Watch out for the white woman....

...in the African American hair products section of the store at Walgreen's!
Ha! Thank goodness the kind stranger I attacked with questions was sooooo nice, and very helpful.
I mean, this has got to be one of the most common "issues" for white foster mom's of black babies...what do we do with their hair?! We all know AA (African American) hair is different than Caucasian hair, but most of us have no idea what to do with it! I did however know it was time for me to figure this out, seeing as Baby L's hair was getting more and more fuzzy and dry looking.

I began by approaching an AA coworker and asking her for recommendations. She told me two products to get, a shampoo and a grease. She also explained how and when to use them, so I set off for Walgreen's with my shopping list, only a bit nervous about embarking on this venture...
I arrived to Walgreen's, easily located the shampoo, tossed it in to my basket, and began to look for the grease, which I could not find. I was pretty sure one of the products I was looking at was an equivalent, but I don't know enough about hair grease to know what to get or look for. So, I set off to find an AA worker at the store to ask for some guidance. No luck, not a single black person was in the whole store working that night. Discouraged, I began locating the other items on my list so I could head home, disappointed that I wasn't going to get to experiment with Baby L's hair this night. But, low and behold, just as I was about to get in line to check out, a middle-aged, attractive black woman entered the front door to shop! I stalked her around the store until she was in a place I felt it was okay to approach her randomly (searching the cold medicines) and I made my move. "Um, excuse me ma'am. I have a kind of weird question to ask you, do you have a minute? Well, see, I am a foster mom and my son is black, and I am thinking its time to start using products on his hair, so I got some recommendations, but I can't find 'product X' and I'm not sure if one of these other is the same thing, or maybe I really need something different...I'm not really sure what I'm doing?...."
Bless this woman, she just smiled at me and asked how old my son was. I told her and she told me I didn't need 'product X', that would be to strong for him. Then she told me her mom is a hair dresser, and she led me back over to the hair product section and she helped me get the shampoo and hair lotion I needed. She explained how to use it, and was so mice about the whole ordeal!
I have no idea what her name was, but I am so appreciative for the help she gave me, and that she didn't try to get security when my crazy, white self approached her!