An open letter to White Parents raising black/bi-racial children and neglecting their hair care:

Allowing your children to walk through this world with effed up hair is effed up.  Period.  I know this has been said many times on many-a-blog, but never on this blog, so its my turn now.

I don't claim to know what your "angle" is by neglecting to brush or comb your child's hair, but I will tell you this: you are NOT making any sort of statement about how "progressive" you are or how you are allowing your child to choose how they want to care for their hair.  Children are not mature enough at this age to make a conscious choice about deciding not to groom themselves - at this age, it's your job as the parent to make sure that they are groomed and cared for properly.  Furthermore, it is highly likely that if your child is not already being teased at school for his long, matted, unkempt hair, that eventually, he will.  Kids are cruel, so lets as parents not give them reasons. 

Perhaps your negligence is just ignorance and you just don't know HOW to care for their hair.  Listen, I hear you.  I grew up with a mother who knew nothing about black hair care.  But she AT LEAST knew enough to grab me the old-fashioned cake cutter from grandma's house (see pic below) and off I went. 

I realize that our hair is not easy to care for; however, I feel inclined to remind you that THIS is what you signed up for when you either adopted and/or birthed this lovely child into the world.  Like it or not, you have a responsibility to teach your child how to groom themselves.  There are many resources out there for you, start with the Google.

respectfully submitted,
maureen