"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are small matters
compared to what lies within us."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Snip, Snip


I have a confession to make. I am terrible at doing my girls' hair (this is probably not coming as a big shock to any of you). I am not good with ribbons, braiding or curling and I have no clue about styling. I can barely get the hair-dryer to work. To make matters worse, this is what I get when I try to fix their hair. Major screams, no matter how much detangler I use! 


I guess because their heads were always shaved in the orphanage, I felt like I shouldn't cut their hair. Kind of like a badge of honor. 


But after a particularly loud morning of trying to make everyone look beautiful, I was done. Get out the scissors girls, here I come! 


I am always amazed at how Francesca can stop crying at will. Little faker. 


Do you think that I had a plan at this point? Nope. Luckily, Francesca and Victoria have kind of curly hair so it was easy for me to hide my mistakes. 


Catherine wanted in on the action too. She still insists on growing her bangs out though. 


Yes, I am using school scissors. Desperate times call for desperate measures. 


I think Francesca was a bit stunned by the outcome. 


Can you believe how long Victoria's hair has gotten? She was almost bald when we first adopted her. The back of her head still gets tangled, even in the day, no matter what I put on it. Any ideas? 


Victoria was pretty much of a nightmare to shear. She kept flipping her head all around. She is lucky that she still has any hair left. 


I don't think it looks too bad? Right?  


Memories. Can you guess which hair belongs to which child?


Everyone felt so free that they all started dancing. Anastasia is still growing out her hair for "Locks of Love". She recently discovered conditioner and she is a changed woman. 






Their hair has been much easier to brush, but I get the feeling they are plotting to get back at me. Look at that face! 

13 comments:

  1. They look sweet, hair parted in the middle with barrettes.

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  2. My daughter is two and has longish hair. When I wash it I leave in the shampoo and put some conditioner (the same one I use, no need for anything special) just on the ends (not the top of the head). Leave it in for a minute or so and then rinse it all out. That way you only do one rinse and the shampoo that is there helps wash out anything extra so it doesn't get clumpy and greasy looking.

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  3. If Victoria's hair gets super tangled at night, I'd recommend you get her a satin pillowcase and a sleep cap. The smooth satin and fitted deep cap will reduce friction while she tosses and turns at night -- the result should be less tangles.


    (The best sleep cap ever can be made out of a pair of nylons - put waist of nylons on child's head, tie legs of nylons in a double knot, cut off extra leg fabric).

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  4. Have you tried putting hair oil (or coconut) in V's hair after bath?

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  5. Catherine,
    The "curly girl" method works wonders, and it's cheap! You can use it for Victoria, Francesca, and Isabella. Seriously, it's changed my life, and the lives of my curly-headed daughters. http://www.wikihow.com/Follow-the-Curly-Girl-Method-for-Curly-Hair

    Catherine

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  6. They look adorable!

    It's a pity that Victoria dislikes having her hair braided, since that is what keeps my daughter's hair from getting tangled at night - and mine too (waistlong hair, both of us).

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  7. You can buy a kids hair detangling spray (In a pink bottle by Johnson and Johnson). I do a home made version as well using about 1 part conditioner to 10 parts water into a spray bottle and shake. I spray that on my toddlers hair before brushing to help get rid of knots. It also helps control fly aways to put it into a plait.

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  8. When my boys were little we used J*hns*ns and J*hns*ons because it says it is gentle. When my daughter was a little and her hair was growing long J*hns*ns made it terribly knotted and kind of like cotton. I started using suave sleek shampoo and conditioner and it made it so much more manageable.

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  9. I feel your pain on this issue! My daughter has an extreme sensitivity to pain and slightly curly very fine hair that snarls into tangles at a truly astonishing rate. BY age 1, I realized that copious amounts of adult conditioner must be used after washing then I "comb" it with a brush which is a little gentler. Each day even though she whines the whole time, I part it down the middle and do a standard braid on each side all the way to the end. I don't do fancy french braids or anything just the basic 3 strand braid. It is the only thing that saves us - do a pony tail and it will still be a snarled mess of impossible tangles at the end of the day. Also, bonus is she looks cute with the 2 braids. Btw, I highly reccomend a professional cut if you can afford it (most salons do kids for $10) because they may come up with a cut that makes it more manageable for you and looks cute too if you're lucky. Good luck - you need it with that many girls. I was so glad to have boy hair to deal with after the experience of just one girl.

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  10. I think I would be in the same boat. Thankfully I have 2 boys who are not expensive to get shaved! I had a younger brother growing up. It hit me 2 years ago when a preteen with missing hands asked me on a boat at camp to put a scrunchy in her hair. Hahaha...if only there was a video. I was so uncoordinated. It really seems simple. I put them in my hair every day! After a few attempts of wrapping and twisting only to have the scrunchy just drop out without any hair attached my oldest son did it for her...he'd practiced on his cousins before.

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  11. My girlz' heads are very tender also, so we found this spray conditioner called, "It's a 10"
    you can find it in salons in a blue bottle. We use the yellow bottle for blondes..Somehow it works better than any detangler I have ever found. It's expensive but sooo worth it!

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