See: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2630223 for a bit of the back story.
Short version -- my teenage MC's mother was black and her father was white. She has black hair. (Probably not real nappy, but enough that she likes to use relaxers on it to tame it.)
Unexpectedly, with the death of her mother, she's been thrust into her father's family. One of the points of friction that I'd like to set up is that (white) stepmother buys bargain-basement cheap $.99 a bottle dollar store shampoo. She feels that the MC can use this shampoo just like everyone else in the family and she's being a "spoiled princess" when she says it won't work for her. And the stepmother (who really resents the kid) does passive-aggressive things like agreeing to pick up African-American hair care products at the grocery store after the kid gives her money, and then "forgetting" or, when the kid gets some from a friend, "accidentally" tipping the bottle over so it runs down the drain in the shower.
The MC is not entirely prissy, but she's definitely a girl, she likes looking good, and this -- and her father's refusal to let her wear makeup when her late mother encouraged it -- are points of friction occasionally escalating into situations where the girl gets punished.
(Off the top of my head -- she sells a piece of jewelry for money to buy the hair care products she wants, then skips the last hour of class to go to the drug store to get them before the school bus comes; she asks her former foster mother for the brand of conditioner she wants and the stepmother sees this as implying that they're not taking care of her and punishes her for it; she gets in trouble for using stinky relaxer just before guests come over and making the house smell bad; etc.)
(1) What effect would really cheap shampoo and excess washing have on her hair? (The stepmother's going to insist the kid wash her hair every day, and will refuse to listen that this is a bad idea -- step mom sees it as a hygiene issue. Step mom keeps sniffing her hair to see if she washed with the cheap strawberry scented shampoo, which really pisses the girl off.)
(2) Could she deal with the problem of damage to her hair by putting her hair in braids? (I know putting braids in takes forever; I see a situation where the kid and her friend are braiding her hair and the mother interrupts her and sends her off on an errand with her hair half done.)
(3) Can anyone give me some names of hair-care products that she'd be asking for? (Story is set in Arizona.)
Anyway -- help? I'm not totally clueless, but this is something I want to get right. (And this is a YA novel -- I know I can remember battles with my own mother over my appearance! I suspect the YA crowd will identify with a heroine with this sort of problem. She wants to look good; her parents just don't see it as important!)
Short version -- my teenage MC's mother was black and her father was white. She has black hair. (Probably not real nappy, but enough that she likes to use relaxers on it to tame it.)
Unexpectedly, with the death of her mother, she's been thrust into her father's family. One of the points of friction that I'd like to set up is that (white) stepmother buys bargain-basement cheap $.99 a bottle dollar store shampoo. She feels that the MC can use this shampoo just like everyone else in the family and she's being a "spoiled princess" when she says it won't work for her. And the stepmother (who really resents the kid) does passive-aggressive things like agreeing to pick up African-American hair care products at the grocery store after the kid gives her money, and then "forgetting" or, when the kid gets some from a friend, "accidentally" tipping the bottle over so it runs down the drain in the shower.
The MC is not entirely prissy, but she's definitely a girl, she likes looking good, and this -- and her father's refusal to let her wear makeup when her late mother encouraged it -- are points of friction occasionally escalating into situations where the girl gets punished.
(Off the top of my head -- she sells a piece of jewelry for money to buy the hair care products she wants, then skips the last hour of class to go to the drug store to get them before the school bus comes; she asks her former foster mother for the brand of conditioner she wants and the stepmother sees this as implying that they're not taking care of her and punishes her for it; she gets in trouble for using stinky relaxer just before guests come over and making the house smell bad; etc.)
(1) What effect would really cheap shampoo and excess washing have on her hair? (The stepmother's going to insist the kid wash her hair every day, and will refuse to listen that this is a bad idea -- step mom sees it as a hygiene issue. Step mom keeps sniffing her hair to see if she washed with the cheap strawberry scented shampoo, which really pisses the girl off.)
(2) Could she deal with the problem of damage to her hair by putting her hair in braids? (I know putting braids in takes forever; I see a situation where the kid and her friend are braiding her hair and the mother interrupts her and sends her off on an errand with her hair half done.)
(3) Can anyone give me some names of hair-care products that she'd be asking for? (Story is set in Arizona.)
Anyway -- help? I'm not totally clueless, but this is something I want to get right. (And this is a YA novel -- I know I can remember battles with my own mother over my appearance! I suspect the YA crowd will identify with a heroine with this sort of problem. She wants to look good; her parents just don't see it as important!)
