When we began our adoption journey, the one thing that petrified me most about transracial adoption was having a girl. If I suck at white girl hair (again, evidenced by my post yesterday and my own sad hair), what would I do with Black girl hair? But I studied up on it and made it my goal that if we had a girl, she would have great hair. It would be my joy to do her hair.

And then we had a boy.

But I didn’t get let off of the hair issue so easily.

For the first few months, Little Man’s hair was easy. I’d wash it whenever he got a bath (2x a week, usually) using Aveeno baby shampoo. Then, when it started to curl a little (around 3 months) I’d rub some regular baby oil into his scalp and fluff up the curls. That would last for a few days, right until it was time to shampoo again.

LM has very soft fine hair. It isn’t coarse, it isn’t, well, terribly ethnic, I guess, for lack of better words. But it is starting to curl. He has what I call his curl mohawk – the top of his head is all curly while the sides and the back are still very straight. If I pull on his curls, they stretch out to about 2 inches.

So about one month ago, I began the quest of making sure I was “doing” his hair right. I still wash it almost every time he gets a bath (almost, but not quite every time) using the Aveeno baby shampoo. It smells great, it doesn’t sting, it’s gentle on his hair and skin. (I also use Aveeno bath wash & lotion, by the way. I was very concerned he’d have sensitive skin. He doesn’t, but I love the way the stuff smells!). The baby oil still works in his hair, but I’ve moved on to a product by Carol’s Daughter called Hair Milk. I bought a little bottle and I bought the “light” version. It defines his curls and keeps them soft.

Our biggest hair issue is that whenever he is tired, he pulls on and twists his hair. So he was sort of “dreading” his own hair. I’m not so big on baby dreads! But after his bath, while his hair is still wet, I rub in some hair milk. The rest of his hair is just slightly starting to curl (I can’t wait to see if it curls all over!), so the hair milk helps define the curls and keep them soft.

Plus, it smells good. At first, I realized it doesn’t make him smell like a baby anymore. It’s all natural stuff, but it has sort of a cologne smell to it. But now it smells like my baby!!

I realized the other day at our children’s museum that I only have about 5 months left before I can officially have his hair cut. All of the Black preschoolers at the museum had buzz cuts – very cute. But they all looked the same! I only saw one little boy who had curls…I wonder which one Little Man will be someday!!