Hair Help...

Hope has come, again!! Every few months, I seem to need a 'Hope fix' to get hair advice and of course, she does a beautiful job styling Mercy's hair. Most recently, Miss Britt (who is becoming an expert plaiter) and I have noticed that it is more difficult to keep Mercy's hair in a style and we both thought it would benefit us to have a 'consult' with Hope. I so appreciate Hope's willingness to serve us in this very tangible way on a Saturday when she could be doing a bazillion other things. After looking at and handling Mercy's hair for a few minutes, Hope suggested that we try to 'texturize' it a bit through use of a relaxer designed for children. After talking it over with Mark and getting his okay, Hope and I headed over to the local beauty supply store and purchased a kit. The goal is to make Mercy's hair more manageable so that we can style it a bit easier and this seemed to be an effective way to achieve that goal. I have always been a bit hesitant to do anything of this nature because I want Mercy to be comfortable and accepting of who God made her to be . But, over the past few months, it has become more of a challenge to find a style that lasts and the actual prep time to get her hair prepared for a style was becoming more time consuming and difficult to manage. So, this certainly does seems to be the answer for now. We will have to keep it up every 6-8 weeks so we'll see what we decide to do at that point in time. I am so very grateful for my 'hair helpers'...Hope and Miss Britt have been such a means of grace to me as I seek to care for Mercy's hair. How kind of the Lord to send these 2 ladies to meet such a tangible need. Hope and Britt if you are reading this,I hope you know how much your desire to serve in this way means to me. I am so very grateful!!! Below are the pictures of that day.
I am truly thankful for modern conveniences and God's attention to provide such practical help to this clueless Momma!
Love,
MamaB

This is Mercy loosening a style in preparation for a visit from Miss Britt. Yes, she uses a pencil to loosen her braids ! This was taken before Hope relaxed Mercy's hair.

"I'm not so sure about this!!!"

"Well, maybe it will be okay!"

~Hope - hard at work~

Mercy learned the hard way why we told her NOT to open her eyes during the rinsing process !!

The neutralizing shampoo turns a tinge of pink if all the relaxer solution has not been totally rinsed from the hair... Hope was so thorough and used up the entire bottle, just to be sure!

Voila! We were stunned at the instant results...Mercy was able to painlessly glide a comb through her hair...this is quite a contrast from the typical ripping and pulling she normally does. Mercy enjoyed spying her reflection on the chrome faucet...she couldn't believe how long her hair was now that her tight kinky curls had been relaxed. Since then Miss Britt was able to braid Mercy's hair in a record breaking 2 hours....and the loosening of the old style, conditioning, and combing took a fraction of the time it normally would! I'm doing a happy dance here :)!!