Team Gray!

Yanni and went to the salon yesterday. I hadn’t realized that it was our first time getting our hair done together, until I saw her gawk at me getting my color rinse.

We found this great lady from church, Ellison, who specializes in growing natural hair. This summer, I had taken all the girls in for a consultation with her, and she gave me a family rate for hair maintenance, but it was a little steep at the time. This fall, I approached Curtis with the idea of just getting Yanni and my hair done. I have more of a handle on Imani and Joy’s hair, thanks to Candace–you’re a great sister-in-law!

Yanni has been very frustrated with her hair lately. It’s not growing like she’d like it to, and she is struggling with finding a style. I am swimming twice a week, so my hairstyles are temporary at this point. Yanni was very excited to go to the Salon, and I was apprehensive.

But we got there, and I’m immediately talking about color. And Ellison pulled out a gentle dark rinse that matches my hair. I usually go brown when I get color, so I was curious about going so dark. I was beyond giddy to cover up that gray, though.

Yanni got a shampoo, conditioner, blow dryer and flat iron. Ellison asked her what grease she used. Because it was still in her hair after the shampoo and conditioner. She told Yanni not to use it any more. Yanni was very embarrassed, but I figure she’s a teenager, and they all do that.

My hair turned into silk before our very eyes. It must be all the cholesterol. I leave it in after drying my hair after swimming, so I have it on before I hit the pool, and after. That was in the hair care article I had found about swimming and black hair. But I don’t do that because of the article. No, I’m too hard headed for that. I do that because Candace, my sister-in-law with the long, long hair said to do that. Or, rather, she suggested leaving conditioners in the hair. If it worked for Candace, I’d try it. And lo and behold, it is working wonders for me.

Ellison was surprised at the condition of my hair considering all the clorine exposure. She was pleased that Yanni’s hair was healthy and had a nice non-knotting curl pattern. Yanni gets to go back every two weeks to get her hair used to this treatment before she can stretch out her appointments. I can go back when I need something special, and can set up a schedule like Yanni after I take a break from the pool. That would depend on the baby.

“I always do this,” Joy, on the second time she solved the cube in this creative way.

(the little girls playing at the basketball game)

A few years ago, my husband urged me to start a black homeschool support group. I thought that would be pretty hard, considering that I didn’t know many black homeschoolers. In fact, I thought I knew all the ones in my area, and I was a little apprehensive about contacting them.

Then we became small group leaders, and Annette and her family, (black homeschoolers!) were in our group. They were new to the area, and I thought it my duty to show them around, so I started making my park day group a little more consistent. Then I got a call from Lillian, asking if I still homeschooled. She had a lady in her scrapbooking group that had told her that she was struggling because there were no black homeschoolers in town. Lillian had told her pshaw–she knew several. But when she tried calling them, she found that several had quit homeschooling. She was quite desperate by the time she reached me. Meanwhile, Keisha, the lady from Lillian’s scrapbooking club had found Annette in a directory and had called about getting together. Annette invited Keisha to our park group, and we all had a good time getting to know each other.

I started to panic about the legalistic ramifications of a black homeschool group. I mean, does it have to be all black? Can’t we just have people that we get along with, have similar goals and visions, etc., while still being black ourselves? Well, yeah. So I started inviting other friends to our group, and we were going along swimmingly.

Then Keisha and her family moved away. And Maureen and her family moved away. And Miriam got busy. So we’re down to about three families on a good day.

When one of the families from our church that had inspired us to homeschool (but had been one of the people Lillian had called and had quit homeschooling) started up again last year, I thought, ok, now we can have our local black group! Except that they were busy and we were busy what with Yasha and everything, and before I knew it, they had put their kids back in school.

Saturday, Keisha and her family came to visit. We took them to Yanni’s basketball game, and I had the most fun I’ve had at a homeschool game. Suddenly, a vision flashed before my eyes. I remembered back three years when Yanni played on the 7th grade basketball team. At the homeschool tournament, there was a predominantly black basketball team. They were from all over East Michigan, apparently unable to find a group in just one city. People traveled from all over their area to play basketball together. Keisha is back in Detroit, still looking for a community of homeschoolers. Why couldn’t we be a community? It’s not like she moved to Wisconsin or something. . . those little wheels are turning in my head.

I see how the performing arts group draws from all the surrounding areas to put on a production. Why couldn’t we get something off the ground like this? I’ll have to pray and work on this.