Figuring Out Your Child's Hair

At around 3 months old (wet) 

 You would think that because I have curly hair and my daughter has curly hair it would be easy for me to figure out how to care for her hair. Not so much...! My daughter's curls are quite different from mine. She has soft hair, softer than mine, and looser curls. Her hair gets dry almost as easy as mine.

When she first was born she had straight hair (even I came out with pin straight hair). But when it got wet you could see the curls. Of course people didn't want to believe me when I told them. Because for the first year and a half her short hair was straight. Pin straight (when dry)!

At 1,5 years

   But with time the curls showed up together with the length. I hoped for curls. Partly because I love curls, and partly because I thought I would have no problem caring for them. I was worried that she would have straight hair and that I wouldn't know how to care for it. But she got curls. Something I hadn't counted on was that her curls were not my curls. So it took me some time to figure out how to care for her curls.

I started out using some spray leave in conditioner for kids when she was around two years old since her hair started to get very  tangled at the back of her head. This was the part she slept on and she woke up every morning with a big tangled dry mess at the back of her head. Now looking back I have no clue what was in that spray bottle and it only kinda worked on her hair.

At 2 years (curls!)

For a few years I kept her hair about ear length, it gave her a cute 1930's look that went well with her personality. It was easy to manage and very cute. I stopped using shampoo and her hair about one or two years ago. Her scalp was dry and itchy. I tried lots of different things; hot oil treatments, different products, oiling her scalp. When I finally stuck with natural products and co-washing her scalp looked much better.

Then this past fall she decided she wanted long hair. Okay, I said to my 5 year old, if you want long hair then we have to care for it better. So I had to figure out a hair care routine that worked for her hair. To see what her curls look like today look at this post.

Currently this is her routine: 

• Co-wash and deep conditioner (once a week)
• Leave in conditioner (after wash and when needed)
• Finger comb and wide tooth comb 
• Braid or something similar for bed time (daily, to avoid tangles)
• Styling almost every morning, always wetting her hair with water before (adding leave in when needed)

Love to do baby girl's hair

This is pretty different from my routine (except for the use of co-wash, DC and leave in conditioner). I could never re-do my hair daily. I try to use product with natural ingredients first and foremost on her. For her co-wash & DC I've been using Shea Moisture that didn't work on my hair, but her hair seems to love it. And for a leave in I use Kinky Curly Knot Today.
   Another thing is that she goes to swimming class once a week. Before swimming I always make sure that her hair is soaked (so it doesn't absorb the chlorinated water, read that somewhere) and I always co-wash with Kinky Curly Knot Today after class, and add some more when we finger comb it.

So as you see, I had to figure out my own child's hair too. As parents we want the best for our children, so that's why I think it's so important that we teach our children how to care for their own hair 'cause this is a way of self love. And people that love themselves and feel good about themselves turn out to succeed and become strong individuals.