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......

OliviaGrace, I just got this info through the People in Harmony email newsletter:

... book written by an African-American for parents on styling 'black' hair. It has photographs with instructions on how to do different styles such as corn rows and twists. A bit pricey at £8.99 (US import) but might come in handy for hair styling ideas for kids with curly hair:

Kinki Kreations by Jena Renee, Broadway Books, New York, ISBN 0-7679-1369-8
She also has a website www.kinkikreations.com

here you go girls

morning franch. Hope all well at your end. There's a wanted thread for a freeview box which I'm keeping an eye on for you incase someone suggests where to get a really cheap one.

You are a very useful person, Mars. Will put a 'watch' on the freeview thread

Thanks for doing the link, I was far too lazy

Does anyone in Hatfield braid non-afro hair? email me at [email protected]

I use Curly Q's and Blended Cutie products on my daughter's hair and i find them brilliant. They are formulated especially for mixed race babies and children and it is all natural ingredients. They are American brands and very pricey to get shipped over here but i have found a couple of UK websites which stock these products - www.foundationz.co.uk and www.naturalfrizz.co.uk

WOW this looks promising I have spent a FORTUNE on hair products for my girl!! Nothing has worked so far..Also I do find the water in London is drying her hair out ,as when we go back to Norway her hair looks healtier and got a natural shine. Any advise on styling? Iv seen some kids with her hair type have curls that look more relaxed + together and dropping down. Not her wild stand out of the head look incl frizz
totaly my fault..All the crying every morning before rushing out the door..there must be another way...

Message withdrawn

ive tried all afroo hair products, irish and african ds! so go to boots get a loreal detangler, start with that first esp on days when u avnt got time to spend ages putting in products! and then i use aussie minute miracle ( for long hair) leave in conditioner, then i use umberto gianna curl mousee (in a pink can) it all works wondesr, then blow dry, or leave to dry naturally! make sure the hair is saturated and detangle with fingers then a comb! and use aussie minute miracle shampoo and conditoer in one and detangle when wet! ... and use frizz ease serum after washing hair, the one in the purple tube! afro hair products leave it greasy! ... hope that helps!

Great thread!

I have always treated DD hair (British/African) as Black hair and only ever take her to Afro h/dressers. I always imagine I would get funny looks if I took her into a European h/dressers

Woody's curls looks great when wet but once her hair dries then it just looks like a bush, at worse a matted bush.

As much as I would like to leave her hair out all pretty and curly and girly it is not practical so I take her to get it corn-rowed forthnightly.

A friend of mine who has very frizzy curly hair told me to try a product called MOP it is an organic leave in conditioner (not cheap and you can buy it off the internet). It is wonderful on my daughter's hair stops the frizz and it makes her hair like silk, and I only have to use a very tiny amount, so it lasts for ages. Highly recommended.

Has anyone tried "mix chicks" hair products sorry can't remember the web site.I have 3 bi-cultural children, my son has curly hair that i wash once a fortnight,my two daughters also have their hair washed the same, but after washing i gently blow dry it then use Organics herbal tea tree gro and plait it either corn row or single plaits, i too use the power of video to keep them still.
Currently using original source tea tree shampoo and conditioner on all 3.

We just got dd's (15 months)hair done in single plaits in the hope it would tame the frizz, looked good for about 5 minutes then looked shite for a week until i had the patience to take them out. Do cornrows stay in better than single plaits on mixed hair? I guess it's hard to say really cos the hair can vary so much in texture etc but we are desperate for a solution! The main problem we have is that it gets so matted between washes, even if I comb it daily (which i dont always cos dd hates it so much), and the top and sides go huge, while the back flattens down to her head.
Saw a little girl with very similar hair to dd (except hers looked good) on saturday so ambushed her parents and asked them what they used. They recommended Babylove so i've got some and used it for the first time yesterday. Have been using L'oreal kids spray until now and hair was definitely softer and easier to comb with the Babylove. Think i used too much though cos it feels quite greasy today, especially on the shorter hair around the back. DH also complained that where i'd blowdried her hair a bit to get it dry before bed it made her look like a mushroom- I have to say I love the huge fro look though!

I have a few pics up if anyone wants to take a look and offer words of wisdom...

John Frieda

He is a god. It is expensive but it works.

The shampoo is only so-so. But please try his conditioner. It is truly wondrous and amazing stuff. Also the straightening cream separates and detangles better than anything else I have found.

www.johnfrieda.com/products/products.asp?pid=56&section=products&subSection=frizzEase&lineID=4

I haven't mastered the art of neat and tidy links. It's the Frizz Ease product range which is available everywhere, including Boots.

The relaxing creme is very good. Either of the conditioners (straight ahead or curl around) work too.

How sad to read you all see your kids hair as "problem" hair? Says who? I leave my little mixed race daughters hair natural and I think it is gorgeous.

This Empire days are gone folks - leave your beautiful kids hair natural

Hey! It's not about oppressing hair in a quasi-imperial way, you know.

It's just that mixed race hair left natural just bushes out in a semi-afro. So if you grow it long, it bushes out big and needs a bit of taming.

The same is done with afro hair too. In my father's country, where I was born, it is common to relax, restrain by plaiting, even use butter on the hair.

Lawd! Mille what you've said is SOOO patronising.

My daughters' hair is a'challenge' rather than a problem.
I love their hair but it's like neither mine nor DP's so it takes a bit of work to find products that are ok in their hair.

As for leaving their hair 'natural', are you demented?

DD's wouldn't be happy as they'd look like Sideshow Bob and we wouldn't be happy as we'd know that one day we'd have to comb it all out. I have no idea what you childrens hair looks like, lovely I'm sure but this is not a one solution fits all, kind of a challenge!

By the was I use Elasta products on my daughters hair which is caucasian in texture but as curly (not frizzy) as you like. Particularly a spray called H2O which leaves their curls soft and in lovely ringlets all day.

I use (I'm mixed too but my hair is more 'black') a creme leave in conditioner by Elasta, it's great.

Elasta's products don't tend to smell too strongly and are about the price you'd expect to pay for hair care products that aren't salon ones.

Easy, can you post a link? Where do you get it from?

Jeg er norsk Bor nå i Oslo, har bodd 12 år i London.

I have to be honest and say I do think it is sad that people put their kids hair full of chemicals (often strong and dangerous) just to "tame" the hair.

Yes of course all mixed hair is different but who says wild afro hair is not beautiful? I think it is an identity issue and it is sad that so many black poeople keep straigtening their hair to look European (the products are banned in norway luckily, or at least some of them)

Sorry about the disappearance, my MW came to see me.
I usually just pop to a market or any black hair care shop and they always seem to have Elasta products. I can't right now but I'll do a proper trawl of websites and post anything that's vaguely useful to this thread.