Ruby's new hair

I took Ruby on a special date to get her hair done at a real salon for black hair. (TLC in Salt Lake) She really wanted her hair in corn rows with beads and has been asking for it since she saw a picture of a girl with this hair style a few months ago. So I took her in.

Here's how it went:
They washed her hair, she loved that. But then they started combing her hair in the sink and the tears started!
Then they dried her hair with a straightening comb so it was all straight and SUPER BIG!! She hated that and cried again.

Then they sectioned off the hair and started braiding. She cried on and off throughout the braiding as well. But she never screamed and she was never horrible. She was really really good. Plus she got to help thread the "butterfly" with the beads so that helped.

In the end it took about 3 hours and here is the end result. She loves it and is still shaking her beads and looking in the mirror and smiling at herself. I love it. She is so cute and this hair style really shows off her eyes and her soul, if you know what I mean.

I don't know how long it will last and the beads are already breaking off, but it's funny how even at four, getting a great hair- do can make a girl feel pretty and happy.

*On a side note, walking into that all black salon I felt pretty out of place. I was the clueless white mom bringing her daughter to the professionals for help. I felt small and intimidated (probably like how Ruby feels all the time around so many white people). But the lady who did Ruby's hair was really nice and started talking and laughing with me and made me feel less awkward.
The other woman there kept talking to us as well and when Ruby cried they told me that, "We cried too when we was young and our mammas was black. So it ain't yoh fault!!" :)
In fact they were so cool and funny it kind of made me feel bad for Ruby that she won't grow up with true black culture and is just stuck with her dumb white mom. You know?