Natural hair

I tried something new today. I decided to leave most of Gaelle's hair natural. I've wanted to try this for a while but I wasn't sure Gaelle would leave her hair alone. Then it would just be a lot of tangled knots. But I decided to go for it.

Believe it or not, it takes a bit of work to leave her hair natural. On Saturday night, I took her old style out, conditioned her hair, detangled all over and put in 10 flat rope twists on the front. I'm never quite sure what to do with the front. Her hair is so fragile there and it seems as though no matter what I do, it puts stress on her hair and breaks it. Then the sections that are long are in her face.

I put large twists in the back and let her sleep that way. Then on Sunday morning, I took out the large twists and wet her hair with my spray bottle. I then sectioned her hair, and took small sections thoroughly saturating each one with my curl defining creme. I used Taliah Waajid, Lock it Up. It helps to define the curl pattern that's naturally in her hair. If I didn't put the creme in, her hair would be frizzy.

I was super pleased with the results. One of the other downsides to natural hair is the shrinkage as the hair dries, so the hair appears very short. But it's actually long and full. Gaelle would love to have super long hair but we all are amazed at the growth of the past 2 years and if we both keep working at it, I'm sure it will continue to grow. 

Just for contrast, this is a photo where Kaylin is taking out the hair style that Gaelle came to Canada wearing. The beads would have weighted down the hair so you can see the full length. I look at this and can't believe how much her hair has grown. The back also had a bald spot where she was probably sleeping. That spot is pretty much grown in so that you can't tell anymore. 

March 2010. So hard to believe her hair was that short and thin. Especially in the back. 

When I told Gaelle on Saturday night that I was going to leave the back of her hair FREE she couldn't believe me. "Oh mommy, NO. Really?" I showed her what it would look like and she just shrugged her shoulders.

Today after lunch she came to me and said, "Mom, can you put my hair in a pony tail. My hair is too pouffy." She mentioned that kids would tease her. Even though nobody had. 

So because this distressed her, I hauled out the hair supplies and rewet the hair and put in twists in the back. FREE no more. But I loved it while it lasted.