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Authors: Stephanie Rose Bird Book Details: 229 pages including appendices, bibliography and
index. Paperback. Table of Contents 1.
The Magic and Mystery of the Seasons Book Excerpt: Curly hair is beautiful, but it is also very complex. Sometimes we treat it forcefully, especially in an attempt to detangle -- ultimately this is the wrong approach. Curly hair has a complicated hair shaft. Pull out a strand and examine it. I'm sure you will find variation in the width of the strand -- at certain points it is quite thick, while in other areas it is thin. The irregularity in the hair shaft, especially at the thin points, makes it more likely to break if stressed than straight hair. Curly hair requires TLC. (From Intergenerational Afro Care, p. 109). Book Review & Recipe Test by Donna Maria dM's Translation of the Above Selected Book Excerpt, Before Reading It: "Curly hair is beautiful, as long as it's not my daughter's. I would rather stab my eye balls than perform my motherly duty of detangling and otherwise struggling with my daughter's curly hair. Curly hair is complicated and endlessly frustrating. Pull out a strand and examine it. Or better yet, comb it until all the tangles are gone and examine the clumps of it that you have collected in the trash can. The irregularity in the hair shaft, especially at the thin points, makes it more likely to break. It is therefore easier to avoid the task of grooming it altogether. My daughter's curly hair requires more TLC than I can give it, so let me call Miss Adell at the hair salon and pay her to handle this problem for me." Isn't that dreadful? To think that I felt that way about my daughter's hair is plainly embarrassing. But it's the truth so there it is. But it's not the truth any longer, thanks to Chapter 10 of this book, which came to my life at just the right time. Before receiving the book in the mail, I had spent many months avoiding doing my daughter's hair, or spending as little time as possible fussing with it. We have very different hair textures and quite frankly, I was hoping to pass mine onto her. Not because I don't like her hair texture, but because selfishly, I didn't want to learn everything I knew I'd have to learn to take proper care of it. Miss Adell at the local hair salon did a good enough job, after all, and she did it faster and better than me. But I had not been to see her in several weeks, so as you might imagine, my neglectfulness was quickly catching up with me -- and with my daughter. I did what all desperate mothers do under the circumstances. I called my mom and invited myself and my daughter's beautiful curly red hair over for the afternoon. Upon arrival, mom and I engaged in a short mother/daughter tiff, during which my mother chastised me and I explained that she didn't understand since my hair took all of 30 seconds to style when I was a child. Ultimately, I acknowledged that she was right and promised to take my little princess to Miss Adell the first moment I could. The next day, I made a date with Miss Adell (and patted myself on the back for doing so), but alas, the day before our appointment, Miss Adell cancelled due to a family emergency. And I had barely touched my daughter's hair in 3 days. (While I'm being honest ...) In hindsight, it was a sign. I think God just wanted me to deal with it. As I have already mentioned, "dealing with it" often means asking my mother for help. So I packed up our plastic box of hair doo-hickies, assorted greases, creams and herbal infused shea butter products, and off we went to my mother's house last Sunday afternoon. After more chastising (which I took much better the second time around), we sat down to do my daughter's hair. Four hours later, all of us emerged like this: 1. my mother exhausted since she spent the last 4
hours doing her daughter's job After apologizing and promising my daughter it would never happen again, I returned home, tucked my Pumpkins in bed and picked up Four Seasons of Mojo so I could write this book review for you. Surely it was no accident that my fingers turned first to Chapter 10: Intergenerational Afro Care, and the first paragraph excerpted above. Then later, this from page 119: "Mother and Daughter Natty Hair Rituals: I grew up as a 'tender-headed' child. I, like many people with thick, tightly curled, easily tangled long hair, readily feel pain and am not shy about letting everyone know about it. The word, "ouch," followed by a flood of tears, was synonymous with hair washing time and with being tender-headed during my youth. [When grooming a girl's hair,] mother and daughter benefit from bonding, trust, affection and sharing." By now, I'm feeling a knot in my throat. I put the book down, ran into my sleeping daughter's bedroom, rubbed her newly combed hair and gave her several kisses as she slept. I returned to read many of Stephanie's suggestions for how to make the mother/daughter hair combing ritual a pleasant and memorable experience. Over the past week, I have enjoyed moisturizing, brushing, detangling, braiding and generally cooing over my daughter's hair. We are having fun spritzing hydrosols into the air after working through a particularly kinky spot. My daughter gets to put on another layer of "grown up" lip stick if she sits still and I am enjoying massaging her little shoulders if she starts to get tired. I'm actually enjoying myself, and my daughter's hair looks better than it has in a year -- and she is so proud of her growing red locks. We bought a new assortment of barrettes in every color of the rainbow, and because I tend to her hair every day now, she feels better about how she looks and I am no longer defeated and overwhelmed by the hair grooming experience. Thanks for Chapter 10, Stephanie. Now for those of you who don't have this problem (thanks for listening), Four Seasons of Mojo contains some fun recipes and rituals for every season. You'll get some unique "fresh food" facial product recipes, delicious smoothies, roasted vegetables, smudge sticks and more. While the recipes and tips run the gamut, Stephanie has done an admirable job of creating chapters that make an otherwise huge collection of information user friendly and easy to understand. Selected Recipe I love to make my own beauty goodies, so naturally I chose a handmade beauty product. The below recipe is adapted as indicated to account for the fixed oils I had available, but the essential oil combination is Stephanie's. Gentle Breeze Solid Perfume Ingredients | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Title:
Four Seasons of Mojo (Llewellyn Publications, 2006)