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Round Rock Girl Scout teaches black hair care to adoptive, foster parents

Austin American-Statesman - 5/24/2020

When Round Rock Girl Scout Kamryn Owens stopped straightening her hair and decided to wear it in its naturally curly state, she said she was lucky enough to have a black mother to help.

But some black children, especially those who are adopted or in foster care, don't have parents who understand the unique way to care for and maintain a black child's natural curls, she said. That could often lead to the child's hair becoming damaged by the lack of proper care.

"I was not getting good information from the right places before," Kamryn said, adding she would often look up advice on YouTube or articles online for help until her mother stepped in. "I can't imagine what it's like for foster parents that have black kids."

For her Girl Scout Gold Award project, the Round Rock High School senior partnered with SC4Kids Salon and Foster Community Austin to create and host two Coaching Curls Workshops, where parents and their kids learned how to take care of and style natural hair.

The Gold Award challenges Girl Scouts to develop projects that address local and global issues with sustainable solutions.

According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, 3,658 African-American children were legally removed from their homes by the agency during the last fiscal year. African-American children accounted for 20% of all of the children removed, while they account for only 11% of the Texas child population. Many black children within the foster care system are placed with families who do not share the child's race.

Kamryn's workshops aimed to strengthen the bond between parent and child by mitigating cultural differences through education.

"At the workshops, SC4Kids Salon would give a presentation about the basics of natural hair," Kamryn said. "We made sure that every girl went home with a good style that was protective but also cute."

Kamryn said parents were grateful to find someone who could help them with their child's hair, and their children left happy with their new natural hairstyles.

Kamryn said one family told her their twin girls would hate getting their hair styled by their past caregivers.

"When they were at the workshop and got their hair done by their parents, they were jumping around loving it," Kamryn said. "That's why I'm glad I chose this project because you could really tell the impact it had."

Though the Gold Award Project only requires girls to spend 80 hours completing their project, Kamryn spent over 100 hours collaborating with community partners, creating informational materials, developing a marketing strategy to advertise her workshops, and building a plan to ensure the workshops could continue to provide resources for families once she left for college.

"As the project progressed and I realized what more could be done, the hours just added up on their own," Kamryn said.

She also created a brochure with hair care advice parents could take home and keep. "It has basic hair tools you need, hair history, and steps on how to get a style down," she said. She is currently working on a website with information on future workshops and resources.

Kamryn graduated Saturday and in the fall will attend Loyola University, where she plans to study mass communications and marketing.

She said her time in Girl Scouts, which began in the third grade, taught her the leadership skills she used for the project.

"I really appreciate being able to do this through Girl Scouts," she said. "I have gone through a lot of challenges so I would think back on those challenges and how I overcame them."

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