Hair advice needed!

[snuffy143]

I have a seven year old with long thick hair. We are currently trying to grow her fringe out for ballet. I can't seem to get the shampoo/conditioner/hairbrush thing right and end up torturing her most of the time. She only needs a hair wash once a week (after swimming) but is keen on it looking nice. Conditioner makes it lank but she needs it to get a brush through! Can we use adult shamppo now? Any advice appreciated!

i find when dd1 (6) wants to shampoo her hair herself, it's very knotty when it comes to blowdrying. So i tend to do it the hairdresseer way of gently rubbing and using fingers from scalp to midway down in a comb-like way .. and not just scrunching the hair all up. Don't use conditioner on them either. Works for me and dd1's hair has always been long and quite thick with no fringe

top tips from chez Badger:

• give up with the brush and get a wide-toothed detangling comb (Boots do a super one in the Toni & Guy range)
• make sure it's combed out properly every morning and every evening to stop tangles getting worse through the week
• [controversial] don't let her wear it loose too much - it only gets more tangled. Plaits are great - even to sleep in if she wakes up tangled. Alice band or clips for the growing-out bits.
• wash hair in shower or sitting in bath so head is right way up - leaning over is sure route to nightmare knots.
• Thumbelina's shapooing advice is good, and don't pile hair on top of head.
• use a detangling / conditioning shampoo - the Tesco kids range is pretty good.
• try a leave-in detangling spray that you squirt onto knots as you're combing out
• comb out from the ends up ie comb bottom 4 inches first, then bottom 8 inches, then bottom 12 inches etc, finishing with combing from scalp to ends.

good luck!

Yes, you can use adult shampoo.

It's good to use a small amount of conditioner. You can dilute the conditioner with water if you like, so that you can make a small amount go on evenly.

Another tip is to brush and then comb the hair through thoroughly before you wash it (ie while it's still dry). I find that my hair doesn't tend to get as tangled if I do that. Washing upright is good, too, and you don't need to pile the hair up and scrub it all together - all you need to do is to shampoo and rub the scalp and roots, then when you rinse the shampoo flows through the rest of the hair, which is generally enough to clean it gently.

Thanks very much for the tips. Swimming tonight so am going to brush DD's hair before she goes in the pool. We've got about ten hair brushes but maybe I'll dump the lot as none of them seem any good and go for the comb tip instead! I will also try the plaiting idea as her hair is much worse in the morning. Anybody got any shampoo recommendations? Cheers.

We use L'Oreal Kids shampoo. It's a 2-in-one shampoo but I still use the L'Oreal strawberry condioner too as we have terrible problems with tangles. Comb it through a little section at a time. This takes ages but seems worth the effort. Rinse loads with jugs of clean water. Then I use a detangle spray and blow dry. I think the secret is to only use the products sparingly and rinse very well.

Also brush through and tie back with a scrunchie at night and bunches for daytime.

I've got two girls with longish bobs and it's all a right palavar tbh but much much worse if I don't do all that as the tangles can be evil and their hair looks terrible unless it's been done when it looks fab.

I am so envious of people who can fall out of bed with fantastic hair, no effort

was going to suggest L'Oreal, but the Tesco kids range (similarly colourful bottles, fruity smells etc) is a sight cheaper.
L'Oreal do do a special swimming one that might be worth a bash though.

if conditioning makes her hair lank... just use it on the ends... not the scalp...