
;
*hold forehead and heaves a big sigh*
I hated this book.
Really hated it.
Even though I don’t have a little girl and my son’s hair is for all intents and purposes as unkinky as it gets, I decided to review this book because it was available at my local library. Please, if you are looking for advice on how to care for your daughter’s or son’s hair, find another book.
It starts off well enough: Kinky hair is not “bad hair”, nurture your child’s hair, seek professional advice if you feel overwhelmed. That was the intro. Then the first chapter starts off with:
Many African American infants are born with very little or no hair; I call it “angel hair”. It’s so pure and new, but when that DNA kicks in, the true texture starts to push out the angel hair and the real hair comes in.
WTF? So what is that new hair coming in? Devil hair? And I see AA infants on a regular basis and most of them have a good deal of hair, so I don’t know what she’s talking about.
She goes on to talk about taking care of infant hair. The book is divided into sections based on age and nothing truly bad comes up in those early years except she wants you to shampoo the mess out of those babies’ hair. I really don’t see why a3 month old would need his or her hair shampooed every 3-5 days, but *shrug* maybe that would work for some.
She does mention some good things, like combing the hair when wet, using satin pillow cases, widetoothed combs, etc. She suggests braids, twists and cornrows, especially for that darn “kinky” hair cuz you know you can’t do much else (sarcasm, ya’ll). But then it just gets terrible.
In the 8-12 year old section there’s a helpful hint that says:
Most conditioners do not work well on virgin hair–hair that has no chemicals in it–so it’s important to use a cream rinse followed by a detangler.
Ok, I guess I have virgin hair and it lives and dies by conditioner. I did notice that she didn’t really mention conditioner up until this point and that she was all over some oils, hair dressings , and cream rinses. Then I get to the curly section for the 8-12 year olds and she suggests conditioner followed by a leave in conditioner for curl definition. Hey, I’m all for curl definition, but the “kinky” hair could benefit from the moisture that a leave in and regular conditioner can provide.
But beware, reader, of those “unruly and wild” curls, you might need to texturize or relax those to “control” them.
So then she gets into relaxing. Another crazy statement, after she mentions the need to be knowledgeable about relaxing products:
Fortunately, many African American beauty companies have put a lot of time and money into research and evelopment to provide us with quality products.
Time and money? Poured into …what?…mineral oil sales? I’m sorry, I just don’t’ know how true that is. I will say that she did have a good chapter on preparing the child’s hair for the relaxer, even suggesting the strand test. I guess if you’re going to relax your kid’s hair, this might be a nice guide for you. She then goes into caring for the relaxed hair, styling it, etc.
Then I get to the little boy’s section, which is all of 3 pages long. She claims that:
Hair texture plays a key role when deciding what you can or cannot do to your son’s hair.
and then
The styling will come easy as he grows. Either continue using the same techniques and styles that you used when he was three, or experiment with different variations of combing, trimming, cutting, braiding or locking; but please, no chemicals.
No …chemicals….for boys… but….? I have no words, ya’ll.
None.
Ok maybe a few more. She has another chapter on cutting or trimming the hair and this was a little jewel of wisdom I picked out for ya’ll. After mentioning again that texture is VERY important in what you’ll do with your son’s hair, she says:
For instance, if you son has kinky wooly hair and braiding is not an option for you, then it is probably time to cut his hair when it’s too long to comb or brush.
I was done at this point. She mixed some good information with a lot of misinformation and misconceptions. I’m so glad I didn’t buy this book.
Let’s see, let me say something good: The kids in the book were really cute.
Things that might’ve helped this book:
- Product suggestions, instead of “dentagler” or “conditioner”. Maybe even what ingredients you should look for.
- Before or after pictures of some her clients