Our first post-swap! :) I am really excited about this ... Olivia from
Write About Birth has written a very cool piece for us... and in exchange, I wrote a (hugely enormous) piece about my birthing experience for her blog. If you are pregnant, or planning to be, or know of someone else who would be interested - Head on over there to learn about your birthing options! And read story after story of people who have been there and done that - and what they thought about it all! Definitely a good read. (Not to mention all the things there are to learn!)
~*~ Enjoy!! ~*~
As my daughter was crowing, the midwife commented: “Just a little more now, I can already see the black hair!” That sounded good to me. Throughout my pregnancy, I imagined a girl that would have black, straight hair, just like me. My High School biology class taught me that dark genes are dominant, and therefore I would certainly have a child with black hair. But my midwife was wrong. My daughter’s hair was not black at all – just wet.
We were wrapped up in blankets after the birth, and as I was trying to get my daughter to nurse for the very first time, I realized that my daughter’s hair, of which there was lots, was not black at all, but ash blond. And it was curly, too! My daughter has the kind of hair that everyone in the Balkan country we live in would kill for. Half the female population spends hours in salons across the country bleaching and perming their hair.
We get comments about her hair all the time. “Wow, her hair is beautiful! She will never have to dye it!” is the most popular one. “Such a dark mother, and the kid has blond hair!? How is that possible?” is a less welcome remark, and the one that still shocks me is: “Why do you color your toddler’s hair?” Sometimes it’s said in jest, but other times it is obvious the rude intruder really thinks that my daughter’s blond hair is not natural.
So, what do we do with this blond and curly hair? When it was relatively short, it was not all that hard. I would just let my daughter’s hair do its own thing. Now that my baby is almost four years old, and her hair pretty long, figuring out how to best care for her hair is becoming more of a challenge. For the longest time, she actually dreaded having her hair washed, to the point that she would scream for half an hour if I just mentioned the word “hair” and “shower” in the same sentence.
Those battles have been and gone now, though she still prefers to wash shampoo out of her hair with a little plastic cup filled with water, rather than with the shower. Because her hair gets frizzy really quickly, the kid has sampled more hair care products than I have in my entire life. Our morning routine involves spraying some kind of curly hair serum into my daughter’s hair, combing it, and then styling it.
We have about three hairstyles at our house. Two pig tails look great on my kid, and she loves picking quirky elastic bands. In this hot weather, it also keeps her neck cool. I do braid her hair sometimes, when she lets me, but that is a rather rare occurrence. Of course sometimes, we just allow her hair to be what it is, and flow freely.
I still haven’t found any answer to the question on how to keep the frizz at bay, and especially during our extremely hot summers this is a huge problem. Can you help? What hair styles are quick and easy to do, and stay in place all day long? What kind of hair products, if any, would you use for a four year old with long, curly hair?
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Thank you Olivia! (Isn't she a fabulous writer?!)
Does anybody have any suggestions for this curly blonde beauty? :D Let us know in the comments! As for my answers, well, that's why I started this blog! Some I've found, and others are always ongoing. In order to make this as easily accessible as possible, I'll use each of Olivia's questions as upcoming post topics. Be sure to check back! :D
