Black Hair Care Guide

The same basic principles apply for children as for adults. Here are the differences. Find a good children’s shampoo if your child is very young (so that it won’t burn the eyes). Children who don’t understand keeping their eyes closed to keep soap out need a tear free shampoo. However, as soon as you can, move away from these. They tend to be drying for African American hair. I recommend avoiding perms for as long as possible. Children have more sensitive skin than adults. The chemicals in the perms are more likely to damage their skin and hair. Also, children don’t usually have the patience to sit through the process of getting the perm. My stylist told me the story of a three year old girl she was trying to give a perm. Once the solution was in the hair, the child decided she was ready to leave. The stylist had to literally wrestle the child to rinse the perm out of her hair. My older daughter is almost six now and has very thick and coarse hair. Her hair is natural. I did a lot of research on the best way to care for it. I intend to leave her hair natural as long as possible. It’s really not any more difficult to care for than if she had a perm. We use Natural-Laxer MIX on her hair to make it more manageable (not straight). That and just using the basic tips above have made caring for her natural hair much easier, she has less breakage and tangles than she used to and we love the way her hair looks natural.

People have asked us what our opinion is on hydroquinone. Hydroquinone is a fairly controversial ingredient used in many skin lightening creams and gels. Hydroquinone is highly effective, which is why it’s used so commonly. It has been established as probably the most effective treatment for hyperpigmentation; although other treatments are coming along and we offer alternatives on our website.

Over-the-counter products can only contain up to 2% of hydroquinone by law. Hydroquinone, at this level is relatively safe for most people. And hydroquinone is effective. At higher concentrations (it is available in 4% and even more by prescription), it can have pretty serious side effects. Hydroquinone is not a bleaching agent. It prevents skin from making melanin, which gradually leads to skin fading. Hydroquinone doesn’t actually lighten skin, it disrupts new pigment production. As the older skin cells are sloughed off and the newer ones rise to the surface, the replacement skin cells don’t contain the excess pigment and skin gets lighter. This is a slight but important distinction.

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