Advice on baby’s hair please.

[Madwife123]

Sorry I am invading here and if you’d rather I asked the question elsewhere I am happy to do so and ask mumsnet to delete the thread.

Anyway I am white, live in a not very diverse area sadly so not many people I can think to ask. I am also a foster carer.

I have just taken in a beautiful black baby while her extended family get assessed to care for her, hence being on mumsnet at this time as she has decided it’s playtime right now :)

She has what I would call type 4a or 4b hair from looking at google. I’ve been googling how to correctly care for it as it’s just stunning and I would hate to be the cause of breakage!

I’ve found quite a few hair routines and protective styles etc. but does this need doing for a baby? She’s less than 6 months but has a decent head of hair. I don’t want to go overkill and do too much to it also.

Hope it’s ok to ask here and apologies for my ignorance, trying to do right by this little one.

When my baby was that age i washed thier hair everyday. I didnt worry about breakage. I used baby oil on thier hair becuase i didnt want to put normal hair cream on them. Buy a tangle teezer for thier hair. They are around £8 on amanzon someyimes £15.
Just make sure they have a nice body cream for their body. I rember trying different body creams untill we got to the right one becuase johnson baby cream was not cutting it. It was from marks and spencer. I dont remember the name anymore. The bath products were great. Kids garnier was much better than the other products for shampoo and easy to find. Good detangler is needed. I never found one for that age, hopefully somone who did will help.

Do not put thier hair in a protective style. Not needed. Let the hair be.

Hi OP, there are tons of videos on YouTube about caring for Black babies' hair. Don't limit yourself to one. Watch as many as you can so you can see how their mums are doing it, and try out as many routines as you need to find what works for this particular baby.

Here are some:

Good on you for being a foster carer.
No baby needs their hair washing every day. Very curly hair is drier than straight hair so less washing rather than more. Unless she’s actually been sick in her hair, all you need to do is rinse it through once a week in plain water. Same for her bath, plain water, there’s no need for any products. If her hair seems dry , use your hands to finger through some mild conditioner appropriate for her hair type. If her actual scalp or skin is dry, she’ll need some very mild moisturiser for that.

Thank you that’s helpful! I suspected what I reading about protective styles and the curling cream etc. was for older children.

I’ve heard good things about cantu moisturiser when googling. Would this work for a baby?

Thanks for those videos will get watching!

Baby's hair doesn't need washing everyday it will just dry it out. My DD has type 3C hair and I put some coconut oil in it every couple of days.

A lot of the black hair ranges have products that can be used especially for kids. So you can have a look at using them if you wanted. Have a look at the ingredients though if baby has any allergies as a lot of them can contain oils etc from nuts.

No need to use anything more complex than coconut or almond oil at 6months old imo.

@VladmirsPoutine

No need to use anything more complex than coconut or almond oil at 6months old imo.

This.

Wait until she is over a year before you do anything more extensive as babies and young toddlers won't want to keep still.

I agree. A light oil such as coconut or almond will be just fine. No need for anything else at such a young age

Thank you so much! Appreciate all your advice!

I just came to say keep up the amazing work you do and you sound like a fantastic foster mum 🙂.

Agree that Cantu etc would be too heavy, so keep to the natural oils. Also watch that her skin doesn’t get too dry - you will need to use lotion. I’ve not got kids so not sure how often they need it, but black skin will need more moisturising. Something with Shea or coconut butters could be good