Hair Weekend

Most people actually say "Hair Day."

But it takes me all weekend to get the girls' hair done.

 

Well, not ALL weekend but pretty close.  On Friday afternoon I start by taking all the beads out followed by taking all the braids out.  I let the girls pick a movie to watch when it's their turn so they will sit still.  They are both actually pretty good about it.  This is the only time I let them watch TV in Spanish but it's worth it.  Anything that helps. Of course, during the time that I have to take the beads and braids out, we have to stop to take Rylan to gymnastics... then we have to stop again to go pick him up.  I'm not sure how long this takes... I can go much faster with the simple hairstyles that I put on Juli than with the many, many braids that I put on Diana.

 

Once the hair is all free I take the girls up to soak in the tub.  While we are there I wash and condition their hair.  The conditioner is the kind where you leave it on for 15 minutes under a shower cap to get nice and toasty and really deep condition.  I let them play in the tub while we wait and then stand up to rinse the conditioner out and shower.  Once the shower is over, I put leave in moisturizer on, part the hair into sections that I'm going to use the next day and put each section into one fat braid to keep it from getting tangled overnight.  This part takes about 2 hours.

 

Tomorrow, starting right after breakfast, I will start braiding.  I will take a break to shower at some point and I will have lunch.  Last time I did this, it took about 6 1/2 hours to do Diana's braids.  At that point I only had time to do the cute little crisscross ponytails in Juli's hair... which I absolutely love but they don't last very long.  Juli has told me that she really wants the beads in her hair this time so I will do her first and do braids... although, I probably will make the parts a little farther apart and try to go faster.  She's really good about sitting still but she's four.  We'll see how it goes.  Diana wants the same braids as last time so hopefully with all the practice, I'll get faster.

 

I both love and hate hair weekend.  I love doing the girls' hair.  It's just another form of art and I'm looking forward to getting much better and being able to do more.  I love the time I get to spend with them on my lap and the time sit in the bathroom playing and talking.  I love washing their hair for them.  I know how much I enjoy going to the salon and getting my hair washed by someone else and I think they really enjoy it, too.  I love that I get to do this for them.  However, I really, really wish I could go faster, both for their sakes and for the boys.  I feel like I neglect them to get it done.

 

Anyway, wish me luck!