Straw Set

**Quick update: The straw set worked great! We kept it in for 4 days before it started looking a little fuzzy. If I had wanted to put more time into it, I could have fuzzed with the curls and probably made it last a little longer, but I didn't want to put that much time into it. The only downside is that I used the Mimosa Hair Honey every morning to smooth the curls and prevent frizz, so by the end of the 4 days her hair looked very glossy but took two rounds of clarifying shampoo to get all of the hair product out.**

The quest to find the perfect hair products and perfect hairstyle for the Ethiopian princess continues.

Rosie's hair is very curly, but the curls are tighter at the crown and at the base than they are on the rest of her head, and we get so much shrinkage when it drys that you can't really see them, which tends to leave us with a bit of a mess these days. Her longer length doesn't take finger coils very well anymore, I don't want to put in pony tails every day, it isn't long enough for french braids, but just leaving it loose in this dry, cold weather leaves the ends looking messy and at risk for damage.

While reading reviews for hair products online, I stumbled across some photos of "straw sets", which looked great. Straw sets basically consist of rolling hair on drinking straws, holding it in place with bobby pins, and letting it set. It produced beautiful tiny curls, about the diameter of Rosie's natural ringlets.

The websites I visited said that it works on kinky, curly, natural, or relaxed hair. So, in the hope that this would help me provide a hairstyle that would look good and last for more than 12 hours, we decided to give it a try.

For my fellow ET adoptive moms looking for styling ideas, here's how:

You will need: shampoo, conditioner, leave-in conditioner, spray bottle with water, styling gel or other product with hold (use one specifically formulated for African hair), a wide-toothed comb, a rat-tail comb, large clips for holding hair out of the way, 100 straws with bendy bits cut off and cut in half, end papers, and at least 200 bobby pins or hair clips.

1. Wash hair. Rosie and I have found the easiest way to do this is in the sink where I have access to the sprayer.
2. Apply a high-quality conditioner (my current favorite is Tui Hair Smoothie from Carol's Daughter) and use a wide-toothed comb to comb through.

Just a hint: make sure the teeth of your comb are very smooth with no ridges or manufacturing lines. These really do catch on textured hair.

3. Apply a shower cap and allow conditioner to set (5-15 minutes depending on amount of conditioning needed).

4. Rinse conditioner thoroughly and while hair is still sopping wet, apply leave in conditioner (we are currently using Some of Marguerite's Magic by Carol's Daughter) and a product with some hold (we tried out CurlyQ's Princess Glaze from Curlz.biz).

5. Using a rat-tailed comb, make a part about 1/2 inch from the bottom of the hairline and then clip rest of the hair up and out of the way. Divide off small portions of this separated hair, comb through to ensure the section is very smooth, put on an end paper to keep ends smooth, and then spiral wrap around a straw. Use a bobby pin on each end to hold in place.

For this first attempt, I used quite small sections, so I was getting 12-15 straws across each row, and I put in 8 rows. I did see some photos using larger section, but this didn't leave neat-ending roots. (Just a hint: make sure hair stays very wet while you are working with it.)

Here we are with all of the rollers in, FINALLY! We had 3 short stretch and potty breaks, but it took us 4 1/2 hours to get them all in. That did include washing, conditioning, prepping the straws and end papers, but it was still a major undertaking. It shouldn't take so long next time since I won't have to cut all of the straws and end papers the next time, and I found I was getting quicker with the rolling as we went on. In the end, I used 115 straws.

6. Let the hair set until it is completely dry. You can either let it dry naturally or use a hair dryer. Then, carefully remove rollers. Here's photos of Rosie with the rollers out, but nothing else done to her hair.

Here is the back straight out of the rollers.

This looked okay, and I thought about just leaving it like this, for fear of spoiling them, but I decided to go ahead and play a bit. So, I took a glossing product (Mimosa Hair Honey from Carol's Daughter), spread it on my fingers and grabbed each curl with both hands, divided it into 2 sections, lightly coated each curl with the creme while stretching it downward, and letting it go.

And presto, the most oingy boingy curls ever! Look at her. What a beauty she is.

I am considering this style a HUGE success! It looks great and so fits her personality. Now, I'm just hoping that it is one that will last for several days.

Hair

Rosie loved going to the salon! And, the salon loved her. She had everybody admiring her and telling her how beautiful she was. I am really aggravated with myself for not remembering to take my camera with me.

After she got shampooed, the stylist blowdried her hair and used a straightening iron before she trimmed the ends. I have purposely not straightened Rosie's hair before, as I didn't want to risk damaging it. She looks so different, but WOW what a beauty our girl is!

When we came home, Daddy just stared and smiled and stared. Rosie has enjoyed having it straight, and she keeps telling me that it is Mommy hair.

I love her curls, and I want her to love them, too, so we probably won't straighten her hair very often. It was fun for tonight, though, and we'll see how long it lasts!

HAIR

Woohoo! Rosie's hair is finally long enough to fit into only 2 pony tails! They are so cute, and it really emphasizes the beautiful shape of her face. Look how much hair she has. I can't believe how fast it grows! This picture was taken after I put it into 4 braids while it dried to see how much longer it would be if we didn't let it shrink all up. Rosie was surprised, and we both had a big laugh about her "big hair".

Pretty amazing when I stop to remember how little hair she had in January.

The hair salon that I go to has just hired a stylist who specializes in ethnic hair, so we are planning to have braids put in in a couple of weeks. I tried doing it myself, but couldn't get them tight enough to stay. I'll try again when it gets a couple of more inches growth so that I have more to hold onto.

Note To Self

When trying out your new recipe for homemade organic deep conditioner for the Ethiopian princess' thirsty locks, run it through a strainer before applying it to her hair! Chunks of banana too small for you to see in the solution will become very visible after being left to marinate under a shower cap for 1/2 an hour, at which point they will be almost impossible to remove!!!!!!

For those of you with Ethiopian princes and princesses, please stay tuned. Despite my initial banana disaster, I think we're on to a winning formula for deep moisturising that is cheaper than the expensive organic, all natural stuff that we've been shelling out for! I'll be posting the perfected recipe as soon as I've finished tweaking it!

HAIR

Do you remember these pictures? Rosie had been home about 6 weeks, and she was just getting enough hair to play with.
Putting finger coils in took 2 hours back then.

Thought you might like to see Rosie's hair today. Now, it only takes me about an hour to put finger coils in. Which is just as well, as Rosie wants coils almost every day. She loves for Mommy to put on a "signing time" dvd and play with her hair (and I think she loves the amount of attention her coils generate when we go out).

It's amazing how quickly it it's growing.

Look at our little princess! Doesn't she just melt your heart?

God is good! We seem to have found our new "normal", and have figured out what was behind the behavior issues we were seeing a month ago. I'll try to post an "all things Rosie" update and give you the full scoop later this week.

A New 'Do

Before Rosie came home, I was a little nervous about learning to do her hair. There's loads of information online about caring for African American hair, and some of it seems pretty complicated. Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be that hard. I'm still playing with products and learning, but as her hair grows, there do seem to be plenty of nice-looking options that aren't too difficult. Our project for this week was learning to do finger coils. Here are the results:

I was pleased with the outcome but wondered if it would pass muster if inspected by an African American mother. The answer came today when we were out shopping. I was approached by a beautiful lady who asked me, "Where did you get her hair done? I want to take my granddaughter there." When I replied that I had done it, she said, "Girlfriend, you have a gift." It felt great to have someone who knows all about caring for African hair say that I was doing a good job and that her hair was gorgeous. We spent some time talking about how I did it and what products I was using.

For my fellow adoptive moms, here's how you do finger coils:

1. Start with clean, well-conditioned very wet hair. Add your favorite styling product. Personally, we are using Curly Q hair products. My favorite conditioner and styling cream is called Curly Q Custard. If I want it super shiny, I add a small amount of Radiant Ringlets (also a Curly Q product).


2. Use a wide-toothed comb to very gently work through the hair to remove any tangles. Work slowly from the tips up to the root to avoid snags and breakage.

3. With a rat-tailed comb, seperate a small portion of hair (less than 1x1). Then, starting as close to the root as possible, twist the hair between your fingers gradually working your way down to the tip of the twist. Twist as tight as it will go with out pulling the hair and then release. Move on to the next section.

I have seen some pictures of this done with the hair very evenly divided into square 1x1 sections. Personally, I just divided small sections that wanted to go together which gives it a slightly more natural look.

Rosie's hair isn't super kinky, so this 'do does need to be refreshed the next morning. To refresh, simply spray the hair with a leave-in condition (try mixing a couple of tablespoons of Curly Q Custard with water in a spray bottle) and then re-twist any sections that have gone frizzy or very loose. For Rosie, the second day of this hair style is actually better than the first, as the coils are a little bit longer.

This hair style takes me about 45 minutes the first day and about 15-20 on subsequent days. Eventually I'm going to try it with some Loc Butter to see if that will improve the hold without making it greasy or waxy.