""Hair envy, goin natural and family riffs-"

I rarely watch daytime tv, so I am probably very behind on this, but in case others have not seen this either, here goes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxQGXmEVw-4&feature=related

I know this is Part 5, but interesting dynamics between female relatives!.

I thought it was very interesting that an audience participant mentioned the generational perception about hair. I think there is a lot of truth in that.

I watched this in my sociology class..it's amazing all the issues we have within the AA race. As I was transitioning I felt like I would get signs that helped me push along. THIS was one of them.. I was struggling to stay in the race, but this video gave me motivation. I once thought some of the same things as those girls and its only because it was put in my head. I love my hair, I wish I would've done this sooner. #time to stop the ignorance

These poor little girls dealing with the stress of society. Why would you relax a three year old's hair? Someone needs to teach new Mother's how to do their daughter's hair during lamaze classes or after they give birth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0DgVijM7Z8

I remembered when that first aired. Those little girls made me so sad but then I realized I felt the same way when I was little. Before I moved to Alabama, I worked with kids and some of them had the same ideals of beauty.

@envizionj That would be perfect for new and old mothers.

This is all a result to the way the media portray beauty , until recently do we see Black natural models that have features we have being called beautiful i think we have come a long way but still have a long way to go , our hair is beautiful and fine the way it is ... until i started reading on natural hair and decided to go natural u thought maybe as a black girl with type 4 hair that never grew pass my shoulder that it was a curse but as i learned more i realized i was doing everything wrong it wasn't a curse it was ignorance

Just Ashley wrote:I remembered when that first aired. Those little girls made me so sad but then I realized I felt the same way when I was little. Before I moved to Alabama, I worked with kids and some of them had the same ideals of beauty.

@envizionj That would be perfect for new and old mothers.

Just Ashley, welcome aboard.

How terrible for the little ones.

Someone needs to reach out because I am seeing more and more little girls with natural hair with major breakage. Their hair is just pulled back into one with no moisture in it at all. I have just wanted to run up to some of the mothers and say "Have you heard about moisturizing shampoos and conditioners?" "Have you heard about moisturizing pomades?" "Have you ever tried to style on damp hair?" "Did you try to detangle her hair from the ends to the root instead of the roots to the ends?" "You have to comb her hair in small sections with a wide tooth comb."

I too relaxed my younger daughter's hair when she was three years old, and am not ashamed to say it. I did it to try to cut out a step in maintaining her hair. When I was coming up all I knew about was perms and hot combs. I tried the hot comb but they didn't like the heat and steam and was afraid of getting burned. My youngest actually did get burned on her shoulder once, so we had to stop using the hot comb. The "kiddie" perm took her hair out in patches, literally. I thought maybe I did something wrong so when it was time for a touch up I took her to the salon. She did no better and my daughter's hair was very thin and her ponytails looked terrible to me that way. I decided she wasn't getting any more relaxers and I would have to figure out how to manage her hair another way. The stylist told me I would have to continue perming her hair since I had started it. By then my baby was 4 and I said 'nah, she's got enough time to grow this mess out and be natural again' So I started cutting the perm out of her hair as it grew. She's now 7yo and has been relaxer free for 3 years with hair down her back and we're hoping it'll reach her bum by her 8th birthday in Dec.

My oldest has been relaxer free since 2009. We transitioned together, and I actually decided to go natural because of her. She made the decision for herself and I didn't feel right wearing a perm while my girls were relaxer free.

So that's my story, and I don't judge the ladies from the show or anywhere who make the decisions they make. They're doing what they were taught from what they've been around. What we can do instead is pray that they find a better more healthy way to get the job done, because they're out there. I've learned that myself.

@Alanija I applaud you for stopping the relaxers on your daughters hair. I wish more mothers would recognize damage like that and stop it. Heck, I wish more people would recognize the damage to their own head and stop it.

@envizionj First, Thanks! Second, the information for hair care is out there. There was a study done saying minorities esp. Blacks are a big presence on the internet, and one look at Twitter is all anyone needs to confirm that. I think that some know the information is out there somewhere and just do not care to look it up or either too afraid to admit they have no clue and ask for help.
I have been doing as Alanija said to do which is pray. However, I also have been putting sticky notes that have curlynikki and other sites written on it in people’s pockets or cart when they are not looking; just to get them in the right direction esp. if they are going for those products that is nothing but mineral oil. I know that might be too much so I don't do it often.

I can't understand putting a relaxer in a 3 year olds head. That stuff burns and she's just a baby!!