A Mother Speaks About Doing her Daughters' Hair: A Must Read

PinkyD

New Member
I came upon this Washington Post Article while reading the Root.Com. The author writes about combing her children's hair. There is alot of talk about Ultra Sheen, twists, the Obama Girls, and the bond between a mother an daughter. This is the sweetest article. There are also some beautiful pictures of the author and her daughters, all of whom have great hair. There is a comment in the article about her daughter's discovering they could never growwaistlength hair. I thought...hmmm:look: she should check out this place. Check it out!

Here is an excerpt:

Soon now, these days will be gone from me. As I settle myself on the couch, my 11-year-old daughter, Savannah, brings me her hair basket: comb, water bottle, hair grease, barrettes. She plants herself on the floor, squarely between my knees, and I begin my work. There's the everyday hair-doing, but wash day takes more time, and slowly I separate the thick, kinky tangle growing from her head. I rub in a dollop of grease -- Kemi Oyl or root stimulator lotion, but mostly just dark blue Ultra Sheen (I like the standards) -- to make the hair obedient, and part it into sections, clipping each firmly to her head.

My hands are slower and gentler now than they were when she was younger and I was younger, with a career to chase, and an older daughter who had her own head of hair for me to do, and another baby yet to come.

Sometimes, if I was pressed for time, I could get by with a few surface brush strokes and a liberal application of gel to make the girls passably presentable, but it took 20 minutes of work to make them look special. Twenty minutes to make them feel pretty so that neighbors would comment on the straightness of their parts. Twenty minutes to be reassured that I'd sent my children into the world making clear that they were valued and loved. Twenty minutes. Every day. Minimum. Apiece. For me to feel assuaged that if one day, please, God, no, they suddenly disappeared, I could persuade the 24-hour cable networks that my girls really were worthy enough to be news-- because, after all, black mothers can't recall a time where missing black women and children got national media attention.
 
I enjoyed this article. However, I will never teach my little girls that they can never have waist length hair.
 
i was upset by her telling her baby about the no waist length hair.....my hair is the longest its even been at APL and still growing like crazy :( if only my mother was more patient, used better products who knows how long my hair would have gotten...wsl here i come .
 
No waistlength hair? Boy, that is so sad. I hope this family runs into a black longhair in the grocery or something... and has to concede that Yes, We can!!!

I can't really be mad at the mother. She is passing on her truth. She, like so many other black mothers, believes that waist length hair is impossible for her and her daughters. So she is trying to be honest with them.

I never thought I could reach WL either, until I ran across a woman on my college campus who had thick healthy hair that was probably TBL, as her 2 Pocahontas braids reached to about her waist. Only when I saw that woman with my own eyes and could see that her hair type was like mine and she had gained that length did I believe it was possible.
 
Awesome story. It brings back memories of my mother doing me and my sister's hair. It's so hard to break the myth that black women cannot grow waistlength hair yet so many women on this board have done it.
 
i was upset by her telling her baby about the no waist length hair.....my hair is the longest its even been at APL and still growing like crazy :( if only my mother was more patient, used better products who knows how long my hair would have gotten...wsl here i come .

I was confused about that part - maybe I didn't read it clearly. I thought the daughter said that she wouldn't? I don't think the mother said that to her. *goes back to read*
 
Oh, I read the whole article. Not so sad.


Guys, it's not the end of the world for people to think we will never have WL hair. Yes, they are misinformed, but it really doesn't kill souls.
 
The overall point of the article was the beauty of a mother and daughter sharing a moment. I thought the WL comment may catch some eyes, but it's also good to see the overall messgae :)
 
That's sweet, I remember the loooong walk from the bathroom with the comb and grease up to the living room when I was little. I used to hate having my hair tied up so I would end up taking it out and it was all tangled by the time I had to get it done.

Boy, my mom saying "Go get the comb and grease"..she could just as well say "Go outside and get a switch" lol.
How to be a tender headed little girl again.
 
I came upon this Washington Post Article while reading the Root.Com. The author writes about combing her children's hair. There is alot of talk about Ultra Sheen, twists, the Obama Girls, and the bond between a mother an daughter. This is the sweetest article. There are also some beautiful pictures of the author and her daughters, all of whom have great hair. There is a comment in the article about her daughter's discovering they could never growwaistlength hair. I thought...hmmm:look: she should check out this place. Check it out!

Here is an excerpt:

Soon now, these days will be gone from me. As I settle myself on the couch, my 11-year-old daughter, Savannah, brings me her hair basket: comb, water bottle, hair grease, barrettes. She plants herself on the floor, squarely between my knees, and I begin my work. There's the everyday hair-doing, but wash day takes more time, and slowly I separate the thick, kinky tangle growing from her head. I rub in a dollop of grease -- Kemi Oyl or root stimulator lotion, but mostly just dark blue Ultra Sheen (I like the standards) -- to make the hair obedient, and part it into sections, clipping each firmly to her head.

My hands are slower and gentler now than they were when she was younger and I was younger, with a career to chase, and an older daughter who had her own head of hair for me to do, and another baby yet to come.

Sometimes, if I was pressed for time, I could get by with a few surface brush strokes and a liberal application of gel to make the girls passably presentable, but it took 20 minutes of work to make them look special. Twenty minutes to make them feel pretty so that neighbors would comment on the straightness of their parts. Twenty minutes to be reassured that I'd sent my children into the world making clear that they were valued and loved. Twenty minutes. Every day. Minimum. Apiece. For me to feel assuaged that if one day, please, God, no, they suddenly disappeared, I could persuade the 24-hour cable networks that my girls really were worthy enough to be news-- because, after all, black mothers can't recall a time where missing black women and children got national media attention.


Wow! This made me feel something. This was beautiful and sad at the same time.
 
Her daughters have beautiful natural hair..with time and care they can achieve great length...how many of us didn't think we could achieve the lengths we had until we tried.
 
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That was wonderful. And the truth of the matter is that the issue is not coming to the belief that we'll "never have waist-length hair." It's the realization of our otherness. I remember when I learned that I was different from everyone else, and I think that that's what she (the author) and the child are truly mourning.
 
Okay...because I am extra and couldn't help myself, I emailed the mother and told her that there were hairboards available online where she could get information about hair. I also told her about all the ladies on them that have grown hair to and well beyond their waists.
This is the reply she sent me:

Wow!
Thank you so much for reaching out in a spirit of generosity and sharing.
I'm so please that you were moved to offer me a resource that has worked
for you.
And, I'm really happy to take a moment to clear that up. Other's have also
thought we were
crying because Syd's hair would never reach for her waist. Her Aunt Dana
and I were actually
crying because she was crying; because she was in so much pain about the
way she looked and no
matter how much we tried to reassurre her and love up on her, we couldn't
take that away.
Some readers have actually taken exception to that part of the article (and
the fact that I use Ultra Sheen !) but I was really just saying how
pervasive these standards are and what an assault they can be on our girls.
I want to thank you again, though, for coming at me with love and hair
tips!!!
If you'd like, please post a comment at the end of the story sharing your
story and offering that resource to other readers.
Glad to be able to clear that up.

All my best,
Lonnae O'Neal Parker

So from that, I'm guessing that she didn't tell her daughters that they couldn't have long hair, and that it was just..a misunderstood portion of the article. I know the folks in the comments are giving her hell, (someone called her a self-hater) and it's not right, because she obviously loves her children.

And if you look at the pictures attached to the article, the girls seem to have beautiful, thick, and long hair. The mother has some lovely hair as well, so I can't imagine her telling her daughters that they couldn't have long hair. I think the issue was that her daughter was upset that she didn't have the kind of hair that hangs and swings, like the ladies in those hair commercials. So I think the mom meant that their hair literally wouldn't reach for their waists. Not that it wouldn't get that long.
 
Exactly! I see you beat me to the punch, I was going to message her too, alos sorry for the doublepost guys, I didn't realize that my first post made it :)
 
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