My mom, maternal aunts and grandmother all have Type 4 hair and as a child my hair was Type 3B and during puberty, it changed to 3C. Needless to say, they didn't really know what to do with my hair, but they would soon learn. Luckily, my mom was super creative and experimented a lot with my hair. She was actually doing the "Twist 'N Curl" style to my hair long before it had a name. She also used to make big curls by dipping a brush in a cup of water. A similar technique used today except with smaller sections and a comb is called a coil out. I also wore braid outs, the same way I do today: rolled at the ends. My hair was about waist length or longer throughout most of my childhood. It was mostly up in two pigtails, so much so that my hair had been trained to have a perfect part going from forehead to nape. I only wore it down for photos or special occasions. My grandmother used to take me to the salon with her quite often just so the lady could wash my hair and put it back in two perfectly braided plaits and that's why my part was always on point. On the weekdays, they would just put some Luster's Pink Oil or Wild Root and water in my hair, brush it and re-braid the plaits. It wasn't until I was eleven years old that I got my first blow out. My mom was always super strict about heat. If I was caught using her curling irons, hot rollers or even gel I was in big trouble. I wasn't allowed to wash my own hair until I was about 13. I think that was a good thing because I didn't know what I was doing.
How did you wear your hair as a child? Do you remember how your parents dealt with it? How old were you when you got your hair straightened for the first time (if ever)? How old were you when you first washed your hair by yourself? Do you remember? How do your parents feel about what you're doing to your hair now?
I wore a lot of protective styles although no one called them that. My signature style was the front corn rowed to the middle at an angle shed leave a little section at the top and tiwst n add barettes, and the back would be in 2 puffs. Occasionally she would put braided extentions in my hair which I would hate sometimes because she would get tired and not finish the middle and I'd have to wear a bun at the top of my head until I took em out. Lol she denies this. But I did have some pretty sick styles :D
ReplyDeleteAs a child, my hair was hot combed (one of those old ones you heat up on the stove) every week ever since I can remember. Then put into several plaits like most little Black girls.
ReplyDeleteAs I got older, I graduated to two ponytails or plaits.
I wasn't allowed a relaxer until I was 13. Or maybe it was 10. Then, I religiously wore my hair in a pony tail.
I don't think I washed my hair by my self until high school. It was just too much hair and my mother thought I'd ruin it, lol.
My mother really hated when I did the BC and went natural. She believes that my hair will never be as long again, that it will never look professional enough and that it was just prettier relaxed. She still gives me grief sometimes though it's been a couple years now.
My father was immediately supportive and continues to be. He doesn't say, "Whoo look at that head of hair!" like he did whenever he saw me combing or washing it when it was relaxed, but he does compliment it. And I am grateful.
I was the box braid queen! That was my style staple throughout most of elementary school. It was easy and meant my mother didn't have to deal with it often. Many times she would wash it braided and just rebraid it. My hair was mbl most of my childhood. I think I can remember getting my hair pressed 3 times during my childhood (before 12) - graduation, weddings, that's it.
ReplyDeleteMy mom would plait my hair or french braid my hair. She would wash my hair in the kitchen sink, and then she would blow dry my hair or hot comb it and "grease" my scalp with Pink Luster.
ReplyDeleteAs I got a bit older and my hair got even thicker she got more frustrated and broke down, got my hair relaxed( I think I was in 5th grade). It never looked right since,lol and since my hair grew so fast I had to get a touch up a lot, which we both disliked.
My mother would also take me to a local beauty school and they would literally run when they saw me, my thick hair and my mother coming in,lol I also would have four people trying to do my hair which was not fun.
When I went natural in '95 it took awhile for my mother to get use to my hair, she was more worried about how I would wear my hair than the texture but she was the first in my family to accept my hair.
yah its really very intresting and funny thanks...
ReplyDeleteCheap Jay-Z Tickets
I was definitely blessed to have a mother with long, beautiful and NATURAL hair. She took very strict care of my hair when I was little because my hair was thick and long. She would braid it EVERY night into many sections and since I was terribly tenderheaded, she would use a spray bottle of water to help ease out the pain during combing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started high school I completely ruined my hair by cutting it to my shoulder and getting my very first relaxer. I will regret that for the rest of my life but for the last 2 years, she has been helping me get it back to it's natural state. :)
I thank God for her.
LOL My story is opposite form urs. My mom, aunts and grandmother all have 3B hair and I had type 4. She didn't know what she was doing with my hair. Early on she would have someone cornrow my hair and leave it in for WEEKS. Needless to say I've been doing my own hair and perms since I was like 7. SMH.
ReplyDeleteMy mom would wash my hair once a week and every morning she would put it into multiple braids with ribbons. I think in 3rd grade I started to get my hair pressed every 2-3 weeks. My mom never forced me to press or relax my hair, it was really my choice. I always wanted my hair to go "down", and my peers and teachers( hispanic) kind of encouraged it by telling me they liked my hair better straight. I'd always admired the curly- haired black girls but didn't realize until 6th grade that my hair was like theirs to some extent. So I stopped pressing and just wore my hair out all poofy or in braids until it reverted back. This time was very frustrating and I contemplated getting dreads or chopping it all off; but i perservered and 2 years later my mane was back. After my mom saw my hair in it's natural state again, it inspired her to go natural again too. :- )
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