Beijingkids has been an essential family resource for Beijing international families since 2006. And just as kids grow up in the blink of an eye, Beijing has grown and changed almost beyond recognition in that time. In Throwback Thursday we jump in the time machine, traveling through our 15 year-strong blog archives to dig out the most entertaining, fascinating, and thought-provoking stories for your reading pleasure. Ready? Let’s go…

So, I messed up recently. I never wanted to give my baby a haircut, but after constantly hearing about how I should shave my baby’s hair, I finally gave in and attempted a DIY haircut at home. My three months old daughter wriggled and cried and in my arms and she ended up with a shabby bowl cut with a missing chuck in the back.

I guess the DIY bowl cut is a rite of passage for every Asian kid. I certainly remember being bribed with Disney cartoons while my mom gave me bowl cuts in the kitchen as a kid, and the controllable crying when I finally looked in the mirror. I think it’s safe to say that I’m officially done playing home. Some things are better left to the professionals.

And on that note, beijingkids writer Wendy Xu compiled a list of hair salons just for kids.

Luobotou Kids’ Hair Salon 萝卜头儿童剪发

RMB 138 above for a haircut (including a hair wash). Daily 9am-7pm. Stall 171, Bldg 1, North Tower of Shangdu SOHO, Jinghua Beijie. 景华北街尚都SOHOB1楼171室 （139 1169 1324, 151 1021 6659）

Guaiguai Rabbit Kids’ Hair Salon 乖乖兔儿童剪发

RMB 128 above for a haircut (including a hair wash). Daily 10am-8pm. 41, Wangjing Xilu, Chaoyang District. 望京西路41号（136 2130 5773）

Little World Kids’ Hair Salon 小小世界儿童剪发

RMB 184 above for a haircut (including a hair wash). Daily 10am-7pm. Shunyi District. Room 304, F3, Euro Plaza, 99 Yuxiang Road, Tianzhu Town, Shunyi District. 顺义区顺义天竺镇裕翔路99号欧陆广场3层304（8046 1603）

KEEP READING: Fancy a Haircut? Seven of Beijing’s Most Kid-Friendly Hair Salons

Photos: Courtesy of Laurent Falcon, pixabay.com, dianping.com

For non-Black people the world over, Afro-textured hair can be a source of fascination, if not absolute wonder and amazement. For one, our hair grows straight up and out, with certain exceptions. As if by magic, the same man or woman with Afro-textured hair can rock different hairstyles from day to day or month to month. The aesthetics and science of Afro-textured hair largely remain a mystery still, despite the tons of videos and photos online. Growing up in Kenya, there was no such thing as ‘Black hair’. Hair was hair and it came in different textures but largely the same color. As a child and teen, I wasn’t allowed to grow my hair long but I had female relatives with everything from TWAs – teeny weenie Afros – to long natural hair, to the now demonized relaxer, popular varieties of braids, and on the rare occasion, dreadlocks. It was only when I decided to grow my hair long that I experienced the vastness of Black and African hair care.

For starters, not all our hair has the same curl or kink pattern. I learned about the hair chart which categorizes hair into four types, with type 1a being the straightest, and type 4c being the kinkiest variety. The variations of kinks and coils meant different routines and regimes. I learned buzzwords like the LOC method, which means using three products – liquid (possibly water), an oil, and a cream to moisturize and seal my hair to avoid dryness and brittleness. Having a thick head of kinks often means a high risk of horrible tangles and catastrophic breakage if I don’t adequately lubricate my strands. Then there was the whole issue of protective styling, where the hair is put into styles to reduce manipulation and retain length. This is where the almost mythical braids come in. But it is not just the braids. Buns, cornrows, and even wigs and weaves worn by those with hair like mine help keep our hair protected from the elements and helps retain length.

Learning more about the variations in hair

But beyond the requisite housekeeping, there was the social aspect of hair. As a Black, African man, there was a way I would inevitably be perceived by the world for having long hair. As a child, dreadlocks in my country were associated with truancy and delinquency. But as a young adult, dreadlocks became the a ‘la mode hairstyle, inspired by breaking with the European convention of wearing straight hair. Suddenly, women wearing their hair natural was not because they didn’t have money or time to get their hair done, but a conscious decision to proudly do so.

I have watched the transition from mandatory relaxers and the expected straight hairstyles to voluminous ‘fros and banging braids! But coming to China put a different spin on my hair journey. I came to a country with no real history of Western versus African hair. Here, I was no less likely to get a job for not having my hair at a 2” all over, or for showing up to an interview with my hair in locks. But I was likely to get a lot of attention. My hair seemed to just add to the fascination. People on trains and streets would insist on touching my hair, taking photos with it, complimenting it, and asking tons of questions about it.

The issue of touching Black and African people’s hair is deeply contentious, with the majority firmly standing on the ‘never’ camp. Too many see it as a violation of personal space. I will admit that I find it annoying, but after four years in China, I have come to just accept it. After getting to know Dorothy Asiedu, an American teen with beautiful natural hair herself, I wondered what it felt like to not only have natural hair for the younger generation but to have grown up with it in China. Thanks to Douyin and Chinese celebrities and socialites rocking Afro-centric hairstyles like braids and dreadlocks, was the discussion of cultural appropriation as hotly debated in the teen circles as it was in my own?

“Growing up in Beijing, I’m not surrounded by as many young Black girls with kinky hair. I didn’t have anyone but family to talk to about learning to do my hair and other hair struggles. This played some factor in my braiding skills. Compared to other girls my age with kinky hair, my skills are subpar. I only know how to do the basics such as cornrow braids and twists. My lack of skills is a significant disadvantage because whenever my hairstylist can’t come, I become dumbfounded and have no idea what to do with my hair,” Asiedu, age 16, explains, adding “The lack of hair salons for kinky hair in Beijing drives me crazy. When I moved to Beijing it took two years for my family to find a suitable salon for black hair. Sadly it closed around five years later. Now, a hairstylist usually comes to my house to do my hair for me.”

“My new natural hair journey is something I had been toying with for at least a year before taking on the chop.” – Miatta Momoh

Miatta Momoh, the co-founder and business development manager of Kente & Silk, offers an inter-cultural perspective. “In China, I have been fascinated by how music and pop-culture have inspired young Chinese millennials to take on hairstyles like braided hair and dreadlocks. It’s clear through some conversations I have had that the fact the roots of these fashion statements extend beyond popular Rap culture is not always known. This trend and the fascination with African and African diasporic hair is not always welcomed and this interfering can be intrusive,” offers Momoh. Just this past July, she explored this and other ‘hair raising issues’ at a seminar aptly titled ‘ Don’t Touch My Hair’, where a panel comprising of both Black and Chinese women discussed all matters hair. “We are hoping that we can do more deep-dive discussions into this current hot topic while sharing more nuanced stories and historical contexts of Black and African hair,” Momoh says of the event.

“I stopped chemically straightening
my hair and started growing out my kinks.” – Themba Hadebe

Also present at the ‘Don’t Touch My Hair’ seminar, was South African Themba Hadebe, an ESL teacher at Beijing BISS International School who shared, “I stopped chemically straightening my hair and started growing out my kinks. Good-quality relaxers were too expensive and the cheap ones were damaging my hair so I did my research on growing out kinky hair and I went natural! Six years later, my hair is healthy and growing, kinky and soft and I’m loving it!

It would seem, whether young or old, especially in China, the process of discovering and caring for natural Black and African hair is a personal journey of self-learning. There are numerous resources out there now dedicated to the care and maintenance of natural hair, and with Taobao, you can get almost any sort of product or hair accessory you want.

KEEP READING: From Mom-Next-Door to Glamazon in First Post-Baby Pamper Day

Images: Courtesy of Miatta Momoh, Themba Hadebe

This article appeared in the beijingkids 2020 September issue

When she decided to move her family to China, Lisa Albrecht had one main goal: to become a household name in photography! As a young child, Albrecht would often accompany her father, a photographer himself, on shoots observing how he captured portraits, and later help him develop rolls of film. Watching blank paper come alive with beautiful portraits sparked a life-long desire to capture the ever-elusive perfect image. Yet it wouldn’t be until her early twenties that Albrecht really invested in her future, getting her first camera… without her father’s blessing. “He told me, don’t do it! You will never get enough money!” laughs Albrecht. Despite this, her passion for photography couldn’t be dampened. Fast forward a few years, and she and her husband decided to move to Beijing to further pursue her dream.

Before the Makeover

As we all know, leaving everything familiar behind to strike out in a foreign country is a mammoth task, yet in just two short years since she arrived in Beijing, the Siberian native has established herself as a prominent freelance photographer in a city that’s become one of her favorites in the world. Yet pursuing her career was not the only reason she and her husband chose to settle in China. According to Albrecht, China is the perfect country to raise children, with its safety and great focus on education and early childhood care.

Between exploring Beijing, setting herself up as a photographer, and caring for her son and family, Albrecht isn’t left with much time for herself. She confesses to not having had a professional haircut in over five years, and since coming to Beijing, a few bad beauty treatment experiences have left her hesitant, choosing instead to let nature take its course. While nature has been more than kind to Albrecht, we at beijingkids believe that every mom deserves a day of glamor and pampering every once in a while. As a photographer, Albrecht is used to finding interesting compositions but expressed some apprehension about being in front of the camera instead. But she was quickly put at ease as the day of beauty and pampering commenced.

To kick it all off, Albrecht received a custom trim on dry hair by salon founder Laurent Falcon himself, who created light layers to give her otherwise flat hair a bit of body and movement. After the cut, she was passed on to the capable hands of stylist Felix who proceeded to section her hair, bleaching, foiling, and backcombing for a beautiful sea-salt-bleached, butter blonde balayage effect to suit her medium fair skin tone. The look was then completed with sexy spiral curls achieved by the use of a titanium plate flat iron to add extra shine.

Then came the makeup. Inspired by Angelina Jolie’s legendary soft lip and day time smoky eye look, the make-up artist warmed up her skin with a light YSL foundation for dewy sun-kissed summer skin, before sweeping an earthy brown across the eyelid, topped with a shimmery pink near the ducts, and a thin liner hugging the lash line to make her green eyes pop. It was time to put the finishing touches, with Albrecht settling on an angelic white top, and billowy full-length skirt and delicate charm and starfish earrings, for an effortless, day trip-to-the-beach look.

While everyone is happy to see restrictions easing, the stylists at Laurent Falcon continue to wear masks at all times, ensuring clients are totally safe and comfortable within the salon.

Pro Styling Tips:

1. To retain length or give your hair the appearance of fullness and health, you should trim your ends on a regular schedule. Aim for every 3 to 4 months, and ‘dust’ your ends in between, taking off any split ends you may notice in the meantime.

2. Protect your hair from excessive heat when blow-drying or flat ironing by applying a heat protectant spray or serum first. These generally work as thermal and humidity shields, helping protect your hair from heat damage and maintaining your style on a humid day.

3. Your choice of flat iron will dictate your final results. Nano titanium plates are great for imparting extra shine as the plate’s smooth surface makes it easy to do one-pass presses. Ceramic plate irons contain negative ions which work well to combat positive ions in dry hair, protecting it from excessive brittleness.

4. An easy way to maintain a curly style is to sleep in a silk bonnet. For especially humid days, you can lightly twist the hair and wrap in a silk scarf to control frizzing. In the morning, undo the twists, fluff out your hair, and your curls should still be as good as new.

Laurent Falcon, French Style Salon
F/2, Sanlitun North Street South.
三里屯北街南43号楼
www.laurent-falcon.com
(6409 4243)

KEEP READING: When the Twins Are Away, Mama Will Play

Photos: Uni You

This article appeared in the beijingkids 2020 June issue