White moms, mixed kids, and hair (again)

Here we go again. Seems like this issue recycles over and over.

Read this article first, published on The Root, but it will probably make you mad. It sure lit a fire in me. I’m a White Mom With Biracial Children, and What I Do With Their Hair Is No One’s Business

Other than no one should just come up and touch your child's hair, I couldn't disagree more with this writer. 

As a white mother of biracial Black children it was my job and responsibility to learn the cultural values around their hair and how to care for it properly. I am glad Black women - including friends and strangers in the store - offered advice on products and techniques. I didn't know. My kids deserved to have hair that looked like their peers' hair, and that was healthy and neat. 

Frankly, after I learned how to braid, plait, twist and make puffs, even with practice, I was only just okay with my daughter's hair. And we had a few relaxer and hot comb disasters as she got older and wanted processed hair (like her friends). We found a stylist who could do blowouts for special occasions. And someone who could do awesome braids. 

I was relieved when she and her friends started doing each other's hair in high school. It was an art form I never mastered. And I was so glad my son and his friends found all the barbers that could make tight fades and designs in their loose, mixed kids hair (you remember the 90s, right?) 

My granddaughter and me. Different hair, different needs.