Biracial Child Hair Care

by Ashley
(Oregon, USA)

Hi Camille,

I have a few questions about dealing with black hair. I know I'm posting this in the wrong section, but I couldn't find a link for asking hair questions.

I am white and my own hair type is very thick, wavy/curly, and somewhat frizzy. I've always had my own problems with hair and I didn't even think about my future kids potential hair problems when I married my husband, who is black. I have no experience in styling or caring for black hair. Between me and my honey though, our kids didn't have a chance at getting easy to deal with hair. My daughter is 1 and I am totally at a loss as to how to care for her hair. It grows so fast and she's at that age that I really need to do something with it. It's between #3 and #4 type hair. It's really curly/kinky and there is a whole lot of it. Is there some special shampoo/conditioner that I can use to help make her hair a little bit more manageable? I don't want to use anything too harsh, obviously, because she's so little.

I've been surfing the nets looking for tutorials on how to braid and style her hair, but I'm not finding a whole lot. I'm so worried that I'm going to hurt her head though doing something tight to keep it out of the way. And I don't want to cut it short just because she's so darn cute and I want her to look cute and girly.

So basically, I'm wondering what I can do to keep it healthy, keep it out of her way, but something that I can easily do with a squirming one year old and a complete lack of experience.

Any advice at all would be more than welcome.

~Ashley

Camille's Answer:

Hi Ashley,

I emailed just you with my reply. :)