How to do girl's hairstyles: A sweet letter I received

This past week I received an email from a dear reader that just made my whole week. I asked her if I could share it with all of you, and she graciously agreed. Here is her letter:

Dear Shaunell,

In today's society, I find that we take a lot of time discriminating and criticizing others when we should take the time to be grateful for the things we have. So this is me taking the time to write to you about how your blog helped me a lot!
My daughter has thick waist length hair. I was never able to do anything more than a braid or a ponytail. And even then, she would come back from school with her hair half undone looking like a lion.
This year for her class picture, I thought about doing 2 french braids. The thing is I didn't know how to do so. Like I did with knitting, I googled it and learned how to do them with the help of your video. I was so impressed with the simplicity of your actions and descriptions and was able to do french braids! I looked around your website and started doing different do's everyday for school. Mina has been getting compliments like crazy and comes home happy.
Thank you sooo much for making me feel more like a mother and making my daughter feel better about herself. Here's pictures of my first try of french braids. (LOL They looked better the next day when I did them again).

 

Again, thank you and keep up the good work,
Audrey

Thank YOU Audrey, for sending this to me. When I receive letters like this, it makes all the crazy hours and effort I've put into my blog so worth it. I think that as mothers of daughters, we have a vital job of instilling feelings of self worth and value into their hearts and brains. In today's world, where we are surrounded by false and unsuitable images of women everywhere, this can be especially challenging. I never mean to place more emphasis on 'being cute' than is necessary. I was always taught to present myself in a way that showed I cared about myself, and this included taking the time to do my hair, makeup, iron my clothes, etc. I know that if I thought something of myself, and that taking care of myself was important to me, that others would treat me the same way. I know I also feel like a better mom if my children are presentable as well (not that this actually makes me a better mom, I just feel like I got one checkpoint that day at least!)
That being said, I am so pleased that Audrey and Mina have had a positive experience getting over that 'what to do with that hair' hump. I remember at one point my father dragging me to a Regis salon in the mall to get my hair done, because he was just fed up with my long curly mane looking much like a lion as well.
I love your feedback, because hearing from you is what keeps me going! We women need to support each other, and share our positive times, as well as our hard ones. I welcome any stories, comments, etc. you want to share.
Have a wonderful day!