If you'll notice on the side of my blog, I added a new section, titled "Hair Care." I did some research today because I was feeling a little out of sorts with trying to understand how best to care for Levi's hair. (Let me tell you, there is a definite lingo and I had to look up a few terms "4b hair" & "co-wash" to make sense of what I was reading). I had done some research prior to his arrival, but I haven't done a very good job of execution since he's been home. His hair has been a little dry and frizzy, so I needed to figure out how to do better in this area. First of all, we have several bottles of Johnson & Johnson baby soap and shampoo all in one...that definitely doesn't cut it. We also got a bottle of Paul Mitchell (a gift)...that's not working either. When it comes to black hair, you have to toss everything that you would do for your own hair out the window. Unfortunately, I have had the right products (Mom got them for me for Levi for Christmas, not the J n J or Paul Mitchell), but I haven't been using them properly. So here are few things I learned today...
1. There are different categories of black hair. I think Levi has type 4a - very tightly curled but somewhat soft.
2. Co-washing: washing hair with conditioner and no shampoo. Shampoo tends to dry out the hair.
3. I should be putting some sort of style product (jojoba oil, leave in spray) in his hair daily (or some even recommend twice a day) to keep it from drying out.
We had been washing Levi's hair about every three/four days or so, with the shampoos mentioned above. I should probably cut this back even more to about once a week and only do the co-wash. I had also not been putting product into it nearly as often as I should have. I did co-wash it tonight (with Oyin's honey-hemp conditioner). I then added Oyin's Whipped Pudding (shea-based cream) and combed through with a wide-toothed comb while his hair was still wet. And finally, I will daily put in Oyin's Greg's Juice (herbal leave-in) to keep it soft and to hold the curl. I love his hair, and I want to make him proud by taking good care of it like any good momma would! I am looking forward to learning more and trying a few cool do's as he gets older!
PS. Oyin is awesome because it's all handmade and all natural ingredients. If you haven't found something that works, I would encourage all adoptive parent's to check it out!
No comments:
Post a Comment