What grade would you give your mother for haircare?

[Everything Zen]

A- because she was smart enough to know that she couldn't take care of it and took me to a hairdresser get it washed, pressed and curled every week faithfully until I went away to college. She never put chemicals in my hair either.

 

[ilah]

I would give my mom a B. My mom was never a girly girl growning up so she never learned how to do hair by playing with dolls, playing in her own hair or others. My hair was always neat, moisturized, washed and healthy. I had one big braid on the top and one in the back. I didn't get a relaxer until I was about 10...I think. I can't remember...But she did her best, even though she didn't know what she was doing - thanks mommy

 

[carib_n_curly]

A-

my hair was BSL/MBL. it was soft and got my hair washed weekly or every two weeks.
she used grease and was sometimes a bit rough but i was a nasty kid or i would of given her a A+.
she never use any chemicals or heat in my hair. the first time i got my hair straightened i was 14 and it was with a straightener.

i killed my hair when i was 13/14 and found it hard to get my hair length back and softness, which since finding hair forums i have and back on my way to BSL

 

[Junebug D]

D-. I didn't have bald spots and I was always somewhere between neck and shoulders and my hair always had some texture to it... but then I got chewed out for having texture in it. Washed about 8 or 9 times per year although I had the worst scalp in mankind's history... What a NIGHTMARE, in retrospect.

 

[yaya24]

I give her a b-. She tried. But the resources where not available like they are now. My mother did not have much, and was new to this country.. all she knew was Just for me kits and pink oil moisturizer.

 

[Ozma]

My mom gets an F, but she would tell you the same thing. Until I was 12, my grandmother did my hair and kept it MBL, natural and beautiful. After she died, my mother was clueless. She let me leave the house looking straight trife on several occasions.

 

[DivaD04]

F! she kept me "bald headed". if your hair was noticeably shorter than sl...that was what you were viewed as. alllll through childhood i had no hair.

 

[Cxshortie]

I would give her a 3. She loved to scratch the ish out of our scalps and scratch up all the dandruff and then send us to school with dandruff remnants on our scalp. She only used blue magic on our hair. She washed it like once every couple of weeks and I remember the smell of a burning straightening comb and a few times having singed hair in the back. Typically when we went to school we had a few pigtails or twists, my hair was a good length though.

 

[tthreat08]

My mother gets an A++. She washed my hair frequently (sand box and all)...and never made me feel limited by my hair. My hair never stopped me from playing in the sandbox or playing hard....she'd just wash it. She used lotion to style and ultra sheen on my edges, and it always looked great. I always felt proud of it. In fact, I use ribbons to style my daughters' hair just as she did. My hair was long and healthy.

 

[Tyra]

I say B+.
I was long, thick and healthy.

No rubberbands, no hair ballies, occasional heat, neat trim ends. And she maintained it herself.
She kept a nice hair regime going. On schedule.

It was always soft and shiny. Very pretty.

The only reason I didn't give her an A is because she kept a jar of Blue Magic within arm's reach.

 

[MangaManiac]

I would say a B/B-, she kept it clean and healthy, but didn't really know about keeping the ends moisturized or my hair wrapped at night. Other than that it was always well cared for and I only wore it down for special occasions.

My favorite picture of me as a little girl was when I was in a yellow leotard and tutu with a giant puff on my head. I looked adorable and my hair was obviously detangled, moisturized, and loved!

 

[gissellr78]

I would say an A since she didnt relax my hair until 15. The styles were crazy looking but my hair was kept healthy

 

[BlackMasterPiece]

 

[AlekHidell]

An A for overall health, patience, style, and for educating me. She gradually gave me more and more responsibility over time so I could learn. And she was a good role model because she rarely went to salons and always had very long healthy hair so I was raised to be a DIYer.

 

[Toy]

I love my mother but i am going to have to give her a Big D but she tried.

 

[curali]

I would have to give her an A for allowing me to go to the beauty shop q2wks for a wash
and straighten. She did her best with 4 girls and even though she didn't know about moisturizing, conditioning, etc. she never entertained the idea of 'creamy crack'; that was my stupidity but thankfully I didn't start abusing my hair with that stuff until I was in my 20s.

Thank God for this board and all the valuable information I am learning! Just proves it is never too late to learn

 

[*CherryPie*]

I give my mom an A+

She did the best she could with 10 children (8 girls, 2 boys). I am the youngest daughter so i'm sure she was tired of doing hair when I was born.

She kept me in protective styles. I wore french braids, or just big regular braids, most of the time, ponytails on picture day, and she never relaxed my hair- I did that on my own as a teen. My hair was always healthy.

So I think my mom deserves that A+!

 

[drappedup]

I absolutely love my mother, but I am going to give her a C-.

She definitely tried to give me nice looking hair, but she went about it the wrong way. I had my 1st relaxer when I was 5. In her defense, I LOVED getting my hair done when I was a kid. The 1st relaxer I was kind of WTF/clueless, but when I saw my hair afterward I was in love. And so from then on I regularly got it done. I did ask to get my hair done too. So it's not like she made me go with me absolutely hating it; she would have stopped bringing me if I had said I didn't want to go anymore. I just think her mistake was in bringing me in the 1st place at age 5! I know why she did, because it was seen as a luxury to be able to get relaxers and the fact that my dad could afford it every couple weeks. Plus of course this relieved her from having to worry about detangling my super thick and big head full of hair (she still did my hair, anyway, though, btw, as far as daily combing/brushing/etc.). I know she's told me before that as a kid she was kind of neglected because 3 of her sisters and 1 of her brothers had the straight dark brown hair and my mom (and her other brother, and younger sister) had the curly black hair. And I've seen pictures.....my mom's hair was GORGEOUS. And MBL just like theirs, hers was just thicker and curly, and she used to get put down for it (called nappy-headed and all that.......my mom's hair is 3B btw, so that's WTF in itself). Anyway, I guess, she used to want a relaxer but ma and pa (grandparents) couldn't afford it back in the day, and so she got a job in high school to start paying for her own relaxers, and it was this super big luxury she was proud to be able to afford for herself.....I guess like a teenager buying/paying for his own cell phone bill these days. So yeah, I get that she was genuinely trying to give me what she didn't have as a kid, but looking back she shouldn't have introduced me to relaxers so young.....even though I didn't mind them, loved the way my hair looked and felt, and felt so adult going to the salon and being the youngest 1 in the chair, I was waywayway too young to know the ramifications of what a relaxer was. Hell, NOWADAYS, at age 21 I'm barely learning the ramifications, lol. >.<

So, I love her dearly for trying. She definitely tried to give me all she never had. Including the hair salon visits she had always wanted. So I know it was not out of simple laziness of not wanting to do my hair (like I said, she did it daily and styled it into cute pigtails or french braids or curled it w/ big rollers sometimes for this volumized straight look, etc.). She spent a lot of time making sure I looked adorable 24/7, actually, lol. Clean, matching, cute clothes and accessories, and hair styled. All that. ^___^ It's just she was so uninformed and not knowledgeable of many things in regard to hair.........like the whole satin thing, the whole moisture vs. protein, the proper comb to use, etc., etc.

I don't blame her one bit. In fact, I love that she tried and put in so much effort. That counts for a lot in my book. :heart2:

 

[PJaye]

Grade: A- (4.5)

My hair was very well maintained as a child - regular washing, then "earled" down and nicely braided/ponytailed (I also love the fact that my Mom did not try to get into the Guiness Book of World Records for the most ponytails, beads, barrettes and other baubles applied to a child's head - 4 was her limit with the occasional well-placed barrette). She always took care while washing and grooming our hair, making sure to carefully detangle it and moisturize it while it was still wet.

My Mom also didn't attempt to straighten my hair with a hot comb until the 2nd grade, and even then she only allowed the "professional hot-comber" of the family access to lightly straighten a bangs for picture day (which was my aunt).

However, the bulk of Mom's grade is based upon the fact that she never compared the hair textures of her children, and never spoke disparagingly about our hair. As a result of her encouragement, my first attempt with a relaxer wasn't until age 18 when I entered college; and my first salon visit didn't occur until my twenties.

Still, I took a half point off for traumatizing me with regular greasings of my scalp (I still shudder and flee at any product that must be applied to the scalp on a regular basis, other than shampoo).

 

[LaFemmeNaturelle]

My mom gets a 5. She took great care of my hair and my hair was midback until I started doing my own hair in middle school and it was apl. Always used a detangler and blow dried me in sections and combed from tip to root. Kept me in braids and protective styles and blow dried me straight for special occasions. In middle school she started pressing my hair maybe once a month and she never allowed me to get a relaxer even though I begged for it, until I was 18 so she deserves extra points for that lol. She always told me there was no such thing as good hair and that my hair was beautiful (although she had a relaxer). I think I'm gonna half to take off a quarter of a point for her being relaxed herself. That was the reason I was never able to fully embrace my texture, regardless of what she said or did to my hair.

 

[LadyRaider]

A-
My mom kept hair healthy and braided up. It was long and healthy. She had type 2 silky hair so I'm sure it was hard for her sometimes to know what to do with my hair, but she never relaxed it. My hair was fabulous (and yet I didn't even realize it) until I started taking care of it. And I use the prhase "taking care" very loosely.


And, like the post above, my mom always gave me the idea that my hair was wonderful. I never once got an inkling that my hair could be "bad" or "nappy." And this is from a mom who had Type 2 something hair.


The minus is for letting me get the Jheri Curl at 16.

 

[NaturalBoss]

I would give my mom an A+. She must have did something right because I always long, thick hair as a kid. She did protective styling. I rarely wore my hair down. It was in braids most of the time. She used to press my hair with Blue Magic grease and it worked just fine.

 

[syoulee1]

F--- SHE DID A HORRIBLE JOB.

what she said......

 

[SouthernBeauty]

I would my mom a big fat F-!!!! She gave me a relaxer over my jherri curl!! I looked a hott bald mess!! THX MOM!!

 

[Harina]

A+!!!! My hair was hella long when I was a child. She kept my hair braided and looking nice. I messed it up in high school when I was trying to be cute, got my hair dyed, and my hair hair broke off. It's really only been since 10th grade that my hair has been damaged and short and only since sophomore year of college that I've decided to do anything about it. I'm 21 now. Mommy knew best.

 

[Stacy TheLady]

I would say a 4.0. My hair was in PS 90% of the time and it was always healthy. She lost 0.5 for allowing my Aunt to relax my hair at age 9 with TCB relaxer and .5 for not being consistent in maintaining my relaxed hair.

I stayed relaxed for less then a year and then it was back to PS for transitioning.

 

[NIN4eva]

F----- Epic Fail.

 

[bluwatersoul]

I would give my mom an A. She kept me in neat braids or cornrows and fros , did hot oil treatments every other week, and only pressed my bangs for special occasions(if then). We were super proud of our natural hair and my only wish (to this day) was that it would be longer.

My only complaint would be for not having me regularly tie up my hair at night - but I cannot take many points off for that. When you know better, you do better.

 

[MsLizziA]

Im def gonna have to say an F. She had my aunt, who was totally against it by the way, slap a relaxer in my hair when i was about 7 or 8.

She isn't exactly a girly woman if u get my drift. She doesn't like shopping, she doesn't like doing hair, and she doesn't like pedis. I think she would have been better off with just sons.

My aunt did my hair most of my life by the way.

 

[prettybyrd]

My mama gets an A++ She kept us well coifed for over 12 years (until we would play it in...like we had before this pic was taken)! Yours truly front and center!