Hello fellow curly heads and those that desire to one day sport a curly mane. Today I want to talk about the easiest style to obtain for working moms on the go. I’m a mother of 8 year old twins and a 4 year old. Some days I truly don’t have a second to deal with my hair and I need hair styling to be as quick as possible. Hence my afro puff. This is how my day generally goes:
My hubbie and I take turns taking the children to school, however I’m still responsible for getting my daughter and her hair together. If it’s my morning I hit snooze 2 times, get up at dawn, wake up the twins. Wake them up quietly so that my daughter can sleep later, because she gets upset if she gets up to early. This adds another dynamic to the day. Iron clothes if I didn’t iron them the night before. Play referee between the twins who are arguing about the other one looking at them to long or the other one hitting them. Wake daughter up. Instruct children to go eat breakfast, something quick like fruit or cereal. Jump in the shower. Hear loud screams that someone grabbed the milk before the other one grabbed it. Raise my voice so that it could be heard downstairs. Send one twin to their room to wait on the other one to finish fixing cereal.
Water or conditioner rinse hair ( A quick sweep of head under the water without thoroughly wetting). Apply coconut oil to edges and shea butter to edges, brush with denman brush, wrap a scrunchie for thick hair to hold my hair in place. Tie a satin scarf around edges to lay down any fly away hairs for at least 5-10 minutes before walking out of the door. Let hair air dry. Instruct children to finish breakfast. Referee another disagreement because twins are in my 4 year olds room, and she clearly has a sign on the door saying “boys keep out”. She told her dad to write exactly what she meant to keep her brothers out of her room a month ago and then placed tape on the paper and hung it on her door. Likewise the twins drew a picture of a skeleton with crossbones that say “sister keep out”. I attempt to calm down that disagreement. I hurry and get dressed hoping that all kids get along perfectly fine. I remind the boys to brush their hair, apply moisturizer (shea butter) to their faces, brush their teeth and grab their book bags. Every day one of the above is forgotten and it’s to late to remediate it because we’re already pushing it to get them to school and me to work close to the actual time. Once out to the car, someone tells me that they left their book bag inside of the house. I open the door again and wait for one of them to return. Start up the car, intervene and give advice in 3 other disagreements about someone laughing, touching, or looking at the other one. Drop the twins off, drop off my daughter and then head to work. I realized that I’ve ran a marathon before the day started. Then I remember breathe, exhale, pray, try to look calm because my day is just beginning. At the end of the day it’s homework, dinner, break up disagreements, night time routine. At that point all I want to do is spend some time with my hubbie, and afterwards enjoy some me time- (quiet time-that’s where my blog comes in). The life of a mother is full of love, counseling, refereeing, and prayer. At least that’s my life. When running this kind of marathon- I think it’s going to be a puff-tastic day. It’s that simple.
Check out my new website/ blog at http://www.barbaranaturallyspeaking.com for updates on hairstyles, healthy meal ideas, and info. about my exercise routine. I also have photos of how to create hairstyles for adults and children with photos of me and my daughter with step by step instructions for maintenance. Again look forwarding to meeting you there.
Hi anonymous. Thanks for describing your routine when your children were younger. It inspired me to stick to not skipping on making sure that bath time and ironing clothes is a neccesity to be completed at night. I get up early but can't function before 6:00 am. That's because after there all in the bed I try to have a little bit of quiet time/ peaceful time. Thanks again for all the tips!
Barb, I can relate to your pain. I also had a hectic routine when my 3 kids were young. I copied my mother's routine from back-in-the-day and it always seemed to run smoothly so I adopted it as my own.
You may want to use some of my routine to keep the peace. I think the key to its success was that I always excercised, showered, dressed with quickie hair do, and started breakfast before I woke up the kids. That way, I had some peaceful personal time and they had minimal alone time. I was always with them or close at hand, so they stayed focused on preparing for school and not interacting with each other. I rarely had any squabbles between them. It also helped to "put our clothes out" at night, for the following day.
Now,the down side to my routine was I had to get up very early to make it work, but I've always been one who goes to bed early, so not to burn the candle at both ends. It does work for me, but some parts or all may help you.
And as a side bar, as they have gotten older (they're teenagers now)they continue to stay focused on preparing for school without any arguements. I still get up before them and I do monitor their wake up time, even though they all have their own alarms. After all they're still children and they all have their alotted bathroom time. If someone wakes up too late it throws everyone's time off, resulting in chaos!
Blessings to your familly and peace, Natural One
great post! This schedule is so true to many of us. We naturalistas hold many hats. I have a hard time fitting styling into my schedule. I usually try to do it on the weekend and wear it that week. Once it gets old, I revert to the ponypuff!
Loved this. It helps to know that busy moms aren't alone! My TWA is not-so-teeny anymore, and I'm actually apprehensive about finding a low maintenance way to style it!
I can identify! Single mom of a kindergarten natural child. I balance this with working full-time, church activities, ballet practices. I know some people may think I don't experiment enough with my hair but I'm always on borrowed time. I have a strict henna schedule monthly. I have to pencil in time if I want to twist my hair because that takes time away from ironing clothes, getting my daughter ready for bed and then I'm usually too tired! lol..
To top it off my daughter has Type 4 hair also, so before I can get my hair together, I have to first get her head together! Its crazy sometimes but as long as I have a hair schedule and am able to do a puff, I'm okay! I've had a puff in every way possible, with every accessory possible! I get compliments but I know if I had additional time there is a lot more I can do.
I'm not a mom, but I am a full time student with a full time job. So with working, homework, papers, projects, and taking care of a dog and a husband, I'm finding less and less time for my hair. I've gotten to the point where I wear my hair in twists for a week and the next a twist out, then twist it back up and just go from there.
It feels good to know that there are so many moms that identify with these crazy morning routines! It's truly a task to juggle kids and hair. But we're all proof that it's doable. It's been so hot and humid the past few weeks that I really enjoyed conditioner rinsing daily. It so refreshing and keeps me cool until my hair dries. It's cooler this week, so I did a braidout last night. I just tend to redo my braidouts every 1-2 days. I'm getting faster with it though, especially since I may here those precious words called out loudly at any moment "Mom!!!!".
I'm a full time college student, but since I don't have a job or kids I still have a lot of time for my hair on the weekends. I only wash it once a week and style it in brads or twists once every 3 weeks-a month so I don't have to do it every week. when i do finally do it, its a weekend-long process.
I thought I was the only one with a crazy hectic morning filled with screaming, breaking up fights, conditioner in my eyes and still attempting to make it out of the door by 7:30! Now that school is back in session, I am really trying to maintain protective twist or braid styles in my hair during the week. I may wear it out on Friday and Saturday. Wash day is on Saturday, style on Sunday. I iron all of our clothes for the week on Sunday evening, as well as make at least 3 meals for the week.
It sometimes gets even harder because my husband works a second job 3 nights a week, so it all lies on me during the week… But my motto is: What don't kill me can only make me stronger!
Thank God for Grandmas, Papos Uncles and Aunties…we all need a break sometimes.
I am a student and it can get pretty crazy during the semester I usually twist my hair once a week and that's it stress free happy hair for six days straight!
My routine is usually to do my hair once a week so all I have to do is spritz and oil when needed. I hit the snooze and turn on the news to hear the time (like I'm actually listening). I do my little one's hair once or twice a week so my main concern is getting to work on time and not hair.
girl i have twins too. 11yr old (boy-girl) and 2 1/2 yr old boy. i'm tryin to get my girl to embrace her curls, and learn that conditioner is her friend. I like your routine though
I have a very busy schedule and am trying to wash my naturally curly hair more frequently than I do. This becomes an issue since my schedule is hectic and I have to always set my hair after I wash it.
I'm trying to do most of the washing at night, apply shea butter, and then set in braids so my hair has a looser curl in the morning. Then I usually put it in a bun or wear a ponytail.
Hey Barbara…. I know just what you are talking about… I am a full time student, full time employee, part time cosmetologist, I have a four year old son and a boyfriend…(Didnt realize all of these titles until I just typed it..whew!) I must admit my hair gets pushed to the back burner a lot and I usually wear a puff and everyone loves it but me (never been a ponytail gurl..lol) I tend to alternate days, one for my hair, one for my sons hair, one for whoever is on my books, another day for my boyfriend and usually the weekend for my son and homework is always a late night thing or I sneak some in at work… There always seems to be a method to the madness =)
that was such a cute post! i totally relate, having five kids between my husband and myself – life is crazy. i'm lucky to get a wash and go in. i'll definitely check your blog out.
I can relate. It takes forever for my son to brush his teeth and we have being going through the same since he was in Kindergarten now in third grade, its still….
My hair – thank God I work from home and I can come back after dropping him off to come and do something with it otherwise, I may be late everyday: )
Wow!!! I'm exhausted just reading about your crazy marathon schedule. It's enough for me to just let the dog out and start the coffee :)) God Bless you!
LOL! Never thought I come across another fellow mom with a crazy am schedule AND a puff!! 🙂 My morning ritual so resembles yours ESPECIALLY with the hitting the snooze button haha. I love my puff but now that the colder weather is approaching I might have to switch up to twists!