Curly coily hair care for toddler?

[5000kilometers]

My 2 year old has a full head of very coily curly hair. My son is white for context, and his Dad and I both have straight hair, so I've never had to care for curly hair before. I am pretty sure brushing will just make it fluffy, so I haven't done it too much, but I feel like I want to brush it sometimes so it doesn't get tangled. Being a toddler he rolls around the place a lot, and wriggles a lot in his sleep, and a tiny dreadlock started forming in the back which I had to snip away! 🙈

Can anyone with coily curls or a child with this hair please advise on how best to care for it each day? It might be similar to some types of Black hair care - eg moisture, not brushing... but I don't really know. At the moment we just wash it in the bath with baby shampoo and then leave it.

Thank you in advance!

My toddler hates having her curly hair washed or brushed. We just put Olew Curly Cream on it when it's damp and run our fingers through it occasionally.

Spray the hair with a bit of water, then some detangler (cantu detangler is brilliant) and use your fingers as a comb.
You shouldn't use a brush on curly hair, just fingers or a wide toothed comb.

The thing is no-ones curls are exactly the same as anothers so you need to work out what type of curls you son has then try techniques and products from there.

For working out curl type go to a site like naturallycurly.com and do their quiz. From their you can get info about techniques and products.

Otherwise you will get loads of people telling you to use something like a tangle teezer not realising your son actually has fine hair ( as in amount of hair and/or strands). Or to use a particular gel which actually leaves your son with crispy hair.

Dd has curly hair, I -

Don't wash often, once a week at most

Don't brush when dry, if doing fiddly styles when she needs to look extra neat, I use a comb and a spray bottle of conditioner

Wash routine is, shampoo, condition, use a tangle teaser to brush while the conditioner it's on, lightly dry with a t-shirt, leave in conditioner and then curl cream.

It sounds like a pain but I actually adore hair wash time with her.

How can you both be white and straight haired and the child has coily hair? Just curious, seems like something a mixed race child would have

I don't know! I'm just as baffled! What are you suggesting...that he's actually the milkman's?!

Lol op dd's dad and I are both white and straight haired too. She's not the milkman's either.

My parents both have straight hair and are white. Mine seems to be a throwback to my great great grandad who was black, my uncle on that side also has tight coily hair

You could try the my little coco range at boots as that's meant to be good and it's often on offer too. I don't have DC but from having curly hair here are my tips!
Satin or silk pillow case
Only detangle when it's wet and with conditioner
Leave in conditioner spray or curl cream
Avoid silicones
If it's a bad hair day and all else fails then get a mist bottle and spray water to dampen and run some curl cream through
Don't faff with it when wet or it causes frizz, just leave it to dry

Have you tried using a light product like my little coco from Boots? My kids are black with lose curls. Dry brushing will make the hair more fluffy. If my kids have their hair out rather than tied back or plaited, a small amount of curling custard enhances the curls and tames frizz

Search on here to find lots of similar threads with more good advice! Google curly girl method, buy a silk pillowcase, experiment with braids at night?

Thanks everyone. His hair isn't that long, (the hair actually is quite long if you pull out a coil but it's so tightly coiled up around his face so he looks like a cherub!) - therefore I can't put it into an up-do at night or anything. I think Im going to try a detangler spray when it's wet after bath and before bed. I found a Cantu one on Amazon with natural oils in.

He has a wide tooth comb - is it a good idea to try that after the detangler spray before he sleeps?

@RedWingBoots what's wrong with a tangle teazer for fine hair? My daughter has fine baby hair still and I use a tangle teaze because it's the only thing she'll tolerate without screaming. It does make it frizzy but seems to go back or normal pretty quickly. (I have poker straight hair so no clue).

Good that you’ve found cantu, I love their stuff and they have a nice range for children.

My suggestions are NEVER brush when dry, make some of his hair washes conditioner only and just scrub a bit more than you normally would with conditioner, and use a denman brush.

He has a wide tooth comb - is it a good idea to try that after the detangler spray before he sleeps?

Yes, comb after using detangler. Start from the bottom of the hair working upwards.

What an absolutely stupid question.

Anyway, @5000kilometers your child is 2. He doesn't need any special treatment right now, continue as you are but try and only brush or comb when wet as it'll hurt to brush when dry. If it's getting matted in the back from sleeping then use a spray bottle to wet down and comb out, do this daily. I wouldn't recommend conditioner only washes at this age, toddler hair is so different to adult hair it really doesn't need it.

I'm jealous - none of my sons have curls

This is a 2 year old! This is really unnecessary. Sure do it if you want OP but come on.

If on FB, join "Little CG's UK" group and ask for advice on there. They reallly know their stuff about products, techniques, brushing and drying x

My DH and I are both (originally) dark haired, and we have dark and blond hair in our families, but DD came along with...red hair. No idea. Also, definitely not the milkman's.

Haha @ChiefWiggumsBoy no I won't be bothering with a silk pillow for a 2 year old!

Don't shampoo it every day. If he bathes every day and it gets wet then just use some conditioner before he gets out of the bath. Use the shampoo once a week before the conditioner.

Comb it wet (in the bath). Use a tshirt to dry off the excess and scrunch it while you dry it with the tshirt. Wait for it to dry before he goes to bed.

In the morning, spray it with a mix of conditioner (coconut based) and water and scrunch agin (don't comb!).

This is my 2 years old hair, he started off with a wave and then it grew into the most glorious ringlets! We get comments about how gorgeous his hair is all the time....just walking home from being in town the other day we had 5!

The best thing I've found for his is just slapping on loads of intensive conditioner, I use a bit of shampoo maybe once a week. He generally had a bath every other night to keep his hair nice as it gets soooo dry. Atm I'm using one that I got on clearance from when I worked at sainsburys, a love beauty and planet one, but I'm considering the garnier hair food next.

We also have an avocado conditioner bar from soaps for little suds (they have a group on fb where people recommend products and ask questions etc). I soak the bar in some warm water in a jug before rubbing it over his hair, and the water from the jug goes into a spray bottle so I can spray his hair in a morning to detangle after his rolling around all night and tidy his hair. We only brush it when wet and I use a kids wet brush. We did the whole cantu kids range and didn't get on with it, just didn't suit his hair, but big brother has curls too so he uses it as he's not fussed 🤣