That Time of Year Again! Recitals, Weddings, Formals, Proms....(With Bun Video Tutorial)

It is about that time again for this season and school-end events (recitals, weddings, proms, formals) for many of our children.  For me, it is my daughter's dance recital.  She has been dancing for 4 years now and absolutely loves it.  This year, she will be in four different dance routines during the recital in June.  This week, was their professional photo shoot and that meant her hair had to be styled into a mandatory bun.

Each year, the requirement is to have the child's hair in a bun (for girls).   For some parents, it may be a challenge to do this depending on the hair the child has. There are many tools that cater to buns.  Such as the donut foam, sock bun, and other hair bun making tools.  Not everything works for every one and here are some reasons why:  short hair, fine hair, thin hair, thick hair, long hair.  Depending on the hair, you need to have something to accommodate what needs to be achieved.  From talking to several parents of all races that bring their to the same dance schools, many face various challenges: coarse hair, short/thick hair, long/thick hair, layered hair, long/thin hair, short/thin hair, curly hair....so many!

MadiMel has thick, coarse and dense hair.  Her hair is mostly coily and a small area where it is a little loose with small waves.  Straightening her hair could have been an option, but I choose and chose not to do that.  From the years since she has been dancing and received the hair style requirement, I have never used heat but opted for another option.  Going heatless.

If she already had a style on her hair such as cornrows and/or twists, I simply take her hair down (after each twist and cornrow), finger detangle and then use a Denman brush to make the hair more manageable.  Considering that her hair was previously styled, her hair would be more likely be stretched out.  Less work but just detangling that would consume my time.

If I shampooed or cowashed, towel dry as much as I can, put her hair into 4 jumbo twists/plaits or loose french braids to let it airdry after moisturizing it.  That also helps to stretch the hair (other ways: conrows, twists, banding, african threading).

Once her hair is dried, I take her hair down.  Her hair is a bit more stretched where it becomes manageable and takes so much less time to style.  And again, I also make sure her ends are well moisturized since that part of the hair, the ends, are the oldest and vulnerable to dryness.

If heat is a plan for you to straighten the hair:

*Be sure that you use a heat protector
*Do not flat iron the hair while wet
*Using too much product(s) and flat ironing may burn the hair and cause damage
*Use the lowest heat setting possible that will just do the job for your child's hair
*To avoid going over the hair several times with the flat iron, use a comb with it to help keep the hair aligned
*Moisturize the hair well - this will restore the dryness the heat caused

Here is a video on the bun I do on her hair for her recital (and other times).
The video was recorded back in Spring 2012.  Since it is the time for various events, several people had asked me for a video like this.  I thank you!



We'll chat soon and have a blessed and wonderful weekend!

-Sdestra

US Gymnast Gabby Douglas Is So Much More Than Her Hair

I try to stay away from what I call stupidity and it took me a while to decide to post this because I don't like to get into discussions like this at times.

But Let's Talk:
What do you think about the comments on blogs regarding US Gymnast Gabby Douglas' hair? I do not appreciate the negative comments that I've seen so far and I continued to stop reading them. For her, it may be challenging to deal with her hair at this time because of how physical the sport is. She's constantly sweating while performing for the world and during practices in between while in London.

A few comments were in regards to her being a poor representation of black women...wow....BECAUSE OF HER HAIR?!??! I'm sorry...I'm about to ROTF (Roll On The Floor) and LMBO (Laugh My Behind Off)! Seriously....her HAIR?

She's a beautiful talented young woman doing so many things at such a young ripe age! THAT should be something for us to be so proud of. We should also praise her parent(s) for being so supportive while making sacrifices to invest in her skilled talent. So what does that say about the women who are criticizing her about her hair? Shallow?

Let's see.... soon, Miss Douglas will be laughing all the way to the bank with her Olympic Gold Medals in tow no matter how much people talk about her hair.

(Plug in "Gabby Douglas Hair" in the google search to see how many blogs, etc are talking about her hair!) These are just my opinions :-)

But what do you think?
#ILoveGabbyDouglas