Recently CHOICES was able to host a “Tame Your Tresses” training to help our foster parents learn the steps to daily and ongoing care of ethnic hair. This was part one of a two part series we were able to offer to foster parents with funding from Ticket to Dream and Famous Footwear as part of their Black Futures grant. Ticket to Dream, CHOICES, and a variety of other partners are committed to meeting the unique needs of underserved youth in the foster care system.
Dawn Turner facilitated this educational training; she has over 29 years in the beauty industry, a licensed educator through the State of Ohio, has been a business owner for over 20 years. Wowza! Her passion and knowledge kept the training lively and interactive for our parents. Each attendee was also able to pick products (created by Dawn) to use within their home as part of our grant funding. An added bonus to the training is also the ability to support a fabulous Black entrepreneur in the Dayton community.
Dawn shared with our parents the steps of daily care but also hair washing. Parents were able to ask questions – helping to eliminate any myths, pre-judgements, or intimidation in caring for ethnic hair. The key things our parents shared they found helpful were:
- The advice for friends is not professional advice
- Restoring the follicle, sequence of care
- How often and the steps to washing ethnic hair
- Ingredients to avoid
- It takes time, but once you have a system in place it will get easier
- How to care for ethnic hair after swimming
- Importance of daily care of the scalp
Overwhelmingly, our foster parents wanted MORE, MORE AND MORE!! Dawn will return for a hands-on session in a couple weeks where attendees can bring one child for some one on one guidance. Many of our parents believe that every foster caregiver should attend a training like this, as it is so educational and will help you know more and respect the culture of black foster youth. The feedback speaks for itself:
- I think Dawn could do a 5-week session on this topic!
- This was an amazing training – I am so happy that I came to this one! Thank you for offering.
- I desperately needed to know how to wash and treat hair – this is so helpful!
- I loved this training; every foster parent should take it!
- As someone with three African American children, this has been so educational!
- This training was so educational; I appreciate you breaking down the barriers to help educate us.
To learn more about Ticket to Dream and how their funding and programs help foster youth across the US click here.
To learn more about our trainer, Dawn Turner, and the products she offers click here.
