"Setting the Record Straight"

Hello,

Just wanted to respond to some of the comments that were received...I was asked to blog about what happens in our house and what some of the daily challenges we are faced with in our home life as well as Brenna's professional life. Because I am involved in an interracial relationship, and my daughter is bi-racial, that is what I discuss. I am in no way trying to tell anyone how to raise their child. I try to do the best I can with my daughter. I am in no way qualified to tell anyone this!! I am not in any way perfect!! Yes, I know that she is part AA and that is why she has the hair she does. But, as far as her hair type, it is different. Different, not being bad, just a different texture. As far as the marketing for this product, I believe it could be used for all ethnicities who have unmanageable hair.

Again, I try to instill good values in my children. They know that it is what is on the inside that counts. Unfortunately, the business that Brenna is in, looks play a very important aspect. It is tough!! I in no way mean to offend anyone. I realize that speaking about ethnicities is a very sensitive subject. I guess because I am so comfortable being with my husband and his family I sometimes forget that I am a "white woman" talking about sensitive issues. I would like to be seen as just a mom of no color just discussing some of the problems that go on in our lives, not because of race, but because of the crazy things that go on in our world!! We all have our opinions and I appreciate yours. Maybe I can learn from you as well.

I also would like to point out that I really appreciate the person who told me about the hair removal product!! I am definitely going to talk to our doctor about it!! ;)
We actually saw the threading being done this weekend at the mall. Brenna wouldn't go anywhere near it!! :) I am sure it works really well but it looked kind of painful. Is it???

Until Next Time,
"Sunflower Mom"

"Requests"

Hello all,

I have had numerous requests to put up before and after pictures of the product being used on an AA child. Unfortunately, the only way this can happen is if someone who uses the product will send the pictures to me. This blog is my own personal blog about MY family and our daily hair/life issues.

I know that there is an AA on the box, but, I am blogging on behalf of the multi-ethnic side. If you go to the Just For Me website, there is more information there for AA as far as the product goes. I wish I could be of more help with this, but, I could in no way respond to the effects on their hair type. I only know how it affects my daughter's hair. I know there are many who have responded to not liking the product...but, it really works for us!! I wouldn't trade it for the world!!

As far as it being a relaxer, it is my understanding that a relaxer straightens your hair completely. Is this not true? I have never used a relaxer on my daughter's hair. I did have a friend who used one on her daughter's (who is bi-racial) and it did straighten it completely. This texture softener does not. It just makes it more manageable. And yes, we got along okay before this product came along. It just took WAY longer to comb out her hair and it broke off WAY too much!! It doesn't now!! So though it may not work for everyone...it works for us!! :) WE LOVE IT!!!! DON'T LEAVE IT ON LONG!!! This works best!! It makes hair soft and smooth with beautiful curls, but straightens nicely as well!!!

Until Next Time,
"Sunflower Mom"

"New Problem on the Horizon"

Hello again!!!

Hope this finds everyone well. My household has been VERY busy!! Baseball is going strong with my husband and son...Brenna and I are busy with cheerleading and she has become very busy with modeling in the past two weeks!! She's been doing a lot for JC PENNEY'S!! :) She is having a total blast!!

BUT...we have come across a problem dealing with her headshots!! She was looking at her pictures and she thinks that she has a mustache. She doesn't like the hair above her lip!! She wants something to be done about it. My problem is...what do I do??? I know that there are several options out there, but, personally, I don't think it is a problem. Her hair is darker there because she has dark hair.

I have been trying to ignore this and I try to tell her that it isn't as bad as she thinks...but, she isn't buying it anymore. And to top it off, last week, I had her manager from LA ask about it!!! I WAS SHOCKED!!!! She said that we need to maybe do something about it!!! WOW!!!! I was actually kind of offended!!! I definitely did not say anything to my daughter about this!!

So...here we are. I guess something needs to be done. Anyone have any suggestions?? Have you tried bleaching, waxing, etc??? We have waxed her eyebrows before. She about DIED from the pain!! And what happens after that? Does the hair come back stubbley? If we bleach...won't that look awkward having blonde hair there since she is a brunette?

This is a totally new situation for me...HELP!!! Anyone out there have any suggestions??? I would greatly appreciate it!!! :)

Thank you!!!

Until Next Time,
"Sunflower Mom"

"New News"

Listen up...JFM posted its first-ever newsletter on their website, jfmvipclub.com! The best part about it is that you moms can print out a copy from home for your daughters. And, there is a special section just for moms to read! Also, JFM launched a blog in January as a resource for African American moms. The link is: www.just-for-moms.blogspot.com. It has great hair tips for African American moms and also some self-esteem messages.

I mention this because I have had many questions in regards to the product for AA children. I feel this will better help those of you who have questions regarding the product and how it works specifically on AA hairtypes.

For those of you who were waiting for me to post pictures of my son...he cut his hair all off again!!! My husband took him. I was sooo upset because first of all, I love his hair longer. Secondly, I really wanted to put the texture softener on his hair to see how it would work. Maybe later on in the summer he will let it grow out so that I can use it! :) His hair type is way more coarse than Brenna's so I really wanted to test it on his hair.

Until Next Time...
"Sunflower Mom"

"Straightening Brenna's Hair"

I actually straightened Brenna's hair 2 times this week!! That is how easy it is now! She had to do headshots Thursday and Friday. I wanted some pictures with her hair curly and also some with her hair straight.

Well, Thursday, we took pictures with it curly. I straightened it Thursday night for pictures on Friday. It only took about 35-40 minutes(I will explain how I do it later!) When we looked at the pictures from Thursday, with it curly, the lighting wasn't good, so...after taking pictures with her hair straight, I wet it to get it curly again so that we could get some better shots! She was not happy!! She wanted to keep her hair straight. So, I told her that I would straighten it again for her! I WOULD HAVE NEVER OF DONE THIS IN THE PAST!!!! It took way too long and was way to hard!! So, I straightened it for her again Saturday morning!! I timed it and it took 45 minutes!! That was from getting her out of the bath with her hair soaking wet and drying it and straightening it!! PRETTY GOOD!!! It also straightened out nicely!! What I mean by that is no frizzing. It was smooth and silky!!

So now to how I straighten it...I actually tried a new technique this time. It worked really well. First, I put the Just For Me Smoothing Gel in her hair (I use a lot of this, especially at the front of her head by her hairline)!! Next, I parted her hair separating the top half from the bottom half. I always start at the bottom and work my way up. After that, I would take about a 3 inch section of her hair and comb it smooth. While holding the end of it with my hand (to keep it straight), I would blow dry that section. Then I apply this shine serum. I believe it is from Neutrogena. I will check when I get home!! After I put that on, I use a straightening iron to straighten her hair. It is not one of the expensive ones either!! It is the wet/dry one you can buy at WalMart or Walgreen's!

So I continue to do this section by section working my way up to the top of her head. Brenna will sit and watch tv or read a book!! It is really very simple!! I have posted one of the shots so you can see how it turned out!! The last picture I posted was done at a photo shoot for Bloomingdale's! By a professional hair stylist! The one posted here is of her hair done by me!! :)

Until Next Time,
"Sunflower Mom"

"New Products"

Hello!!

Just curious if anyone has had a chance to use the two new products? I really don't even know if they are out in the stores yet. But, I do know that they are giving them away for free on the jfmvipclub.com website!! You should really take advantage of this!! They really help manage Brenna's hair.

It was funny...yesterday, she had to go be put on film for a monologue. When she finished, the casting director came out and kept on talking about how good her hair looked on camera. She kept on about how shiney and healthy it looked! (We had just used the JFM products)!!! As I said before, I used to use the ProLine comb thru moisturizer...but, since Just For Me has come out with these two new products, we have switched!! No more having to use a man's product on my little girls hair!

Oh...my son is also letting his hair grow out!! I am going to try the texture softener on his hair here pretty soon!! I will let you know how it turns out!! :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!

Until Next Time,
"Sunflower Mom"

"Update"

Just wanted to let everyone know that I finally got in touch with MySpace and they finally removed the fake site!! I was not able to find out who put the site up. I would have to go to the police station and file a report because they cannot release that information to me because of privacy laws. Can you believe that??? It would be a long drawn out process. The police would of had to gotten with MySpace and they would have to get that information from them to get to me.

I wanted to know who did it...but, I wanted it off of there immediately! I would like to thank MSI Strategies for also helping in this situation!!

OH...IMPORTANT NEWS!!!!! Just For Me is coming out with 2 new hair products!! We were sent samples and they are absolutely wonderful!! One is a curl smoother. It helps soften tangles and helps define the curls. The other is a smoothing gel. It strengthens the hair and helps control the "frizzies"!

I actually use both of them on Brenna's hair. After she gets out of the bath, I put the curl smoother on her hair to help comb it out. Then I put the smoothing gel on and scrunch her hair gently!! The smoothing gel is not sticky and it really helps control her hair after a long day at school!!

Go to the Just For Me website to check it out!!! It is jfmvipclub.com!!!

Until Next Time,
"Sunflower Mom"

"The Wonderful World of Technology"

Hello All,

I thought you might be interested in this...We found out not too long ago that someone has/had set up a myspace account under my daughter's name. There were pictures on the site that were definitely taken from her pictures that are on specific websites for modeling and so forth. Apparently, the site was set up when she was only 9!!! We just found out about it not too long ago!! The scarey thing is, is that you can't get in touch with anyone from myspace. You can email problems or report them...but so far...NOTHING!!! I have not heard a word from them!!

There were numerous conversations on her site between whoever set it up (pretending to be her) and older men from who knows where!!! This really scared my daughter. We talked about it...but, it just so happens that this week at our school, it is bully free week. The kids went and watched a cyberbullying video showing how easy it is to find someone on the internet!! Well, that really freaked her out!! She came down so my room bawling!! She was SOOO scared that someone was going to come into our house and steal her.

I feel in my heart that it is someone that knows her. There was actually a letter on the site and they were pretending to be her mother and father saying that they/we allowed her to have the site and to not make fun of her because she was on Barney along with other comments!! CRAZY!!! Numerous mispelled words!!! It is obvious that it was written by a kid but they also knew too much personal information about her. I will keep trying to find out who did it but I just want parents to know how easy it is for someone to take your information and make it their own...even a child's.

What a scarey world we live in now!!

Until Next Time,
"Sunflower Mom"

"Using the Texture Softener"

Hello!!

Just wanted to share this with the last person who commented on thinking they left the product on their child's hair too long. She thinks that she left it on too long and her daughter's curls loosened more than she wanted them too. You really have to be careful and make sure that you read the directions for the time really carefully. What is hard is that you start on one side of the head so the product is left on longer on that side. This actually happened to me!! I took too long to get to the other side of Brenna's hair and it loosened the curl more than the other side.

Don't worry, though. It only took about a week and a half for it to curl back up even with the other side. You also need to make sure that you don't comb through the hair repeatedly. Also, using a bottle of the sunflower oil on the hair before you apply the product really helps with my daughter's hair type. I know, of course, that our kids all have different hair textures. Kids of mixed heritage have ALL types of textures. I have found that this is what works best for Brenna's hair!!

I know that there are many people that feel this product will damage the hair, but, I know for a fact it does not. We are soo happy that Brenna booked this job!! It has truly become a blessing in our household when dealing with hair issues!!! :)

Until Next Time...
"Sunflower Mom"

Thank you!!

I would like to thank those who responded to my alligator skin post!! You had wonderful suggestions. We have tried the baby oil and it seems to be working! It is a baby oil wash. I do have to say, though, that I upset my daughter when she heard that I posted her problem.

Last year it didn't seem to bother her, but, I guess this year with her being older, it really did! She was mad that I was letting everyone know her problem. I really felt bad about it. We had a talk about it and I see her point. So...I will be discussing posts with her (if they are specifically about her) before I blog!

But, I do have to say that she was thankful to all of the suggestions. Especially that it is working for her!! :)

Until Next Time,
"Sunflower Mom"