Adventures in cornrows

We have two new foster placements: A little 2 year old girl and her little brother.  The first night they were here, I gave them a nice, long bath.  I took out all her clips and twists and washed her hair, but afterwards I was kind of at a loss when it came to styling it.  I wanted her to look nice and neat, but I was failing miserably. I'm not really good at my own hair, so you can imagine what I'm up against with her. She has tons of hair, and she did actually look cute with it all poofy and natural, but I wanted her to look really put together when she goes to visit her mama tomorrow (she is missing her mama like crazy, but she's doing a great job here with us). And there is just not a tutorial in existence anywhere on you-tube or otherwise that can turn me into a passable styler of ethnic hair.  I pass by this little salon for African hair braiding almost everyday, right down the street from out house. So I called and a lovely lady from the Ivory Coast (where they speak french: bonus-I can practice!) took her this morning and worked some unbelievable magic, whipping her hair into tiny braids and beads. It was really reasonably priced too.  Right now she's running around the house and stopping at every mirror.  We're ready for Mama! 

p.s. The woman who braided her hair had an Ivory Coast soap opera on when we got there.  I was so into it!!!  It was so interesting, and surprisingly I understood every word!