Mixed Race Hair

[KatieMac]

If I start it here they can move it to the right place (If they decide to start a topic (& ever decide what to call it))

where do I start......

Fear Not ladies,i totally understand,iam a Black African woman with a mixed race daughter,iam sorry to say iam one of those Black mother's who see mixed race kids with a white mum as someone mentioned above,"the pressure of getting it right". I endeded up setting up a shop that stocks products for mixed race kids,from shampoo,mousturisers that tackle ashy skin...idea hair brushes which my 3 year old curly haird daughter calls the better brush.
Lin 07733353236

Fear Not ladies,i totally understand,iam a Black African woman with a mixed race daughter,iam sorry to say iam one of those Black mother's who see mixed race kids with a white mum as someone mentioned above,"the pressure of getting it right". I endeded up setting up a shop that stocks products for mixed race kids,from shampoo,mousturisers that tackle ashy skin...idea hair brushes which my 3 year old curly haird daughter calls the better brush.
Lin 07733353236

hi,

check out this blog. i've become a huge fan of this website.

www.gidore.com/mixed-race-haircare/index.php/community/

Hi Bane,
Just checking how it's going with your daughter's hair. Sorry for the very delayed communication. Delilah is absolutely correct in that heat irons must not be used on children's hair. And using an iron with oil has the effect of cooking the hair.
If you've not had any improvement as yet, just go through a period of only conditioning her hair once a day or every other day. Don't have the water too hot when you rinse it.
Then add some Nectar Thermique from Kérastase to the damp hair before you brush it out gently from tip to root with a Tangle Teezer type brush, or a very wide toothed plastic comb.. If it is long enough to plait before bed, plait it every night. The britishcurlies.com website can guide you towards the best leave in conditioners for her hair type.
Conditioning it regularly, but not shampooing is the key to healing any damage done. It worked for me after a hairdressing disaster with a chemical straightener while out of town. I thought all was lost but my regular hairdresser in London advised me to do this over the phone and it saved my hair. It's all thick and healthy again.
If your anywhere near South London, you can bring your daughter into them, they'll be great at advising you. They are called Andre Pierre and they're on Coldharbour Lane in Brixton. 0207 978 8392. The owner is Andrew. He has a little girl with mixed hair too and is great with kids.
All the best.

Wow, this must be one of the oldest threads going, I've picked up some great tips here. My daughter is 3yrs, I'm white, dad is nigerian. Her hair is fairly curly though very fine like mine so does knot quite a bit. I suppose thats the challenge with mixed kids is the inheritance of that european fine hair combined with curls does tend to equal some quite unruly hair situations.

I find my DDs hair relatively easy to handle once you get over some the knots. Her hair is complimented on by other nigerians we know so hopefully I'm doing something right but I think I've had good practice managing my own ultra fine, though straight, hair. I might consider having it properly braided when its longer but its lovely as it is at the moment especially when its loose and well conditioned.

Whatever you do .....DO NOT HAVE IT CUT OUTSIDE A CITY CENTRE...... please go to a hairdresser used to african hair.. I mad ethe mistake of having my thigh length curls (took 1hr 1/2 to wash) cut at local hairdressers. She didnt realise how much curls spring up and ended up witha very short afro.

Next had guy who claimed to do afro hair and did give me an afro hairstyle from 1978.

I have now found many hairdressers who refuse to do do do my hair. Thankfully I have a friend who is a hairdresser and can uasually style it but for longentivity I have to go to Manchaester - Snippers - looks really pez- but they do a good job. 0161-834 2524

From having straw - like + greasy hair. I leftSnippers - across fromm Victoria Station - looking pretty fab. FRINGE of hair looked natural and not glued on as well!

It is pretty incredible that in this day and age people still don't know how to handle this hair. I've been turned away so many times from high street hairdressers when all i've wanted was just to have my hair set on good old fashioned curlers/rollers.

My dd has much softer hair than mine, but still struggle. Tried the Aussie stuff, and was no good. I've invested in the Curly Q range for children. I saw a blog entry on www.gidore.com. so i'm giving it a try. The little girl who uses it has softer hair than my dd, but so far so good. i don't know if i'm putting it on right, but at least it's not as dry or overloaded and greasy as it has been in the past.

a friend is training to be a hairdresser. she has nvq level 2 now, but says she has hardly any experience of curly hair, because it is the fashion to straighten it. apparently all the 'models' who came into the college with curly hair wanted it straightened. i think that is very sad.[hsad]

DD wants to cut her hair, she needs to shower loads atm & it's very hard work

Can anyone recommend a hair style for her?

I have natural afro hair every few years , just to give my hair a break from straightening, (I have also just shaved it off and had a skinhead for a while), It is really hard process to get back to your pure hair shape after straightening esp. if a short style, as it can take years to get the same length.

I have a short straight style now and would love to back to 'afro' but the transition means looking like a boy or having a crap hairstyle for a while till the 'straight' grows out. I really don't want to go through this long -winded process just yet. Maybe next autumn when I can wear a hat!

Hey Royaljelly,

Have you had a look at www.gidore.com.

There is a blog on there with a couple of people who are also transitioning. It's quite useful and the videos also show some of the best products to use on your hair when going through this process.

i'm def going to this event:
www.gidore.com/mixed-race-haircare/index.php/events/multi-textures-hair-workshop/

I use Naked products on my mixed race hair ( lots of crazy curls). Free of nasties, Smells great and cheap too and available at most Boots. They have a kids range too, but I use the Miracle leave in conditoner on my girls hair ( they have loose waves and not afro at all ), when it feels a little dry and it works brilliantly for all of us, just alter the amount of product used. After years of struggling with trying to find chemical free products that actually work, this range is a God send. Brilliant and cost effective, as my family just share the same products!

I agree Addy, I'm using Naked products as well and they are fab, especially the Miracle Worker leave-in conditioner. I also find the Curl Tamer mousse really good, although it is not easy to find in Boots (I found it online). And paradoxically, the range of products for long straight hair (can't remember what it's called, smooth something) is also very good on curly hair.

Another vote for Naked products here - and you can get them at Boots, which helps.

I also use Aubrey's Organics Swimmers shampoo & conditioner.

For styling, my current favourites for the DDs are Kinky Curly Knot Today & Curling Custard (when loose/in bunches/ponytails etc) and Africa's Best Kids Organics Hair Lotion with Shea Butter (when plaiting).

The British Curlies website is very good and you can email them for individual advice.

Naked Little miracle leave-in conditioner: has it been discontinued? can't find it anywhere, argh! I tried Boots and KMI club websites without success. :(

Please please please someone tell me it ain't so, it's such a fabulous product...

Hello!
First time posting but I hope I can help someone.

I have a dd who is 9 month old. Her dad is white European and I'm of mixed african decent. I thought I would find it easy to care for her hair but I have to admit it was a struggle to begin with

I then found a book which has really helped me, it's called "curly like me by Teri LaFlesh" - I'm not sure if this has been mentioned?

The advice is simple yet very affective! Her hair is a dream now and mine (Afro) is in the best condition ever

I use the curly Q custard which is pricey but worth investing in. I also make up my own morning refresher for "bed hair" it's coconut oil, jojoba oil and water -shake together in a spray bottle and it wakes up her and my curls.

Yes lots of Teri fans on here! Thanks Loulou

Luckily I've got boys.

Number 4 all round

I realised very quickly that I wasn't going to be able to do a thing with it. My eldest has very tight, wiry, full afro hair and it is actually easier than my youngest son, whose hair is all over the place! Some straighter bits, some curlier bits and sticking out in all directions. When it gets long enough, it goes into beautiful big ringlets. But mostly he looks like he's been dragged through a hedge backwards.

I can't get a conditioner that does a thing for their hair though.

i have 3 bubbas. my eldest son has thick wavy hair so no hair problems there, my youngest son has golden curls that used to be quite dry but since hes had hes hair cut its soft and can run fingers through. my daughter though does have runglet curly hair that can get very dry and coarse. so far ive used : johnsons shamp + cond = well we all know johnsons has that nice baby smell and it did make her hair soft but the after math was just a mess so dry and very coarse. dark and lovely beautiful beggingings 2 in 1 shamp, detangler, oil moisturiser = used the shamp on all my kids hair and really liked how it cleansed well and made their hair soft and the detangler on wet hair was great but again my daughters hair went back to being coarse and tangled the nexy day and the moisturising oil was quite greasey on her hair, they all had a pleasent smell though. right now im using a range call naked kids range on their hair. my boys love it as it has different scents. on my daughters hair i also use the naked kids detangler and their curl divine serum + bit of morrocan oil and seems to be doing the job. though if it werent for the curl serum and morrocan oil i think her hair would revert back to coarse. i also tried roots2ends baby hair butter which smelt lovely (like a cake) and was nice when put on damp hair and left to dry naturally but it wasnt great at defining her curls and again was abit on the greasey side. i dont have loads to spend on hair products so would like to find a range i could use on all their hair, one that is ideally for kids and made from natural products (free from parabens etc) and that conditions without grease and defines curls! any suggestions peeps???????? lol x

p.s i also thought id add that though i havent yet purchased a satin pillow yet i do tie her hair up at night before bed to prevent tangles so am making all round effort! :)

Hi misslala,
I use the naked range on my dd's hair who has, like your dd it sounds like, very tight ringlets that can get really dry. We use the "smooth" conditioner, which is meant for long straight hair but actually works really well on dd's hair as it is very rich and moisturising (and also smells lovely!). The "little miracle" leave in conditioner and "curl tamer" mousse are also very good. What I like about naked products is that they are for the most part made of natural ingredients, contain no silicones, smell nice and don't break the bank. And they work!

You could also try the tightly curly method which, again, I find works very well on my dd's hair.

Good luck! :)

hey so coincidental you mentioned that, just today i noticed theyve stocked little miracle leave in conditioner and i got it! lol it contains argan oil which is a blessing as argan oil has worked absolute wonders for all of us especially baby giurls hair but cant really afford to keep buying it when it runs out. im actually really looking forward to using this naked product when i next wash her hair. (the things us mums get excited about lol) i wash their hair twice a week im sure thats enough, ive heard that its bad to wash it more than that, but then ive seen other mums wash their kids hair every 2 days. anyone else have an opinion on how many times you wash your mixed kids hair? :)

My dd (7) an ds (5) have completely different hair dd is a ball of frizz and ds is very tough afro. I wash hair once a week sometimes leave it for 2. Would be more if plaited. Is the Teri method with conditioner and denman brush? If so I do that and the best ever conditioner ever ( 7 years of trying ) is lidls conditioner for dyed/ coloured hair! It really is the shit! Second best is Aussie blonde ( found that when I ran out of theirs) lidls is only 79p so well worth a try!

I used to use black products for her hair like soft and lovely cream/ jam / blue magic / dark and lovely but I swear lidls conditioner rocks compared to anything else. Although I still use olive oil shampoo and the olive oil glosser ( you can get those in boots)

Misslala, my dd's hair gets washed at most once a week, usually it's every other week or so, a lot less if in plaits/cornrows (we usually get that done at a salon for the summer holidays). Usually we have a "refresher" in between two washes, where she gets it really wet and I comb it through with, funnily enough, the little miracle conditioner. I don't think it's a good idea to wash very curly hair too often as it's so very dry. Also I simply don't have the time to do the whole routine so often as I work full time and she goes to her dad's every other weekend.

Inneed, that's a good tip about the Lidl conditioner. I'll check it out next time I'm there. And yes, the Teri/tightly curly method is with conditioner and denman brush.

Good luck with all the curls! :)