Ok Annette & April... HAPPY NOW?!?

BEHOLD!

White Momma Gots Skills!

In the mountains my sisters gave me a hard time because of Ruby's hair! I ran out of hair product, so it looked dry. Very dry! And I truly do not blame them. It usually looks a lot better than it did that weekend. I just had nothing to put in it and with the cold weather the moisture was zapped! And although I kept it pulled back in a hair band, they were giving me a hard time about the things they thought I should do with her hair!

The problem is, Ruby will tell you she wants Jovie's hair, or Callie's hair... totally unrealistic! She was on her "I wish I had Callie's hair" kick! And us Branscome women... if our kids says they want it bad enough we have got to figure out a way to get it for them. Therefore my sisters set out to convince me of ways to help Ruby get "Callie hair" because "She wants Callie's hair!". At least she was on her "I want Callie hair" kick and not her "I want Jovie hair" kick! Loose curls seems more attainable for her than stick strait! I always just tell her that she has beautiful Ethiopian hair that we love and is beautiful!

So, the problem my sisters tried to fix is how to get her texture to be looser curls and give her a Callie effect. In order to do this, I would have to use a texturizer (aka HARSH chemicals). To get her to have strait hair like Jovie I would have to use a relaxer (aka even HARSHER chemicals)! Then any amount of water she may get on her hair would be really bad because it can BREAK! Yep... that is what I said... the chemicals make the hair brittle and you have to then be very careful not to break your child's hair! Also, if she ever did not want to have a relaxer, you have to cut the hair off and start all over. Or go through a really long awkward time. She needs to be old enough to make that choice.

And also her hair is still young, you just don't want to put chemicals on a 6 year old's hair! (I asked my neighbor when I got back from the mountains. I did not want Ruby to be the only kid without a relaxer if that was the status quo. Yes, I succumb to peer pressure from time to time!) I was worried that maybe I should be at least putting a texturizer on it, but all my African American neighbors said no. So I shall listen to them! Plus, I don't want to be known as the white momma that ends up frying my African child's hair off! That would be terrible and I would never live it down! Because trust me, I have women at church and in my neighborhood that check up on me to make sure my poor girl does not look too ridiculous!

So... I have been waiting for it to grow! I did not realize how short it used to be and how far it had come until I looked through some old pictures. And I am proud of how far it has come and how healthy it is! I learn a little bit more about her hair every day and as it grows she shall be even more fabulous than she is now!

But today I carefully picked her hair out as big as I could and discovered it was finally long enough to pull back, so I am so THRILLED it is finally long enough to give her the cute little piggy "puffs"! So here is her new do! I am still learning and I realize the part is not perfectly centered or strait... but it's a start!

April and Annette would be proud!!!