Baby with dry mixed race hair

[SingleMumma]

Hello there my son is 14 months old. i am white and his dad is columbian. up to now his hair has been like mine, medium brown in colour and quite silky but it is getting very dry, especially round the back! I only wash it once a week as he generally has very dry skin and hair. i use johnsons baby shampoo, just wondered if there were any products i can put on his hair to put some moisture back in to it. thanks for any replies!

[amazingmumof6]

Johnson's products are no that good if you have dry skin/scalp, so I would avoid them
I'd use E45 products or Aquaeous cream for skin (both suitable from birth). I don't know if there's a shampoo, but see your gp and they can advise you and prescribe products.

[LDNmummy]

Mixed race hair which has even a little African to it is the most fragile of all hair types. I come from 3 generations of mixed heritage people so please trust me on this. Especially if its curly or going to be curly IYSWIM.

DO NOT USE JOHNSON'S PRODUCTS ON YOUR BABY AT ALL!

They are horrible products and my GP told me she has seen countless cases of children with inflamed, dry, scaly, and eczema ridden skin and scalp because of parents assuming Johnson's is the best thing to use. My DD had inflamed eczema patches after we used Johnson's bath soap on her.

With my DD's hair I don't use anything with sulfates and was only washing it with a silicone free conditioner at one point. It was the Tresseme naturals conditioner without silicone, but I found that her hair is prone to build up so I looked high and low for a PH neutral and all natural shampoo.

The shampoo I use now is called Allergenics and it's sold in Holland and Barret. I was also using it for my own hair but it didn't suit my hair type. Holland and Barret have recently started stocking a pretty substantial range of Paraben and SLS free shampoo's so I bought one from the Dr Organic range and found that suited me much better. I would recommend trying Allergenic's first as that is even better for fragile baby hair as its made to be as gentle as possible for people who suffer allergies to common hair products. If that one doesn't suit then try one of their other one's like the Dr Organic range. I had the worst dry, itchy scalp before using these products but it disappeared within two washes with Allergenics and Allergenics is not medicated, it really is great stuff.

After shampooing once every week (sometimes every four days depending on sweat/ dirt build up and other factors) I condition with the Tresseme Natural's conditioner and my DD's hair is soft, shiny and defined.

When she needs a touch up, I rinse her hair in the bath and condition it with the Tresseme conditioner without shampooing. When rinsing conditioner out I leave a tiny bit of it in the hair to act like a leave in conditioner. If I need to tidy it up while its dry, I take a very tiny amount of coconut oil and rub into into my fingertips before running them through the end of her hair and using my fingers instead of a comb to brush it through where it has knots and tangles.

Coconut oil is the only oil out there that can get through to the dermis of the skin and also penetrate the hair shaft. Because of that I highly recommend it for hair and body moisturising. Plus, my DD likes to try and eat body creams so with the coconut oil I don't have to worry if she does this as it is also great for eating as an everyday food and very healthy. Just a plus if your LO is like that too.

Wow! I had a lot to say, but hopefully something in there helps

[LDNmummy]

Just wanted to add that I only use a wide tooth comb on my DD's hair and only when wet too.

Not sure if your LO's hair is curly, wavy or straight but with curly or wavy hair this is generally helpful in avoiding dry, frizzy hair.

[GotMyGoat]

We only wash ddd body and hair with aqueous cream as she has very dry skin and eczema. It's good stuff!

[varicoseveined]

Excellent advice from LDNmummy. Also Google some blogs re mixed race hair, such as "Beads Braids and Beyond" or forums like naturallycurly.com

[Pinkchatz]

I wouldn't use johnsons it is very drying on mixed hair. Hair can go through bad patches before it gets better as they get older so it might not stay so dry or hard to manage, then again it might get worse.

My girls generally start off with very curly unruly hair when they are small then by 3 or 4 yrs old the curl starts to drop out and go either wavy or bone straight, though they all have thick hair. That said, my eldest son was soft haired as a baby then by 2 his hair went very course and dry more like Afro hair whereas my other son has thick dead straight hair like his dad. I use a light detangling spray on the girls or a thin moisturising cream to add something back after shampooing.