Ladybug has been home for almost 4 years now. I can't even fathom how incredibly niave I was before she came home. I remember saying that I hoped she had loose curls because I had no real idea how to deal with really curly hair. I had had enough exposure to African hair to know that it was not the same as mine. I love my hair -- but one of the things I love most about it was that it takes me about 5 seconds every morning to deal with it. I had NOOOOOOOO idea just how much care her hair would take. Ignorance is bliss -- I guess.
Right before Ladybug came home her head was shaved. So for about 9 months I would comb, spray, and throw a head band on it. The head band would be off by the time I picked her up but she looked good when she went to school. But eventually it became obvious to me that it was time to learn how to do hair.
Above is one of my first attempts at doing something with her hair. So many mistakes.... Notice the big scrunchies. I didn't want to use rubber bands because I know what they do to my hair. But obviously it didn't look right. And on top of that, I had not yet learned that parting is one of the most important things in any hairstyle. I didn't even try.
In the picture above I had learned the importance of parting! I didn't quite have the skills at doing it yet but at least I was trying. And I tried much smaller hair ties.
In the picture above I got brave enough to start being creative. This is a veil - little ponytails that are split and pulled back to the next ponytail. As you can see, once I got to the back row I didn't know what to do with the last ponytail so I just let them stick up. Her hair was also at a stage that when I combed it out I could twist it around my finger and it would form a ringlet that would just stay.
In the picture above I found my new favorite part pattern. It looked so cool from above. But as you can see, I still wasn't very good at finding the center of her head.
By this time I did the picture above, her hair was beginning to get to long to do the coil puffs. If you could see the photo from the front you would see that she looked a little like Medusa. The problem with this is that even though we live in a diverse area, we stick out. White woman, African child. And I was beginning to get looks that said, "She needs to learn how to do hair." And I agreed.
So in the photo above you can see my first attempt at cornrows. I had decided that I needed to keep Ladybug's hair short or I needed to learn to braid. Luckily I had a local friend who was also the adoptive mom of a girl of African descent. I spent the afternoon with her one day and she showed me technique. Seeing and doing are to different things. I kept looking at this and thinking, "My poor girl!"
So as you can see from above, I went back to my coil puffs. But I tried coiling the back this time instead of leaving it in the afro style.
But eventually I decided that I needed to give braiding another chance. In the photo above I not only managed to do decent cornrows (I followed her around for hours with the camera taking picture after picture since I was so proud of myself) but I finally managed to get beads on too. What I didn't realize is that it was also the beginning of Ladybug's love affair with beads.
I loved loved loved this hairstyle. All of a sudden the idea of cornrowing just clicked with me. All of a sudden I knew I could do it. And did it. The tricky thing though was cornrowing up the back of the head. I could not figure out (and still haven't) how to do it without standing on my head. Okay, not really (mostly because I am not capable of standing on my head) but I literally have to lean over her from the front and braid up the head. So even though I love this style, my back can't take me doing it very often.
And then I discovered box braids. Part out small boxes of hair and braid. Regular braids. Not tricky at all. And this was also the start of getting creative with beads. I spent many trips to the local black beauty supply shops (which are all run by Asians, curiously) buying many many beads. Colors. Shapes. Material. I kept buying.
Oh and more box braid with bead fun. Mixing colors. And her hair was at a perfect length. As the braids hung down they framed her face. And the beads did not get in her face. I also appreciated the length because it meant each braid took only a few minutes to do. Since Ladybug has tolerated only 1 hair cut since coming home her hair is getting really long. She started enjoying hair time because it meant it was movie time for me. It was around this time that I starting looking up from her hair as I braided and actually got to see the scenes of The Lion King instead of just hearing it.
The style above had intended to be an easy style. Three asymmetrical puffs that were later braided. Who knew that these braids would take so much time to complete??
I loved the style above. It was still the same box braids as described above but I love loved loved the bead design in this. And my relatives began to appreciate the beads too. They became the cow bell of Ladybug. The clickity-click allowed them to know she was coming so if they wanted to run and hide they could. The problem that I discovered at this point is that all those wonderful cheap beads is that they break as the hit against each other. I began to find beads everywhere. There was easily 100 braids on her head with 9 beads on each braid.
More bead design - and learning to put the box braids up so that one style could look different every day. This was also about the time I started getting feedback from some of the parents in her school saying that lots of beads was ghetto and that I should not put so many in her head. I looked around and realized that not many kids wore beads. But it didn't matter. She loved them. And she wanted them. So I continued.
Then one day I woke up and decided that I would do the mohawk. Was I insane? I was so completely proud of myself when it was done. Just look at it!
And then I cheated by just changing out the beads and leaving the braids. Made it look like an entirely new style without a fraction of the work. Keep in mind that this style easily took me about 6 hours to complete -- over a weekend. With that kind of time investment I was keeping it for a while.
The box braids started to become my "go to" style. Easy. Time consuming. Lasts forever -- they can easily stay in about 4 weeks. But each time I do it I forget that it takes just as long got take them out as to put them in. I hate taking out a style. All my hard work getting destroyed.
Since the box braids were a lot of work I decided to return to doing more cornrows. They don't last as long but they don't take as much time to put in or take out as all those box braids. And I began to really like one color of beads. Unfortunately Ladybug disagreed with me.
Oh, the rare puff picture. I love puffs. So easy -- and she has lovely curls. But Ladybug hates puffs. She pretty much refuses to allow me to do them (can you tell who runs this house?). And now her hair is so long that puffs are beginning to look silly.
The above photo does not really show the twists, but this was when I finally learned to do a tight twist. And bonus - they are quick to put in and quick to take out.
Nothing new here but I just love this photo since I managed to match her bead pattern to the waves.
Ladybug fell in love with this style. Cornrows down the back and cornrows sweeping over the top of her head. Simple. Fast. Keeps most of if out of her face. She keeps asking me to do it again. And it might need to be on my "to do" list soon.
More sweeping cornrows. And I finally found her beloved purple beads!
Please note is the photo above that I manage to find yellow beads to match the new Tae Kwon Do belt she was testing for. And she earned it.
And another more mature (and my skills have improved) version of the veil style. This hairdo wasn't completed but I could not find a good photo of it. The back of the hair was finished by doing hanging twists and pulling them all into a ponytail. So cute!
This one turned out a mess. It looked so good -- in my imagination. It was simple box braids that I then gathered into 2 french braids. I think it would have worked better without beads. Hmmm!! Maybe I should try it without beads? Quick! Someone talk me out of planning another micro box braid do.
Some days I cheat. Massive box braids. And not even any beads. But you pay for it in the long run. This style will only last 3 or 4 days. I like the styles that last longer.
This is the style Ladybug is currently sporting. I stole it from a wonderful video online. I figured I could do it. It is just cornrows. A double halo around her head. Much drama over the weekend trying to get these end. She had no tolerance for experimenting. I did eventually split out the ponytail into individual braids. It is cute but not very good.
What ladybug doesn't know is that at the moment I am planning on straightening her hair next week. Don't yell!! I will just be using a flat iron. I have let her know that I had to be 18 before I was allowed to get my first perm and she must too. She loves straight hair so I thought I would give her a chance to experience it.
If you have any inspirational designs please feel free to share them with me.
Mean Mama
