Hair Day: Photos

Here are some recent photos from our most recent Hair day, which is a day in which all we do is wash and style Adelia's hair. ;)  Adelia loves Hair day because she gets to watch lots of videos and eat lots of snacks, and basically gets waited on all day long by her siblings: they bring snacks, drinks, and movies upon her request. 

The first thing I did was give her a bath and condition her previous style: which was mostly braids (with a few cornrows along the front).  I got her hair all wet and we lathered conditioner on it, rinsed some of it out, and then towel-dried it.  Then I sat on our bed with the little girls and they watched a movie while I started taking the braids out.  Ella joined me a bit later, and she worked one side while I worked the other side. 

After our morning sessions (30 minutes on my bed, another hour on the couch), the kids all played outside, we had lunch, Adelia napped, and then we resumed braid-removal after she woke up.

{Photo: in progress}
I am so very thankful for Ella's help.  She works diligently, enjoys doing it *and* it saves me a lot of time!
{Photo: So that you can get an adequate picture of what we're dealing with.}
Adelia has been blessed with a beautiful head of hair.  So much hair.   :)  I love it.  

In the photo above, Ella is still removing braids on her side while I've started sectioning out my side for the next style.  It probably took us about 2 1/2 hours total to get her braids out, with both of us working at it. 

We took another break for playtime, then dinner, and then I set to work on the new style.  

{Photo: pajama break!  New style almost done}
I did flat-twists on the front (parted in the middle with eight sections across the hairline), and then tried a new technique called African Hair Threading (tutorial here).  I am so thankful for video tutorials.  It was actually very easy to do and she ended up with these thick, boingy curls.  Very cute.  This was much quicker than braiding or cornrowing, and will take very little time to take out, which is a huge bonus. 

{Photo: finally done!  I think it took me about 2 hours to put this style in.}
I have no idea how long these will stay in, though, or what they will even look like once she's slept on them (I'll post updates in the comments for anyone who is interested).  I'm hoping I can get 2 weeks out of this style, but I'm sure I'll have to pull it back in order to keep it in that long.

 * * *

Snacks today: pistachios, string cheese, and fruit leather.  (Always she requests the fruit leather.)

Videos today: Good Morning Maisy, Elmo's World, Psalty.


Best helpers: Ella, for braid removal.  And Mark, for lots of books and songs for distraction during the after-dinner hours. 

New hair tools: Tangle Tamer brush, weaving thread, and new rat-tail combs.  Good purchases, all.  I was particularly pleased with the brush-- it really worked to remove tangles and it didn't bother Adelia at all.  Also, she thought the brush was cute and was able to use it herself which she's never been able to do before. 

9 comments:

  1. Ok Stacy... so seriously - your Adelia hair posts are some of my favorite! I find it all so intriguing and I am SO impressed by you and your creativity and ingenuity on the subject. Totally diggin' the new style.

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  2. These hair posts are always an education. You have true preseverance! I always love hearing what my kids remember from their childhoods thus far. They pull out some funny stuff that I have forgetten about. The recall of hair days will be fun memories to recount. Not at all "mom hide out doing hair all day" but "good times of how we all got in on it. If only for the snacks". Love it!
    Adelia is feeling the love!

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  3. What a fun day! How often do you have these days!!

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  4. Cutz~ I remember you commenting that once, and it's one of my motivators for posting them (#1 motivator: so that I can remember what I do/what I like and use, #2: to help any other adoptive moms out there, and #3: because Cutzi likes these posts. :) I'm serious.)

    Dana~ Adelia's hair has been a HUGE education for me! ;) We do all have fun, and I'm sure it will be a fond memory. That's a great way to look at it!

    Teri~ Usually only about once a month, depending on the style.

    ***

    UPDATE: (5 DAYS later)
    I'm actually really pleased with how this style is holding up. I have made a couple of changes, though:
    ~On Sunday morning I pulled back the front section on each side and added some hair ballies (not because I needed to yet, but I was nervous about the weaving thread getting loose at the top, so I just anchored it down with the ballies.)
    ~On Monday I noticed that some of the weaving thread was getting loose and unraveling-- (I had initially just tied off the thread to the end of her hair, but apparently that wasn't secure enough.) So Monday night I tidied up the threading and added beads to the end of each section-- it took me about 20 minutes, and it's now really secure!

    I am so happy with how well it still looks, and it makes me excited to experiment with this style more in the future. I'm sticking with this one for as long as I can, and then I will definitely try it again!

    ~Stacy

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  5. That is so great! I love your sweet attitude about how time-consuming A's hair is...you really show that you know this is a way to love her! She looks adorable. Good job Mom and Ella!

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  6. Oh my! That is an all-day-affair. She is so cute and what a great helper Ella is for you. I think I spied some Holly Hobbie sheets in the pjs photo. They look exactly like mine from back in the 80s. :) Still love HH.

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  7. Can't WAIT to look at that youtube. I usually do twists in Tabby's hair and when I do little ones it's a several hour job. I like the way the threading looks! And I LOVE that you call it "hair day" I'm a rather uncreative mom, and I'm stealing your term :) because I just tell her it's time to do her hair and put Cosby on "play all" Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Candice~
    Oh, *thank you*, sweet Candice! I do hope she feels loved by it all.


    Heather~
    Yes! That's Holly Hobbie bedding~ a quilt, actually, that I had on my bed when I was a girl. :)


    Christine~
    Oh, I'm *so* happy to have discovered the threading, too! (I had seen it before and kept thinking it was too much to attempt-- but it truly was easy and turned out so cute!)
    And-- OH! how fond I am of the Cosby Show! :) What a great show. Can't wait to introduce my kids to it when they're a bit older... ;)


    ~Stacy

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  9. Can you tell I'm catching up on my blog reading!! hehe. I too love your "hair day" posts. And now especially because I will be able to use your ideas for Jadyn's hair.....it might be a year or so before her hair is long enough, but I'm so excited to see what kind of styles and products work for her :)

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