For parents who adopt children of a different race, caring for and styling their kids’ hair can be a real challenge, particularly for white parents of black and biracial children.Learning culturally appropriate hair care is one of the ways transracial adoption opens parents to a different cultural heritage, said Stephanie Capriotti, an adoption counselor with the central Pennsylvania office of Adoptions from the Heart in Lancaster.the adoption agency will hold a two-hour class at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, to teach hair care techniques to families adopting transracially.”People who already have some experience can bring their knowledge, and it becomes a support system for parents, especially for those who may have just adopted transracially,” Capriotti said.during the class, presenters will offer tips on hair care for children as they grow, and provide products, handouts and books.sometimes parents don’t know how to properly comb out hair or braid it, Capriotti said, or they might not know how short to cut it.the thickness and texture of a black child’s hair can vary greatly from that of a white parent. Black hair, which tends to be more tightly curled, may need to have moisture or oils added, particularly if a parent or child wants to straighten the hair.Patti Young, who is white, has two biracial biological children — a daughter, Madison, 10, and son, Peyton, 12 — and an adopted black son, 19-month-old Noah. Young said she learned that she did not need to wash her daughter’s hair every day or even every other day. she usually sticks to once a week.Brushing out her children’s hair can be a lengthy process, especially as Madison’s hair becomes matted fairly easily.”There was a lot of frustration at first … but it’s gotten better,” Young said. Her routine has evolved from putting her daughter’s hair in pigtails and braids to washing and straightening it to bob length with a flat iron.”We’ve gotten into a groove,” said Young, who marvels at her daughter’s natural curl. “Sunday is hair day.”Rachel Hackenberg, who is white, and has two biracial children, Noah, 12, and Faith, 9, helps care for her children’s hair on a daily basis. she confessed to having no idea how to make cornrows, a tight form of braiding sometimes popular in the black community. Instead, she said, she has an opportunity to step outside the confines of her cultural comfort zone by taking her son to a barbershop that serves mostly black men. and she might seek help from her black friends to braid her daughter’s hair.”I think in the African- American community, especially, hair is an expression of community and culture,” she said.There’s levity, too. if Hackenberg’s son’s hair gets a half-inch too long, she said, he jokes about having an Afro.”I’m like, ‘Sweetie, that’s not even close, and if you’re going to have a ‘fro, you have to learn to use a pick.’ and he doesn’t want to, so we keep it short.”Young said that when her daughter was younger, she wondered why her hair was different from that of her white peers.”In first grade, Madison asked why couldn’t she have white hair — blond and straight — or hair like me, and I had to help her understand,” Young said.Hackenberg said that the predominantly white classmates in her children’s school have at times asked blunt questions about their hair. she said her son was once asked why he was bald after he got a low buzz cut, which is traditional for boys in the black community. Since that time, she said, he refuses to wear his hair too short.but she believes her daughter has come to embrace her hair, regardless of how her peers perceive it.”(She’s) come around … to loving her hair because she can do anything with it, which the white girls can’t do,” Hackenberg said. “She can wear curls, she can have a pony tail, we can straighten her hair, she can have braids.”Parents caring for children of other races need to mindful of hair differences and know the logistics, Hackenberg said.”Hair care between parents and children is … a caring time.”
The Nov. 15 hair-care class will be held at the central Pennsylvania office of Adoptions from the Heart, 1525 Oregon Pike, Suite 402. the class costs $10 per person or $15 per couple. call 399-7766 to register.
Help us improve: suggestions, corrections, clarifications, added information welcome
Related posts:
- Giving Children a Good Start – Nursery Rhymes
- Fragmented Sleep May Impair Memory, Learning
- Encouraging Your Child to Read – How to Develop a Bookworm