Previously, In this series of articles on care of African American children in transracial adoptions, I have discussed winter skincare, summer skincare, and basic hair care. I am now discussing advanced hair care problems for African American children. One of these is mixed raced hair care, which was dicussed in a previoius article.
Next, I want to address care of long hair of African American Children in Transracial Adoption.
African Americans, typically do not have very long hair due to the fragile nature of our hair. Therefore, anything shoulder length or longer is considered long. Here are the special things you should do to care for long hair.
Basic care: Use the same products that you would use when dealing with basic hair care. You will need to use a lot more product, however.
Combing: When combing long hair, do not put the comb (wide toothed) in the hair at the root, and drag through the length of the hair. Black hair is too thick and curly, so combing straight through is very painful. What you should do is to separate the hair in sections. Comb each section separately. Start at the root, and comb down a few inches. At this point, grab the hair above the comb, and hold tightly so the child cannot feel you pulling the comb through the length of the hair. If you feel resistance, or if the comb does not easily go through the hair, stop, find the tangle, and separate it with your fingers. If you take this gentler approach to combing long African American hair, chances are your child will put up less of a fight when they see a comb.
Styling: There are several ways to style the hair of an African American Child with long hair. The most natural way is with braids or twists. If the hair is very thick, you will need more braids than if the hair is thin. Find a braided style or two that is suitable for your child, and braid or twist the hair, after each washing. You do not have to comb the hair every day. Some braided styles will last through washings and swimming. (The picture above shows my daughters twisted hair)
Protect: To protect your child’s hairstyles and to keep their length, you will want to protect their hair. For boys, purchase doo-rags and similar head coverings to wear at night so the hair does not get frizzy which will necessitate combing. For girls, use scarves, bandanas, and sleep bonnets. If your child does not like anything on his or her head, consider buying satin pillowcases that will allow them to move about without fraying their hair and ruining hairstyles.