Hair... Hair is one of the big issues when it comes to transracial adoption, especially if the child you are adopting is black. Black cultures take great pride in their hair and in their children's hair, and caring for black hair properly and styling it well takes practice, which is something us white ladies usually don't have a lot of.

To be perfectly honest, when we were waiting for Marcus (our African American baby boy) to be born, we weren't completely sure he would be a boy, and I secretly hoped that he would, so I would not have to worry about learning how to do a little black girl's hair. Well, three months later God had a good belly laugh as he blessed us with Mercy and Des, who at that time were 9 and 6 years old, and had a whole lot of black hair for me to learn how to care for. Talk about getting baptized with fire!

On one of their very first days with us one of them asked me, "Mom, do you know how to do hair?" Ummmmmmmm......not exactly.

My early attempts left a lot to be desired, and my sweet girls did their best to build my confidence, "It looks good Mom..." (even when it clearly did not). I learned what products worked well, how often to wash it, what styles looked good and lasted long, etc.

I am proud to say that now, two years later, I get constant compliments on my girls' hair, from black ladies and white ladies. I even get genuine compliments from my girls, which truth be told, is what matters most to me.

Today we had a lot of fun doing their hair with some new "hair snaps" we bought. The snaps can take the place of a rubber band at the bottom of a braid or twist which is faster, easier and more gentle on the hair. I also used the snaps to "decorate" the top of the braids, which the girls just love! Des did hers in black flowers with "colored jewels" and Mercy chose the bright colored flowers. Both girls are detouring past mirrors frequently and Mercy was really excited to show her hair off at camp today.

So, here are some pictures. I showed Mercy's face so you could see how it looks from the front (the bright colors show up better in the pictures) and I am showing the top of Des's head to see how pretty that looks (please know Des's face is just as pretty as her sister's!)

If you are interested in purchasing some snaps they are cheap and fun and easy to use. One place that you can buy them is at Snapaholics, where they are being sold by a mom as a fundraiser for her Haiti adoption.

My advice if you are new at all this hair stuff, is to enjoy it. Doing hair is a fun time for me and my girls, and I time that is great for bonding. If I can learn how to do it, anybody can. For more info on transracial adoption and hair care, you can read one of my earlier posts here.