Babyfro Routine!

This post is a repost from My Mummy Diaries. I wanted to share it here because I know there are a lot of parents and parents to be reading. Here are some tips on how to care for your toddlers hair. 

Thanks for letting me share this, Emily! 

Babyfro Routine!

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. I wanted to share our step by step routine for sorting out little Ella’s hair. I feel like I need a disclaimer though.
Hair of African Origin is diverse.
Basically think rainforest. Think leaves. See how many different ones exist That’s about as much different textures of hair we have. Therefore, what works for us in terms of steps can only be guidelines for you to then leap on this baby-fro-learning curve.

The combs we use

First the tools:
you need a wide tooth comb
you also need a shampoo and conditioner
and we use loom bands to keep our braids and styles in place
and patience...lots and lots of it

The products we use 

I've tried alot of brands and to be honest the Tresemme from ICA works brilliantly on mine and her hair!

You also need a plan. My lil one is not patient so shampoo day is bath day. She gets all her toys in the bath with her - at times the laptop is on site to play a lil movie to distract her or even grandma on Skype to chat with her so I can get the hair clean. 

Be flexible! We live in Sweden so it's not really dusty, so we wash once a week unless she’s had an very artistic day at school where there is glitter/glue/feathers or other assortments to be found in her curls. Depending on the type of week she has had, I generally wash with conditioner; lather and rinse. Then put conditioner in the hair, lather and then give her, her sponge bath to allow the conditioner to seep into her curls and all the way down to the scalp.

I then use the wide tooth comb to slowly detangle section by section. Once that is done I take a normal comb and run it through just to see if there are any knots hidden in there.

Then we rinse..(not her favorite moment)

If she’s having lots of fun in the bath I towel dry her hair whilst she’s still in the tub and begin styling.
I feel that with the lack of moisture and daycare combo, leaving her curls out leads to lice, breakage or worse...play-doh-accessories, so we try and put it in a little style for the week.

I begin by oiling it with some coconut oil and add a little curling crème.

The oil is from the health store and the creme from my local 'African shop.'
Then I part the hair and braid. Sometimes I start a braid in the tub and finish in the living room. Sometimes I have to wait until she is in her baby chair having dinner to braid. Sometimes she braids on my lap. Sometimes I braid running around behind her as she dances. We are flexible. But we are consistent so she knows the routine.

I make sure that she gets to touch my hair and comb it too in the weekends.
I blow out my curls and let her love it. We try not to spend a fortune or let it feel like a chore which is why they is often music on and dancing during hair moments.

That’s our routine for learning to love and care for our curls
feel free to get in touch if you have questions!!