youtube viewer email

I got a great email yesterday from one of my youtube viewers and I thought I’d share it and my response with you.

Hi Franchesca
I was looking for information about hairdos for locs and I found you. I have 3 1/2 year daughter who I adopted at birth. Her hair has been a learning process for me. She is African American I am a white Jewish girl from WEST PALM BEACH. We have made some progress as she becomes more tolerant and I become more knowledgeable but I would really like to eliminate the constant tension and struggle of maintaining her hair. Anyway I found you and she watched some of your hair vlogs with me. We are inspired (more me than her). What do you think? Should we loc up her hair? Any advice you could offer would thrill and delight me.

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first, thanks so much for your message. i’m very flattered that you would ask for my advice. personally, i think 3 is a little young to start locks. while it’s a great style, the first year requires a lot of patience and maintenance. i’d say wait till she’s older and let her decide if it’s a style she’s interested in. in the meantime, there are a lot of cute and easy styles that she can wear.

as opposed to locking her hair, why don’t you look at doing 2 strand twists? All you do is part her hair into sections (you can decide the size of the sections), secure with a rubber band and then twist two pieces of hair and fasten with another rubbber band. here’s an examples of the style

you can leave the twists in for about a week, or as long as they look fresh and not too fuzzy. also, if you twist her hair while it’s wet, you can undo them after they’ve dried and her hair will be really curly, which is another hairstyle option. here’s an example of the style which is called a twist-out

There are also a lot of great books and websites on natural hair care for children. Take a look at http://naturalhaircareguide.com/childrens-hair.html

Also check out, It’s All Good Hair: The Guide to Styling and Grooming Black Children’s Hair

my last suggestion would be to find a local black hair salon and perhaps get her hair braided in cornrows (depending on how much hair she has this may or may not be an option)

just be careful that they don’t braid her hair too tight, which can be really painful. the salon can also give you product and maintenance suggestions. but pleeease, i implore you, do not perm/relax her hair. at her age adding chemicals to her hair is a big no no and can ruin her hair and not to mention, burn her scalp! i would say wait till she’s a teenager before entertaining the idea of perming, even though i don’t recommend it.

i hope my reply wasn’t too lengthy and was helpful. best of luck, and thanks again for your email. take care.