On Mixed-Race Hair

A few weeks ago my UK Natural girl Crystal Afro did a post called Mixed Race Hair Help. It's a great and informative post. We had a short convo on Twitter about it and I decided I should to a post on the topic as well. But I've been so busy I haven't gotten around to it until today.

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What I'd like to add to the conversation on mixed race hair is this; There is no one way to do it. Us mixed girls and boys have very unique curl patterns (as do all curlies of course) and what works for one hair type may not work of another. And the curl pattern, porosity and texture of the hair may vary greatly.
I have a friend with four mixed kids, all of them have different curl patterns. So it's not always simple figuring out how to care for your mixed kid's hair.

Here are a few tips I'd like to give you:

• Mixed hair is not straight and not full afro, so you can't treat it like neither. Some of the products made for curly hair may be to heavy for this type of hair. For an example: My hair feels great after using Shea butter or Olive oil, but it looks terrible! It's just too heavy and leaves my curls looking very sad and oily. So I like to use lighter oils for this reason. 

• For styling: Looser curls will not hold the styles as well as tighter curls. This is always a problem for me, I find a cute hair style on YouTube and when I attempt it it's a major fail. Why? Because the YouTuber has tighter curl and another texture of hair than mine. So I try to find people who seem to have hair similar to mine. 

• Getting to know the curls: There are so many tips and hints out there, but the only thing that is for sure is that I can't tell you exactly what will work for your hair or your child's hair, it's all trial and error. You have to start somewhere and just work through it from there. When one thing or product doesn't work, move on and try something else. 

• Afro shops: Bless all the African women who own afro shops! I can't speak for the rest of the world, but in Sweden the women in the afro shops generally try to give us mixed girls tips but they fail. Why? Because they usually have more experience with afro (tight curls, corser hair) type hair, and sometimes the same things that work incredibly well for that hair type with mess up mixed hair. Also I find a lot of African/black women treat their mixed kids hair like they treat their own hair because of lack of knowledge; they relax, they do braided extensions and what not. 

• Identity: One thing I think is important to think about for all children, especially mixed kids is identity. If you are not mixed yourself you may not know what it's like having two parents that don't share your experience of the world. Personally I don't agree with "The best of both worlds" thinking. The best you can do for your child is give them a sense of pride in who they are and a connection to both parents heritage. Some mixed race children identify only as one race and other as both races, this is very personal and may change over time.   

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For more tips, greats styles and everything else, please visit Beads, Braids & Beyond! It's a great blog, and Ms A has great hair!
Also check out my For Parents Page!