Hello Tallies and Curlies !
Before starting with my long curly hair story, I just wanted to say that I’ve received so many messages from so many shorties I’m amazed ! AND I want to apologize for taking so much time to answer to each message I just didn’t expect so many stories ! 😀
Meanwhile I would like to say to the shorties who took the time to send me their stories : THANKS FOR THE GOOD LAUGHS !!! Jesus !! XDDD Now 🙂
Today, to introduce the drawing I’m posting, I wanted to express my feelings about… hair. What a surprise.
Today, I would like to talk to the curly little girls’ mothers out there. Especially the straight haired mothers who, for some mysterious genetic reason or less mysterious mixed love story, ended up with a little broccoli like me.
Mothers who just can’t figure out how to take care of the jungle that’s growing on their daughters’ heads, mothers who sometimes feel like Indiana Jones trying to make their way through that jungle armed with a terrifying big brush, mothers who, from time to time, are thinking of taking out their SWORD to BRING THE JUNGLE DOWN. Well read my words mothers : STOP BEFORE YOU COMMIT A CRIME !
My mother VS my hair
As I explained it before in my about section, my mother is white. She’s partly from irish descent and didn’t bother to give me nor her straight hair nor her green eyes (what would have I done with green eyes anyway, tss).
I can imagine she already knew, by making a baby with my dear black father, that her child would maybe NOT have long silky smooth hair like she did. Yet, I don’t know why really, I do have the impression that she didn’t expect… THAT.
When I was born, I was as straight as chinese. I can picture her, kissing my little soft and almost bald head, thinking “Oooh my little sweetie, all the lovely hairdos and dresses you’re gonna get one day.” Then ? I don’t know. Maybe God thought he would make some kind of cosmic joke to my mom and decided my hair would only grow right on the middle of my head, like a curly iroquois, see ? So until I was 3, I must say I looked like a very trendy hardrocker’s baby : no hair on the sides but 3 inches of soft curls standing straight right in the middle.
My mom wasn’t that of a rocker and I guess was starting to worry about my poor little shy side’s hair, so one day she woke up with a brilliant idea : to cut it to the root, ya knooow… “to give it a little strength !”. Yeah… She thought it needed some. HA.
Well I bet she was happy when it all started to grow and to curl more and more and more and more until she had her very own little Donna Summer at home. And not mentioning that I’ve NEVER, EVER met ANYONE who has as much volume on the sides of the head as I do.
At the beginning, she wanted to understand : “What in the WORLD happened ? Is that even POSSIBLE ?? WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ??? Would YOU have some advice ????? YOU have curly hair!! ” she asked my father. “Mssss” he said.
And so she tried… no not to make it look good, no not to make it healthy, no… she simply tried to make it stay STILL. One braid, two braids, one braid, two braids, one braid… oh and also two braids. SO MANY HAIRSTYLES wooo. I bet she had twice as much fun as she thought she would have on that famous day I was born.
Me ? I didn’t care of always having the two same hairdos. I LOVED my long hair. It was part of me. I was famous at school because of my long hair. I didn’t feel proud about many things by then, but Lord was I proud of my hair.
So long long hair!
But one day, my mom well.. she got fed up.
Fed up with the hours it took to wash it, comb it, dry it, style it. Mostly she got fed up with me screaming during the whole process. So she took me to the only hair salon she knew : a regular hair salon that had never seen hair like mine before. And the dude simply cut it. Please refer to my about section if you ever want to see the before/after pictures of that sad sad day.
Well what I have to say, mothers, is that since then, my hair has always been a problem in my life. Not mentioning that I instantly started being bullied at school and that the jokes about my now short curly hair became the glasses through which I was looking at myself, my mother decided to keep it short until I was old enough to make my own decisions (around 26 years old) (haha) so when I was a teenager and it was time to just do what I wanted to do with my hair 1) it was short and ugly 2) I had simply NO CLUE about how to take care of it.
SO, after a few years simply looking like sh*t, I discovered STRAIGHTENING, and then RELAXING, and my hair NEVER GREW and I was SAD and I felt BAD about myself. Until today, I’m still literally obsessed with long hair. The thing is, it took me so much time to stop torturing my hair, the longest I’ve ever got still isn’t long enough for me, and I might turn 40,50,60 before I get the length I want and so then I can finally look like an old witch.
All of this to say:
Straight haired mothers : today you have no excuses. So do something for your daughter’s present AND future : learn about their hair!
Go fetch information about curly/kinky/coily hair anywhere you can. You can go to a black hair salon and ask questions, there are even some books about it, and there is INTERNET. YOUTUBE will show you the way. And well… yes. It does take more time than if your daughter had straight hair, but there’s nothing spiritual to say about it but this : you have no choice 😉
So ! No comic today but a drawing I did in Photoshop that took me forEVER because of the mane 🙂 I named it “Good morning Kitty !” and it’s a tribute to the long-curly-healthy-haired little girl I could have been… and still am deep in my heart 😉 (click on image to see full size)
You can buy the “Good morning Kitty” drawing on different items (poster, notebook, postcard, lunch box, clock…) in my Zazzle store 😉 
Also, Nik from Long Hair Dont Care LLC has two daughters. Believe me, you WANT to see their hair and you want to know how she did it. Well she explains all of it on her Youtube Channel (and tons of other things any mother on Earth will love to hear about!)
I just found your blog today and I love it! This picture is so cute!!! 🙂 It makes me so sad to hear stories like this. I am a white mommy to a beautiful biracial (her daddy is black) 3-year-old. Before she was even born, I started researching how to take care of her hair. It has always been a priority for me to make sure I can take care of her hair and one day teach her how to do it. Fortunately for me, there are lots of websites and blogs that have helped me learn. Anyway, just thought I would share… Excited for your next post! 🙂
I so wish my mom had done the same ! You rock 😉
*hugs*
i meant hugging not higging lol
omg that pic u put of u higging the little cat is so cute i luv her curlzz
I love that photo. It looks like my eldest daughter. She is biracial, and although I am African American, it was an adjustment learning to properly style and care for both my daughters’ hair. One has a baby fine curls, while the other has the thick super curly hair you have shown above. I focus on health, rather than style, and I won’t cut it, nor do I put heat in it. I was just explaining to my older daughter why,although her hair is past her bottom, I don’t cut it. I told her that when she is older I want her to have the option to have long hair, or cut it herself. I have also decided not to hand over styling duties until I am convinced she is mature enough to take care of it. Alot of us had long hair until we stopped wearing pig/ponytails and started relaxing our hair and styling it ouselves. Anyway, I love your blog and your sense of humor and artistic ability.
Thank you very much Expatmom ! 🙂 (expat where if I may ?)
Oh that’s true ! I didn’t even think of black moms with biracial kids ! That must be something to get used to also 😀 I’m definitely going to add this to the post 😉
Well this is how I will do it too. Giving them choices and protecting them from their ignorance until they learn and know what they want and what they can do by taking care of it myself, wether they agree or not ! You’re perfectly right, and they’ll both thank you later 😀
I took the screen name ExpatMom because I moved from the US to Germany with my husband and 1 and 3 year old daughters. What an adventure!! We just got back to the States in 2012. There was much to learn about doing their hair, i.e. a spray bottle of water, a denman brush and a few drops of grapeseed oil are like magic…………….. .
My 2 daughters are biracial (one is Pakistani and black, the other white and black) since I was a cosmetologist I did not struggle with their hair but had to turn the duties of hair care over to them when they were in their teens. Their learning curve meant damaged hair for a while but they both seem to be on track.
The thing about biracial hair (I’ve noted not only my girls but others) is that it changes over time. My girls had bone straight hair until they were around 15 or 16 then they started to get a slight wave–now they embrace the wave and actually braid it wet to get beach waves–but it is a good idea, regardless of texture for biracial children to learn curly hair care and even African hair–it is not unusual to have silky hair or frizzy hair as a child then due to hormonal changes –trend more toward silky or poofy hair as they get older (menopause also may change the texture) such changes can render hair unmanageable if the person only knew how to take care of a certain type of hair nnd was not ready for the changes.
I have 1 son who used to have waist length hair but in huge coils–that changed when he turned 12 and his hair became much coarser and frizzier. We still have the pics when his hair was large, banana curls. Now it is curly to the point of afro textured in some spots –when he cuts it low, it looks wavy but if it grows over 1 inch it becomes frizzy now–the same can happen to girls.
No matter what kind of hair presents as a child or teen, be prepared for changes as time goes on or chemicals are introduced. If at all possible, get the child to embrace and care for their natural hair BUT to also realize that this hair may need to be tweaked as time goes on–the rule is PAY ATTENTION to what texture is telling you–if hair draws up or gets frizzy this is a sign of moisture issues–look up the appropriate information for that as it comes up.
Hey girl,
Love your blog I can relate with you because I’m tall and curly too. Most of the jokes and things you’ve had said about and to you .. I have also experienced them. Keep posting you are great !!
I’m a blogger too but I don’t talk about hair I do poetry & spoken word !
Welcome Tall and Curly friend ! 😀 Thank you !
I went to see your blog but I don’t understand there’s just a background with a blond girl but nothing else..?
Oh sorry girl, not too sure what happened but try this link : http://pebblesblogger.blogspot.co.uk/
I like the way you write 😉
Thanks Ana ;D
This is so pretty! i love the way you draw curly hair!
Your drawing looks like my niece Emma! I love her and her wild curls <3
aaaawwww!!! this made my day! 🙂 lol, this is funny to me because, while I do straighten my hair, my little munchkin LOVES when my hair is wild and curly. I won’t perm her hair mainly because I don’t perm mine. But I want her to appreciate her awesome little curls as much as I do 🙂
Well that’s what I love 🙂 Showing the good example by loving ourselves as we are is what these little wonders need in order to love themselves too ! You’re perfect ;D