Though I am not one for processing the hair of children in any way, I recently came to a difficult decision. I used a texture softener on my daughter's hair. It was something I had thought about for a long time. I didn't want to do it at all. I felt like her natural hair was beautiful and perfect just the way it was. I spent so much time and effort trying to convince her of that. And my baby was happy. However, as her hair grew thicker and her crying and refusal to have her hair done became a daily fight, I made the decision.
The texture softener is not meant to straighten the hair. It is simply a process intended to make the hair more manageable. It loosens tight coils and makes the hair...well...softer. Tangles end. Breakage ends. Crying and spending up to 30 minutes for one daily do, done.
I had my doubts in the beginning, but after having a few weeks to style and moisturize her hair, I couldn't be happier with the results. It takes a fraction of the time to do it, and she likes it. There hasn't been any breakage at all (like we experienced when the texture was much tighter). The jury is still out at this point, but right now I feel like I made the right decision.
