September 17, 2020

For Them.

I am the mother of three wonderful children, two beautiful daughters, and one very handsome son. A little over a year ago, August 2019, I took my youngest daughter for her annual back to school routine visit at our regular hair salon. Her usual back to school routine consisted of a relaxer, trim, & kiddie rod set. We went the day before school started back, and the salon was so busy with similar clients. She had been there for hours, and I was ready to get her home to eat, bathe, and tucked into bed.

Her hair was beautiful as usual, and she received many compliments at school the next day.

When returning home, she brought to my attention that she had a bald spot near the middle of her hair. Once I took a look at it, I noticed it was also a bald area at the very back. I brushed it off as maybe it could be two things. The relaxer was a bit much on a couple of places, or her previous braids caused some thinning.

The next day we discovered more bald areas, which, of course, was stressful for the both of us.

I immediately smelled her head, and it smelled like a relaxer, so we went straight to the sink to wash it out with a kid neutralizing shampoo. The suds were very pink, which confirmed that maybe the stylist did not wash the relaxer entirely out.

More & more of her hair was falling out as I rinsed it out.

We both cried, and I had to pull myself together to be as professional and understanding with our stylist. I took my daughter with me to show the stylist what had happened, and we both decided that it must have been from not thoroughly washing out the relaxer, even though she reassured me repeatedly that she did shampoo it more than once. My daughter, who was nine at the time, and we all agreed.

Over a month later, she was losing hair fast.

I did not know what to do. It was too short for braids, too bald for this, and also damaged for that!

She was in 4th grade, and school-age kids can be very mean and cruel, so the stress level grew. I decided to pull her hair up into a ponytail, add some braid hair to make a bun, and buy the widest headbands to cover all the damage. I washed & conditioned her hair weekly and styled it until it could be braided.

Finding a solution seemed to be my only solution!

I started researching natural oils that would grow her hair back, and I would apply it to her hair and scalp every other day. We chose not to take many photos during this time, but her progress is incredible. If this journey of my life has resonated with you, please take the time to share your experiences.