Sophisticate's Black Hair Styles and Hair Care Guide: A Step In The Right Direction...Or NOT!

I was at the store looking at some books for the children when I came across a magazine rack. I decided to browse through a copy of Sophisticate's Black Hair Styles and Hair Care Guide. I was pleasantly surprised to find several natural hair styles for women.

Just a few pictures. There were plenty more natural styles.

I quickly became disappointed once I reached the kids section.

"Kids' Coif Corner - Get The Looks: Trying to find some fresh, simple style ideas for your little princess? Try these creative and pretty looks on for size!"

They then show 3 styles, all of which required heat.

"Pretty Ponytail: Perfect for a school picture or a day at the park, this high ponytail is easy to create. Start by shampooing, then pat hair dry with a towel. Continue by blow-drying with a round brush to straighten hair. Your last step before styling is to flat iron the entire coif so you acheive the best sleek silhouette."

At this point I was shaking my head. I thought for sure the other issue of their magazine would have some natural styles for children. Wrong!

Under "Pretty Kiddies" they show two little girls with straightened hair. The younger girl had some curls added in though.

"Girly Ponytails: If she's outgrown the clasic ponytail style, opt to pull strands away from face and secure into a simple style like the ponytail twists shown here. "For easy maintenance, I like to leave the hair straight and just accent it with barrettes and little hairpieces." Howard notes. "We didn't want her to look too old."

A Closer Look: Since Howard waits until early teen years to relax a child's hair, the style pro opted for a press-n-curl on the Natural mane. "I went through with a pressing comb, then flat-ironed it straight down," she explains. "I parted the hair in a zig-zag then twisted it back three times, securing it with barrettes." Notch-cut layers into ends for extra movement."

"Sweet Silhouette: What little girl doesn't want to look like a princess? Recreate a fairytale mane on your little angel that's both pretty and wearable. "Because kids don't always want to wear their hair curly, we can flat-iron the hair very lightly to give them an everyday 5-year-old girl look," reveals Howard.

Switching Angles: Alternate between twisting lengths around the barrel of a medium flat iron and pressing out into an ultra-sleek texture, Howard recommends. "It's nice to create some straight and some curly pieces in the hair," she says. A dab of essential oils can be used throughout to help protect strands without weighing them down."

Now do you see why I have a problem? They had all these wonderful styles and instructions for natural women but when it came to our children all of the styles required heat. Lots of heat. Did you catch the part where she using a pressing comb and flat iron on one of the girls? I'm not anti-straight or anti-heat but I feel like they should have included some natural hair styles for the little ones, or maybe have an article on how to properly comb your childs hair. I feel like that is more needed than some more straight styles. How often do our children see little girls with straight hair on TV? At school? etc. It's no wonder so many of our children want straight hair!

I am going to email Sophisticate's Black Hair Styles and Hair Care Guide and I hope you will too. You can check out their website here, their Facebook here.

Email their staff: info@associatedpub.com

Hopefully by all of us expressing our concerns they will change a few things or include more natural styles for children. If they do, I will be the first to pick up the copy! Feel free to use any of these pictures of the magazine on your blog/website to help spread the word. Click to make them bigger and save.

I would also love to hear your thoughts.