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| So fresh and so clean clean! All washed up and adorably poofy. |
There were a few days maybe three weeks ago when I almost lost faith. The only thing that stopped me from cutting out the knotted ends of his embryonic locs was his love for them. I couldn't do it to him. But things were getting bad. It wasn't just that his head and hair was dirty and smelled earthy. The white flaky scalp fungus so common in Ethiopian orphanages that had become a distant memory in our home returned. I started to feel like a neglectful mom. For a few weeks I treated the patches on his scalp with tea tree oil and hoped his locs wouldn't start falling out. It seemed to help, but I couldn't entirely get rid of the fungus. I tried the lotrimin that both the kids and I still seem to need from time to time, but I knew what I really needed to do was wash his hair.
We took a trip to the natural foods market and got ourselves some Knotty Boy shampoo (with tea tree oil) and, for good measure, some tightening gel. I waited a few days. I considered calling Rehab Salon and having them on backup in case my washing went horribly wrong. Then one night, I just snapped and threw him in the shower without his shower cap on (gasp!). I lathered up his head - twice - and his dreadlocks stayed in! His hair felt so fluffy, maybe a little too fluffy at the roots, and clean and smelled so good.
I threw in a movie and sat down behind him with the locking gel. An hour or so later, we were done, and his hair looked great. I washed his hair a few more times that week. One night Brent asked me, "Should you be doing that?" and I replied, "I know what I'm doing. I'm his momma."
The locs are here to stay and his scalp is once again fungus free. We washed and re-twisted the locs tonight. It took less than 45 minutes. Some of them are as long as my pointer finger. We have another tightening appointment after Thanksgiving. I'm going to start researching tightening techniques and then we'll be totally self-sufficient. We all love them!
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| Movie in. Totally enthralled. Re-twisting finished in less than an hour. Don't they look refined? |
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| After I finished Ashagre's hair Elsa gave me a traditional Ethiopian head-wrap. For a momma that has never known how to do her own hair, hair care has become a pretty central part of our lives. I really enjoy it. |
His locs are gorgeous. I really want to do locs on my son but the ladies at the salon where I took him discouraged it. I think I might do it anyway. What are your thoughts on it?
ReplyDeleteKait I would say find another salon. We had them installed at a salon specializing AA hair and specifically recommended for dreadlock installation. I could only find two and they were both in Hollywood. The experience at the salon was super warm and fun. I love taking the kids there. They are totally doted on for a few hours and I love, for once, being the only white-skinned person in the room. Even though I've pretty much got dread maintenance down now, I think I'll keep taking him to the salon just for the experience.
ReplyDeleteHow long is your son's hair? I remember it being pretty short yet from your blog. We had to wait until his hair was at least 3 inches long (it was probably actually 4) and couldn't wash his hair for 4 weeks. That was the hardest part, as his head got pretty dirty. Then we took him back for tightening and they washed his hair and I didn't wash it again for another 5 weeks or so.
Oh, one more piece of advice - There's lots of ways to install dreadlocks. I recommend finding someone that will just put in twists and let them loc up on their own - no wax and no painful/damaging backcombing. It worked great for us!
I can't believe how long A's hair is! And I don't know how you can keep your hands off of those delicious twists...they would be my perfect fidget-objects!
ReplyDeleteAside from that, though, it makes total sense to me that you love doing the kids' hair (and they like doing yours!). It's a way of showing (and taking) care, being creative, and getting in those touches without, necessarily, having to connect on any other level. When I think about how *physical* it is to take care of a small child, how much skin-to-skin contact is a part of every day (or hour), my heart breaks open (again) when I picture life for kids who spent their first years in a big group-care setting.
Jennifer - I can't keep my hands off his locs. I play with them constantly. He doesn't seem to mind, but I know its a big No No culturally with AA hair, so I've been trying to stop, at least in public. I also play with Elsa curls and constantly pull dog hair out of both of their hair :)
ReplyDeleteSuper super cute!
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