Her “Curl Coach” Am I

I left her to finish, then I heard the water go off a bit too soon so I went back and said through the door “ I hope you rinsed thems twist really good or you’re going to have conditioner in there!” The water had gone cold, but you heard the shower come back on and the loud creek of the shower floor as she corrected her mistake. 🤔😳

You ever see a dad coach his son’s football team? My brother didn’t coach but he helped put on my nephews pads and he did the measuring thing so he got to be with him down on the field.

Man, the pride is palpable. He’s focused but he’s beaming. Thats how this makes me feel. I’m not even upset that she asked for a haircut today. 🤣 She had asked for a trim the last time I fully did it. Today she said she’s over the length. 

And there it is ladies and gentlemen. Knowledge of self. “I don’t want to do this much work. I know my hair CAN grow long if I WANT it to but this is a lot of work and I’m cute with shorter hair too 😘.”

It’s a mindset ya’ll. 
Her’s and mine matter. I have to be mentally prepared in order to get her on board. She DOES NOT want to do this. She DOES want her hair done. 

This is about a bond, empathy, compassion and an understanding. Between her and I, between her and her and me and me. These moments with her is why I don’t do kid hair, this is important and I legit have no extra for your kid. I’m teaching her with my whole heart. I’m teaching her to care for herself as well as how to care for others and how to teach any children she may have in the future. I'm paying attention to her attitude and mannerisms so I can tell her how to adjust her body while she does this. 

It’s only her second time and she is making good time. Oh yea she’s learning time management cause the hot water heater gives no effs. 

The thing that I see is going to take the longest for her to perfect is the condition/detangle step. I mean the styling too but that is a ways off and she's got time.

I coach her through the cleanse, only telling her where she needs to put shampoo and how to hold the hair and work it through but I get hands on with the detangling.

After she works the conditioner through with her fingers I comb it, subsection and twist it down for her as she moves on to the next quadrant. Once all her hair is twisted down she is supposed to rinse the twists by squeezing them under the water (that is now cold).

Don't get it confused, this is not what my mother did for me so don't go talking like I'm some special case. No one's mother knew what they were doing with their kid's hair. They, like us were just trying to figure out what worked. Also they had far fewer resources and far greater pride. So just let that math math.  

You need to think this through and make a PLAN. Block out enough UNINTERRUPTED time. That means the first time you do this, just set aside the whole day and keep up with how long it takes. This way you know how to pivot and plan in the future, whether for yourself or for doing your baby's hair. 

She was finished with the blow dry and had gotten a snack by 1:50. Then it was my turn again. Right now I just want her to focus properly cleansing and conditioning in a timely manner. I think that she’ll have it down and be able to do it all (except the style) by the end of 8th grade #hairgoal #momgoal🤣

Club is at 2:45 so I improvised on what she asked for this time. Plus her forehead is breaking out so we didn’t do twisted bangs this time. We will address her skin another time in another article. I gave her 4 puffy flat twists in the front to look like a pompadore into her bun. 

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