Daddy D tells me that perhaps I've put too much emphasis on her hair... and that I should let her have free, loose hair more often. I agree, but I am also aware of how tricky the "wash-and-go" is with her incredibly shrinky hair. A big, free 'fro is hard to maintain during our busy weekdays.

I measured - 8 1/2 inches of shrink!!

We do surf the net often, looking at photos of fabulous big hair. I am forever pointing out and admiring big hair when we are out and about - so much so that my kids will point out big hair to me - before I even say anything. I do hope that as my work schedule winds down I can change up JJ's styles more often and maybe simply seeing herself with her free and loose hair more often will help her love it as much as Daddy D and I do....

Any thoughts. ideas, or opinions on balancing the BIG HAIR 

with longer-term styles? 

Or on helping JJ embrace the awesomeness of her big hair? 

We would love to hear your thoughts!!

Happy Easter: featuring Huffleblossoms!

Happy Easter!!! 

Blessings to you and your loved ones. 

We have had a wonderful long weekend full of reflection, joy and time with extended family. The weather has been beautiful and spring is in the air (yes, even way up north here in Canada!). Our tiny garden is beginning to blossom, and JJ is obsessed with looking at and learning about plants and flowers. This new interest has extended to choosing to wear dresses with big flower prints, as well as flower clips in her hair. Her absolute favorite clip, without a doubt, is this GORGEOUS Huffleblossom!! 

Now Huffleblossoms are NOT your ordinary hair accessories.

Besides being gorgeous, they are unique - and durable! 

Would you believe that the flower in JJ's hair is made out of duct tape?!?!?!?

I can't really believe it either. But it is pure genius. 

JJ is one of the most active and rough part-tomboy, part-princess kids I know, and this Huffleblossom still looks brand new after countless wears. Many of her other accessories have become scraggly-looking very quickly. The duct tape is super strong, and doesn't attract dirt or become misshapen like JJ's other fabric flowers do. 

At $6 for a flower clip these are a great deal - period. 

But the other really important thing to know about Huffleblossoms is that they are handmade by the very creative mother-daughter team over at Tweeny Hair (aka Rae and Syd). And the funds they earn from their creations at the Huffleblossoms Etsy shop goes to a very worthy project....

You may remember that last summer Rae and Syd went on a 9-day missions trip to Guatemala (see the AMAZING trip photos here). Well, they are going back! You can read more about the upcoming trip to Guatemala here. They will be once again be helping with building projects, distributing food, and holding medical clinics. Rae and Syd are already making a lot of personal sacrifices in order to cover their expenses for the next mission trip, and are also fundraising through Pay it Square. Please consider making a donation if you can, and check out the Huffleblossoms Etsy shop for duct tape flowers, fabric flowers, and **NEW** ladder ribbon necklaces.  

Source: http://www.etsy.com/listing/96641853/ladder-ribbon-necklace

Gorgeous!! 

Speaking of gorgeous, a few last photos of JJ and her favorite flower:

 

And links to other Huffleblossom reviews for further oooh-ing and aaaah-ing...

Intermittent Babbling

Charlotte's Avenue

Boys and Girls Natural Curls

Braid with Me

Diva Locks

Untrained Hair Mom

Baby Big Hair

Mainly Braids

Goldilocks 'N Me

Curly Hairdo Ideas

Precious Curls

Happy Easter! Love from JJ and Mama M

Copycat "Style" - Inspired by CurlyGirlyB

I am super excited to be participating in this month's Hair Carnival!! This time around it's all about recreating each others' styles. I was paired up with Shelly, the author of Curly Girly B. Shelly is a mama who, like me, is trying to figure out how to best care for her daughter's curly hair. My all-time favourite post from her blog is this one, on hair care basics for curly hair. She covers a ton of important need-to-know info in one spot.

Side note: Shelly's taking a little break from adding new content to her blog, but do go check out Curly Girly B for some great info and to see more pics of B and her gorgeous curly hair!!

For the Hair Carnival, I recreated something that some might not consider a "style" per se; maybe more of a technique. But I was really inspired by a post where Shelly totally achieves beautiful, defined curls on little B. Here are her cute curls (copied with permission - thanks Shelley!)

Here's B: she is too cute!!!

I am always looking for ways to get curl definition - for both JJ's 4B(ish) hair and my own 3AB(ish) hair. 

When I saw that adorable photo of B, I was inspired to try her technique - she defines B's curls with a Denman brush.

One of the first tools I purchased on my hair journey was a Denman brush, since it seemed like the word Denman was mentioned in every other blog I read. But I never really got into using it. I found that I was finger detangling more than I was using a comb or brush. Because I am "curl-defintion challenged", my own hair spends a lot of time in a ponytail, and JJ's is usually in twists or braids, so neither one of use spends much time with loose hair.  

  

The A-Ha moment came when I read Shelly's next post, which has a link to a video demonstrating how to use a Denman brush to achieve curl definition. In all my blog-reading, I had never caught onto the fact that the angle of the brush would help to define curls. I'd just been using the Denman like I would any old brush.

I tried the Denman technique first on my own hair. Here is what happened:

My kinda frizzy, not very defined curls after a long day at work.

Freshly co-washed with Mixed Chicks Leave-In

Better definition with good Denman technique

As an experiment, I decided to only brush one side of my hair with the Denman brush. I left the other side to dry without brushing it (my hair had been thoroughly finger detangled in the shower). I took pictures of each side to compare as my hair was drying:

Dry hair:

No Denman

Yes Denman

Can YOU see the difference? It may be hard to see in photos, but I think the Denman side really was more defined. The curls clumped together more, and were generally less frizzy. Here is my Denman side the next day:

The next day - still quite defined!!

So what about JJ's 4B(ish) hair??

Well, I think there's potential, but the missing factor seems to be the clumping bit. Her tiny coils separate easily, and never seem to clump together well, even using the Denman brush. She has very "cotton candy" hair. When brushed, even with the Denman, even using the special technique, even using a variety of well-recommended products, I found it really hard to get her hair to clump together:

see the little defined curl?

Maybe I haven't yet found the right product.

Or MAYBE her hair - with its tiny coils and extreme shrinkage, can not do what I am trying to make it do? Which is okay, because I love what her hair CAN do - the versatility of her hair is my favourite thing about it.

yup, those are small coils!

just a reminder of the extreme shrinkage factor

Feel free to offer your thoughts on "curl definition" for JJ....... I'd love to hear from you!!

Big and Little 'Fros

I've been doing lots of experimenting with Big Hair. I'm even working on a post about it! But in the meantime here are a few photos that are just too cute (in my humble and totally non-biased opinion) to keep to myself. BTW - please ignore the product residue on JJ's hair - like I said - I am experimenting!! I was checking to see if the residue would be gone when hre hair was completely dry. It was not. I think in my zeal I used too much leave-in condish - but it came out well with another rinse. Sigh...always learning! 

My hair is bigger than yours!

But I still love you!

For the record: JJ's major shrinkage

Down and/or Out

It's the weekend, Daddy D is home, the kids are napping, I have a big work project due soon and I am procrastinating - all of this helps to make my recent posting "binge" a reality.

I've been wanting to think out loud here about "down" hair. In JJ's case, "down" hair isn't really a reality, it's more "out" hair. Daddy D kept telling me that once she had some length her hair would hang down instead of out, but I'm not convinced.

Below is the most "down" JJ's hair as ever hung without the help of a twist-out or braid-out. Lots of shrinkage.

 Freshly washed, with shea butter and coconut oil....
oops some coconut grit visible in this pic.

She REALLY didn't like the way it looked, but was happier with a headband:

I absolutely **LOVE** her hair out like this. But....she doesn't really, which makes me feel very sad. She'll look in the mirror, and ask for braids or twists. I want her to love her natural, "out" hair. When I talked about this with the amazing staff at The Curl Ambassadors they counseled me to keep her hair "out" as much as possible so she gets more accustomed to seeing it this way. They also recommended I make sure she sees lots of hair like hers in our dolls, books, and community. This is something we've always tried to do, and I'll dedicate another post to this topic soon.

There is another, practical issue with "out" hair. As I've mentioned, on weekday mornings I'm on my own to get the 3 kids to their 2 different day programs so I can get myself to work. "Out" hair takes more time in the mornings than I have. I'm trying to compromise by styling with bigger puffs, or half-up half-down hair. Braid-outs or twist-out towards the end of a hairstyle are also working for us.

Along these lines I thought I'd try out rollers. Maybe give JJ's hair a looser curl pattern (that might not get as tangled...) so we could get through the week without braids and twists? I found these satin-lined rollers at a very good price at my local discount store.

Sitting with satin rollers

Slept overnight with the silk scarf
that came with the rollers!

In the morning, rollers out.

Curls separated, added a bow.

So neither one of us loved this look. I tried to save it by putting the loosely curled hair into four ponytails with an x-part (sorry, no picture). In the end I gave up, spritzed JJ's hair to bring back the "real" curl pattern, and went with a puffy fro-hawky ponytail.  Live and learn!

P.S. Some more procrastinating/surfing brought me to this post on elongating curls at Beads, Braids and Beyond. Seems like a missing link for JJ's hair coud be overnight conditioner for easier morning detangling?

P.P.S. More procrastinating: I just read this post on the Dangers of Afros and feel better about using 2-strand twists as the default hairstyle....

More Little Brother Hair

K's hair with Supercurl cream

K's hair never gets as much attention as JJ's. As I've said before, he's not too big on manipulation. I've been experimenting with different products for his hair. He has a different curl pattern than JJ - with tighter coils framing his face and looser curls at the top of his head.

His usual routine:

• Shampoo every week or two depending on circumstances, using a no-sulfate shampoo or a mix of warm water and baking soda. Then I leave conditioner in for as long as he's willing to sit in the bath, finger detangle, and rinse. Occasionally I go "all-out" and comb with a wide-tooth comb while the conditioner is in. "Style" clean hair with a leave-in product or shea/oil combo (coconut/almond/macadamia).
• In between shampoos, co-wash (with conditioner only) and finger detangle. 
• Daily routine (morning): spritz with water/jojaba oil/leave-in conditioner mix, finger detangle while applying coconut oil. In the evening K sometimes sleeps with a cap, especially because he likes to do what his big sister does. When I remember I apply some shea butter mixed with either coconut/almond/macadamia oil before bed.

Once in a while I'll use some fancier product on his hair. The other day I used some of JJ's Uncle Funky's Daughter Supercurl Miracle Moisture Cream. It looked and felt soft, and smelled amazing. Interestingly, it seemed to make his coils even tighter.  JJ asked him if he had a hair cut! I've been able to "revive" the Supercurl cream so far (three days) which makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth (I'm a bit thrifty, and this cream was not cheap)! Did I mention it smells nice? I'm not big on scented products in general but I do find this one pleasant.

The Trim

Freshly trimmed,
with Supercurl Cream

A couple of weeks ago JJ and I ventured over to The Curl Ambassadors for a trim. The stylist, Shanlea, had infinite patience for JJ's uncertainty about the experience. After realizing very quickly that sitting on a chair in the main part of the salon wasn't going to work for JJ, she took us to a quieter "back room" and brought out a bag full of toys including lots of curly-haired dolls. JJ settled into playing hairdresser with the dolls.

This is to show the texture
(I need a better camera!)

The Curl Ambassadors specialize in dry-cutting (trimming dry, as opposed to wet hair). After a trim, Shanlea washed and conditioned JJ's hair with Deva products for curly hair and then used the Supercurl cream by Uncle Funky's Daughter. Check out the fabulous videos for Uncle Funky's daughter products. We picked up a tub of the Supercurl cream, and use it for loose hair, and sometimes for twists. So far I'd say it's good, but it was quite pricey - about $40 (with tax) for 8 ounces. I use it quite sparingly because of the price. I usually use shea butter and almond oil for twists (see my post on The Usual Routine).

Shanlea gave JJ her own "curl map" with personalized instructions for curl care. She answered my million+ questions about JJ's hair and was very well-versed about products and their ingredients. It was a great experience all-around. Thanks Shanlea!

JJ's Hair Gallery

Hmmm. Not really sure how to add a gallery of photos. I will work on it. In the meantime here is a slideshow....