5 Gems Mothers Can Teach Daughters About Natural Hair

Mother's Day is coming up in a few days. Maybe it's time to think about how to tell your Mom you appreciate her or maybe to reflect on your relationship with your child.  I always instilled a sense of pride about their natural hair into my girls.  I grew up in a time when girls couldn't wait to get their hair chemically treated.  Jheri curls and relaxers were routine when a girl became of a certain age.  When we launched Treasured Locks my hair was still relaxed. But, because of the expertise I had gotten concerning hair I knew how to manage the girls' hair properly and gave them the secrets they would need to manage and style their natural hair. Here are five gems I taught them about their natural hair.

1.) Natural hair is good enough. The first thing I taught Kayla and Shayna was to not be ashamed of their hair the way it was in its natural state.  Growing up in a mostly white suburb of Cincinnati, they sometimes wanted to be like their white friends and wear their hair "down". Learning to understand that "down" hair doesn't come natural to a little black girl was one of the lessons I had to teach early. But, they soon learned their white friends couldn't wear their hair in the styles that they were able to wear. This leads us to gem number 2

2.) Natural hair is versatile.  I changed up their hair styles on a regular basis. Twists, braids, plaits, twist outs, afros, hair ornaments, and the occasional straightening using heat gave them so many varieties of styles that were not available to people with straighter textures of hair. They then saw that some of their white friends were now jealous of their hair style variations.

3.) Natural hair is part of being fearfully and wonderfully made.  Instead of seeing their natural hair as a hindrance or something to be ashamed of, I told the girls it was something to embrace it as part of the beauty that is them. Growing up in the beauty industry, the girls were in on conversations where they saw it seems everyone wants what they don't have.  People who are skinny want more curves. People who have curves want to be skinny.  People with straight hair want curly hair.  People with curly hair want straight hair. People with thin hair want thicker hair.  People with thick hair say it's unmanageable. They realized that being happy with the way you were made is one of the keys to happiness.

4.) How to maintain their own natural hair.  The girls had  to learn that their hair isn't the same as everyone else's and has its own unique requirements. Kayla's hair hair is even different from my Shayna's hair and some products worked better on one of them than on the other.  Washing your hair every day is common among the caucasian kids the girls grew up with. That wouldn't work for them.  They learned to never comb their hair while it's dry. Treasured Locks developed Knot No More just for this.  I always say Knot No More is the product I wish my mother had when I was growing up. I taught the girls about using the right shampoo and conditioners and they were the guinea pigs as we developed new products like SuperNatural Curl Tamer for loosening up their natural curls and our H2G Hair Growth products. The right tools were essential like the Knot Genie and the NuBone Detangler comb. They didn't fear comb outs because we knew how to do them right.  They learned to cover their hair at night to keep in moisture.  I taught them simple styles at first, working up to more complex styles as they got older.
 

5.) Natural hair is part of who you are. Today, Kayla's  natural hair is part of her style. She loves fashion. She loves to dress up.  She sometimes adds hair to her hair for dramatic effect- box braids, Marley twists, etc.  She will sometimes add color to her hair. She will change her hair style depending on her outfit, her mood, or where she's going.  Her hair is as much a part of her personal style as her shoes, her earrings or her purse, even more so.

If you're a mother, you might want to pass some of the gems along to your little one. If your mother helped you take care of your hair when you were young, like mine did, you might want to give her a call and thank her.  We hope that Treasured Locks can help you wherever you are on your hair journey.

Peace,

Tywana