How to wash daughter's thick hair

[inappropriateraspberry]

Help! My 4 year old has lovely long (to her bum) hair but it is so thick I struggle to wash it. It's really hard to get it all thoroughly wet. I washed it this evening and as I rubbed the shampoo in I could see her scalp was pretty much dry even though I tried my best to get it all wet with jugs of water. Does anyone have any tips on the best way to deal with it? She doesn't want it cut, unfortunately!

do you have a shower with a removable head? its a lot easier to use that than jugs of water

Yes, I did rinse her hair with a shower head in the end, but it's getting it wet to start with just seems impossible, even with the shower!

Don't bother with the jug at all. Use the shower head.

I have thick hair and so do my girls and the jug is useless.

Surely if it's too hard to wash then it needs to be cut, regardless of whether she wants it. If she didn't want to brush her teeth would you say "alright then, don't"?

fill the bath tub and let her lay back in the bath. you can get this www.amazon.co.uk/Massager-Shampoo-FReatech-Cleaning-Silicone/dp/B077PQB2HC/ref=asc_df_B077PQB2HC/?hvlocphy=9044970&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310805575161&hvpone&hvlocint&hvpos=1o3&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-432016173323&hvrand=374079011419566836 there might be cheaper versions so search if you want to

flannel over the eyes and head tilted back with a shower head, wet it in sections, give it 5 minutes

ISurely if it's too hard to wash then it needs to be cut, regardless of whether she wants it. If she didn't want to brush her teeth would you say "alright then, don't"?*

This.

While i do think bodily autonomy is very important, if it compromises the ability to keep clean then you need to be the adult.

Take her and get it cut. Explain when she can deal with it herself she can grow it as long as she likes. Especially if it’s bum length, she could have quite a lot off and it would still be “long”, below her shoulders or mid back.

But yes. It needs cutting to a manageable length.

This might help, even if it's straight A's sounds like her hair is low porosity
https://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curls/what-to-do-when-your-hair-repels-water

Could dunking it in the bath work? Completely submerging it might be the answer

Surely if it's too hard to wash then it needs to be cut, regardless of whether she wants it.

Take her and get it cut. Explain when she can deal with it herself she can grow it as long as she likes.

If you read the OP properly at all you would see that it’s the volume of her hair, not the length of her hair that is the issue. Cutting her hair won’t reduce how thick it is at the scalp where OP was struggling to get it all wet.

OP lay her down in the bath and tip her head back so the water covers all her scalp and massage so it gets right through it all.

Once all wet sit her up and Condition the hair first avoiding the roots. Comb through the lengths with your fingers. Leave the conditioner on and shampoo just the scalp. Let it sit for a couple of minutes then lay her back down again and use your hands to work it all out then sit her up and do a final proper rinse with shower head.

She has to tie it up at school or she’ll get nits.

Life is to short just cut it. I have really thick hair it’s a nightmare.

Yes, I always washed dd's thick hair in the bath, lying down and massaging her head to make sure the scalp was wet, and then rinsing with the shower attachment. It is really hard to get the soap in as well.

Tangle teezer brush for wet hair is the only way I can get all my hair wet and my DDs. And then a soft hair brush as it's so thick it needs it

Ive got masses of hair and tbh it's a nightmare. I've found keeping it mid length works best so between shoulders and mid back - too long and it's hard to manage and too short it looks like a helmet. Shower head to wash through, conditioner through the ends only and a good comb through regularly helps.

Only wash once a week.

Have a decent pressure shower.

When washing under shower, you can't just let the water run over the top you have to continuously separate it to let water get to all of the head.

Wash after swimming as will be wet through so takes half the time (at home - the showers at the pool are too weak)

Wide tooth comb, no brushes.

As pp said only shampoo the head, only condition the ends.

i have seemingly water resistant hair, what works for me is to repeatedly scrunch it up and let it go. scrunch and squeeze scrunch and squeeze scrunch and squeeze repeat till wet.

I have very long hair and getting it wet is tricky. Brush hair thoroughly before starting, use shower head and scrunch sections of hair to help it absorb the warm water. Apply a blob of shampoo and bit of water, scrunch this throughout the hair especially the scalp area, rinse. Now apply a second blob of shampoo, work down the hair from root to tips, massage whole scalp area. Rinse, rinse oh and rinse. Apply conditioner to the main length of hair and rinse throughly. Use a wide tooth comb and work from ends to roots. Very long hair requires a lot of maintenance and the two shampoo method. A plait for school is essential. Sad,t nits seem to love long clean hair.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I have the complete opposite - very fine hair so it's all new to me! She's not really a fan of the water and always panics about getting it in her eyes. I will try conditioning first and see if that helps. I don't wash it often as it doesn't seem to need it thank goodness! I'll also see if she's happy to lie back in the bath - she went off this a while ago, but may have changed her mind!