I knew that when my Ethiopian-born daughter was old enough that I would need to tackle the hair situation. Situation meaning I am a white mama who has never done black hair. I knew that hair was going to be an enormous part of my mothering Sadie and I didn’t want to screw it up.

Enter YouTube.

I cannot tell you how many hours of YouTube black hair videos I have watched. Bless YouTube. Seriously. In particular, I watched and read Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care. It was enormously helpful.

Without further ado, here are some of the many simple styles I have done for Sadie. We usually aim for a protective style that is kind to her natural hair. Her hair is kinky and grows slowly. She loves having some length to her hair so enter EXTENSIONS. Extensions are another gift from God. Bless extensions.

Everything you see here was done by me. Yes, it is time consuming to do some of these styles but once you get the hang of it things move quickly. None of this is hard; it just takes practice.