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Dear white adoptive parents of #black #adoptees
Finding a black hairdresser to braid or otherwise care for your child's #Natural #hair is not a "treat", nor should it be rare, nor should you sit your child down and tell him/her that #NaturalHair styles are sooooo expensive..../1
Finding a black hairdresser to braid or otherwise care for your child's #Natural #hair is not a "treat", nor should it be rare, nor should you sit your child down and tell him/her that #NaturalHair styles are sooooo expensive..../1
It's #haircare, and it's necessary. Sorry I can't go to the white "express" salon and get a $20 haircut from someone who doesn't know any black people except for me. Sorry my hair is difficult. (It's not.) .../2
Sorry there are no black hairstylists to be found (or you don't know where to find them) because you live in such a homogeneous white town. If you adopted a black child, you took on the responsibility of finding someone who could care for their hair and teach them about it.../3
...You should be bringing black hair products into your home. You should be consulting the stylist if you don't know what to buy. You (and your child) should learn how to gently detangle instead of ripping hair out with a brush. Your child should own a bonnet & a pick.../4
And once you've seen how she smiles at her #cornrows in the mirror, or proudly shakes her #braids because she's never had hair that moves, how could you ever let her go back to having a dry, brittle, tangled mess on the top of her head? How dare you?.../5
You're so afraid of people judging your parenting? TRUST ME, that mess on your baby's head says something about it. If you don't have money to take her to a salon, find her someone to do box braids in the kitchen, and show you what products to buy.../6
It shouldn't be too hard. After all, you've made sure that your child has black mentors in her life, right? Right?.../7
Your #black child's #hair is a part of her identity, and it should be her pride. It should be a reason for her to hold her head up, not a reason for her to want to hide.../8
Your child should *never*, as a young adult, become self-conscious around other black folks because she now knows her hair is a mess, but she doesn't know how to fix it.../9
She should not be in salons, getting scolded like a child for not knowing the basic hair care she's never been taught. Adulthood should not be the first time she steps into a black hair salon. Kind black co-workers shouldn't need to take her aside at work and offer advice.../10
If you adopted a black child, you accepted responsibility for caring for all of the realities of who she is. For the love of God, DO YOUR BABY'S HAIR.
