Diary of a Hair Day

I have often been asked if I do my daughter's hair. I always feel like saying, "Yes, can't you tell by the crooked parts and tufts of hair sticking up everywhere?" I am amazed by the moms who create wonderful geometric patterns in their daughter's hair. I would be satisfied with a straight line somewhere.

I realize that Baylie's hair is so thick that I need to start using more braids than I currently do, but that would take more time to fix her hair and I'm not ready to cross that bridge yet. I'm also not ready to pay $65+ to have a professional do it. Nevertheless, I've decided to blog about a hair day.

I didn't take a starting picture, but this was her last hairdo, which is two strands of hair twisted together all over her head. I really like it this way. It kind of looks like dreadlocks. I usually leave each hairdo in for two weeks to a month. By then it's starting to come undone.

It took close to an hour to undo her hair, afterwhich we have this look. Undoing her hair also means spraying on conditioner and brushing it out section by section. Baylie HATES having this done.
Next, I part her hair down the middle and pull back the side I'm not working on with clips. Then I separate a section to braid and pull back the rest of the hair on that side with a clip.
Her hair is extremely thick, so separating and parting is harder than it sounds.
Once the actual braiding begins, it's a process of convincing her of how much fun we are having and trying to get her to stay seated. (She starts to scream and fuss the minute I spray water on her head.)
Still trying... We usually move from the chair to the floor and back a few times. We get out lots of toys and other distractions.
At some point, I give up and just hold her in a vice grip between my legs.

Finally, after about three hours, three suckers, half of Sleeping Beauty, all of Cinderella, and part of two old Santa movies, we are half way through! At this point, Baylie and I both need lunch and a nap.

After she wakes up, I realize there is not time to finish her hair before I run my errands, so we go out with our half-done hairdo. We do cover it with a winter hat. (Note, that her hair just looked like this after her nap. I didn't do anything to make it stand up. I find her hair truly amazing.)

After our errands are finished and we've eaten dinner, we decide to tackle the other half of the head. This time it only took about an hour and a half. And, we're done! Of course, at this point I realize that her part is off center. Dang it! Oh well, its' going to be that way for a few weeks.

I'm always surprised to see how different Baylie looks with her braids. So much older and her head is so much smaller. She loves to shake her beads. Hopefully one day she'll enjoy getting her hair done!