Hmm, this could be embarrassing if it turns out you know me IRL (which I suspect!). I tried sending you a CAM message, but you haven't allowed this as an option, so I hope you get to read this.
Almond oil's good but it probably doesn't "last" as long as you'd like in your DD's hair. You could try shea butter - it will be A LOT greasier than you're used to, but it may remove the need for you to oil her hair every day. If you are who I think you are, your DD's hair is probably closer to afro hair and, as a result, needs a lot more oil than softer mixed-race hair.
Here are my tips;
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A. THE DAYS YOU WASH HER HAIR
You should do the following whenever you wash her hair. You shouldn't need to wash her hair more than once a week, so this can be a weekend thing, meaning you don't have to do this after what might be a long day at home/work during the week.
- Wash her hair as normal; conditioner as normal. Before rinsing out conditioner, comb through her hair with a wide-toothed comb.
- Towel-dry her hair slightly (i.e. not too vigorously, or it will tangle) by gently pressing large sections her hair between a folded towel.
- Divide her hair into 4 sections.
- Start with section 1. Divide this into smaller sub-sections and oil her scalp thoroughly with shea butter in between. Repeat this with sections 2, 3 and 4.
(You should warm the shea butter in your hands first to avoid using too much - shea butter tends to "congeal" at room/cooler temperatures, and there is a tendency to put way too much on, which you only realise once it's been warmed by your DD's body temp and then slides down her neck/face, or it congeals again in cooler weather leaving her hair clumping together!)
- Dry each section separately with a hot hairdryer. Comb it through as you dry with a wide-toothed comb to prevent it tangling and to ensure the shea butter reaches all parts of her hair. (If you have an active fire-alarm, turn it off and open up the window/s! Don't worry - her hair won't catch fire, but the heat from the hairdryer heats up the shea butter and gives up similar fumes like when you are frying something in the kitchen. Remember to turn your alarm back on once you're done and the fumes have dispersed)
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B. FOR THE DAYS YOU DON'T WASH HER HAIR (i.e. most days)
For the days you don't wash her hair, you probably still want to rub a little shea butter through it each day; nowhere near as much though. Each night before she goes to bed;
- Divide her hair into 4 sections.
- Comb through section 1 with a wide-toothed comb, removing any tangles. Warm some shea butter in your hands and plait section 1 into a tight pigtail, getting the shea butter on each of the 3 pigtail strands. Repeat for sections 2, 3 and 4. She should sleep with her hair in the pigtails.
- In the morning, undo the pigtails and run your fingers through from the hair shaft to the tips (if you've done the pig tails properly, there shouldn't be any tangles and you probably won't need to comb it), then style her hair as you wish.
- You may find that her front hair and the hair at the top of her neck dries out a lot more overnight. Smooth out the "rough" edges with a bit more shea butter if need be.
Ideally, she should wear a silk scarf when she goes to bed (this keeps the moisture in her hair by preventing the oil being rubbed off on to her pillow whilst she sleeps; we move a lot more than we think when asleep and the friction between/static created by her hair and the pillow will deplete her hair of moisture if she hasn't covered her hair and can cause it to break.) However, she is a child and I know how much I hated/refused to wear a scarf to go to bed when I was younger! If she is as stubborn insistent as I was, then don't make her wear a scarf - the pigtails themselves will keep a lot of moisture in. However, it will mean that you'll probably want to run a light covering of shea butter along each pigtail in the morning before you undo them as she will have lost the moisture on the surface.
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C. PROS AND CONS OF SHEA BUTTER, AND WHERE YOU CAN BUY IT
The good thing about pure shea butter is that it's all natural, providing you get it from a reliable source. This may be hard, depending on where you live, but the brand L'Occitane (you can order products online) do a 150ml tin of pure organic shea butter for £24 here. This could prove expensive in the long run, but for reliability from a well-known brand, you can't go amiss. For cheaper options, try any local African cosmetics/hair shops. Pak Cosmetics in London (I tend to go to the one in Finsbury Park) has a selection of shea butter products to choose from, some of which you can order online here.
The one thing I will say is that pure shea-butter doesn't smell that great to those that aren't used to it. You may want to mix the shea butter with something a bit more pleasant-smelling e.g. another mild hair moisturiser from the Tigi or Redken range, but do a patch test of the mix before putting it through her hair. Also, because of shea butter's tendency to congeal at room/cooler temperatures, if you find it hard to get the balance right (i.e. you find that you end up putting too much on), try out a different moisturiser (you can find some shea butter-based ones that are lighter in consistency and don't congeal as much) but repeat all the processes above as listed.
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Wow, that's a lot of typing, but I hope it helps Feel free to send me a CAM message if I can help more.