Is this a weave?

Your daughter is just adorable! I haven't had to deal with hair issues that much, since my only full black child, with African hair, is a boy. My biracial son's hair has very little curl in it. My Haitian/filipino daughter has a lot of curl in her hair, but it is really more like a Filipina with a curly perm. She got extensions, about a year ago, after begging me for a year or so. They called it a weave, but it was actually corn rows with extensions looped through the rows with a hook like a crochet hook. It looked great and she got tons of compliments on it, but it made her uncomfortable and she only left it in for about a week. There is a book called, "It's All Good Hair" that is very good. I am pretty sure it is still in print. Have lots of fun with your baby!

You have to shop around for the best haircare. Most braiding salons have a minimum age requirement. I visited several salons before chosing one for my DD. Most said age 5 and a couple said age 7. New braids can be painful/uncomfortable for a day or two. I had to give DD Tylenol the first night so she could sleep. If children are too young can't always articulate their level of discomfort. My sister had her hair done as an adult and couldn't deal with the discomfort and had them removed the next day. My DD's and my sisters braids were not too tight. If you are not used the tension there will be some adjustment period to it.

Sleepvr, I wasn't planning to go off on a tangent, but since you mentioned it I'll ask you about that shopping around. The new area I moved to is different than where we lived in Florida. I scoured the internet and went through the phone book calling places to find out where I could take my babies for braiding/hairdos for special occasions. I avoided all the worst neighborhoods. I called exactly 76 different salons and none of them could do it. I basically exhausted the phone book. The place I found was in a part of town that I thought was ok (I used to work on that street at mcdonald's when I was in college). For the 2 hours we were there my husband sat in the minivan right outside the door of the shop and watched a guy selling drugs to customer after customer. The braiding lady inside was very paranoid about locking the door. Needless to say, we won't be going back to her!! I can't even find a decent beauty store for hair supplies and have to rely on sephora and online resources for that. I don't have any black friends to ask because since we just moved here I really don't have any friends... I'm running out of ideas!

This is something you will have to learn through time. If 76 places turned you down it was because of her age. No reputable salon is going to touch a 20 month old. It's just not done in the black community. At that age it's done at home by family or friends. Some people hire someone to come to their house if necessary. I know there are some forum members who do that all the time. Once they are old enough...Network. Black people do hair searches by networking most of the time. You see someone's hair you like you ask them where they got it done. When it comes to braiding kids hair most women will volunteer information because it can get expensive or you could run across someone who will mess up your child's hair. Hair braiding is not regulated the same way regular hairstylists are. People have gotten a fungus or infection by going to the wrong place. My DD didn't have much hair at 20 months old. Extensions would have been too heavy and pulled her real hair out. At 5 she had plenty of hair and it was thick enough and long enough to handle braiding.

My baby girl is 20 months. We do a lot of "joining" mostly to keep the sand out of her hair. I mix up the section patterns so I am not pulling too much on any one area. I braid the sections if I have time, just to protect the hair and make it last longer in this humid/waterplay weather. I "invested" in a lot of plastic barrettes with ribbons on them (thanks, Gymboree). I use the barrettes to clip down the ends on the last set. E's hair is still REALLY short when dry because the curl is very tight. Sometimes she goes with just a brightly colored elastic headband on the weekend. I've worked on braids, but she still wants to touch her hair with macaroni on her hands. I'm not willing to invest that much time (for her or me) just to take it down the next day.

This is a wonderful website: [url=http://www.keepmecurly.com/p/cornrow-twist-videos.html]Keep Me Curly!: Styling Vids[/url] She has great video tutorials on AA hair care and styling. Your daughter is just adorable in her new hairdo :love:

You daughter is adorable but extensions at her age will damage her hair. Let her hair grow in naturally, there are many AA hair care products on themarket for natural hair. Comb it through to the root daily and keep it well oiled and conditioned. She is a cutie.

My daughter is 4 and I love her natural hair in box braids. It isn't as long as extensions, but it looks really cute on her. [url=http://blackgirlwhitefamily.blogspot.com/]Finding your Inner Black Girl in a White Family[/url]

I'm going to have to agree that she is too young to have the extensions, I grew up with ALOT of girls who had extensions too young and the front part of the hair was damaged and thin because the weight of the extensions and also because the braids are too tight.

People, thanks for your input! I took them out after about a week and a half. Hopefully that wasn't long enough to damage it. It didn't seem to fall out or anything and it looks the same. I don't use any of that grow cream stuff... many products claim to help hair grow. Does anyone know if that stuff really works? I guess it probably can't be proven. Here is one of her usual hairdos that I did (despite all the fussing.) I'm going to stop letting other people do her hair. What I can do may not be very good but at least I know it's not too tight and won't hurt the hair. :)

Oh, these pics are gorgeous! I think you did a fantastic job with just her natural hair. I agree, just do it yourself... I'm not a fan of weaves and/or extensions on children. IMO, you have to reinforce to children (and especially AA children) that they are beautiful just as they are... If it makes you feel any better, I'm AA and I completely sux at doing hair... my own included! I do my best at braids, but I'm the ponytail queen... :)

now that is a beautiful little girl with a BEAUTIFUL hair do! I agree with Fe2002, i'm mixed but have tipical AA hair, very THICK very curly kinky, and sadly have had my hair relaxed since i was 6, about 2 years ago i grew it out to its full natural state and i'm kinda ashamed to say it, HAD NO CLUE HOW TO TAKE CARE OF MY NATURAL HAIR :( so i relaxed it ew ew ew lol learning to love your natural hair as an AA woman is a hard task if you aren't taught to love it as a child

I know nothing about extensions etc. but I love the latest look much better than the long extensions. To me, she has an age appropriate hair do now, kwim? NOT saying it wasn't cute, just felt it was too old a style. Selena is so adorable!!

Good job. She's a cutie. My DD didn't have enough hair to really style until she was around 2 years old We just combed it and slapped one bow on her hair.

Thanks fe and babyrachel!! I do my best with her. Babyrachel, I hope you can let yours be natural again sometime! There are so many things I can do with Selena's hair... it's actually very fun. The problem is it's so time consuming. Most of my styles last about 4 days and I stretch them to a week.... all those little stray hairs start coming out and make it look messy. It takes between 2 and 5 hours to do hair for both girls and if I have to do it that frequently and then taking it out, making sure it stays oiled and not too dry, puffs at least have to be recombed, barrettes are always coming out.... it's a time commitment. I'm hoping that as they grow there will be times I can do quicker hairstyles because the hair will be longer and I can do just a few ponytails and twists if I'm short on time which will stay. crick, that's exactly what my dh said. The extensions were really too much or too old-looking for a little baby. Sleep, thanks... now slapping one bow in sounds like my kind of hairstyle!! I only wish I could do that. One time I took her to the playground with her hair just combed out and in a headband... 3 aa ladies were giving me the dirtiest looks. I looked at their little ones and they had about 60 ponytails and braids put in and tons of beads. I liked the hairstyle but apparently it made me look like the worst mom in the world.