Toddler curly hair help

[Dipsydoodlenoodle]

Dd has beautiful ringlets (pic attached).

Current hair schedule is: wash every other day (feels dry if I dont), add a little leave in conditioner and comb through. When I do her hair in the mornings I spray with a little water, comb through and then scrunch. I run my fingers through a few times a day to get the tats out. As she's only 18 months I can't / don't want to use a load of products.

The photo is from early on in the morning.

Can anyone recommend anything I can do to help her curls stay in better as they drop out during the day? Or offer any advise to help in general?

I've got the straightest of straight hair so it's all brand new to me - so even if it's obvious to you...it may not be to me.

Why does it matter if the curls drop out? I would just make things as low maintenance as possible for as long as possible.

Agree with the above poster, what does it matter if they drop out? As she's only 18mo I'd leave them. I have curly hair and so does my daughter who is 2 but know a lot of babies lose their curls and probably nothing you can do to prevent that.
I wouldn't put anything on my daughters and definitely not try to make sure they stay in place - I'd be concerned that I'm setting her up for future imagine issues tbh and make her think she always has to do something to her hair. Some days her hair looks curlier than others depending on how she sleeps, plays etc and if she's brushed it (which when is a fan of atm with amusing results 😂).

As a curly haired person- I'd stop brushing her hair constantly.
My child also has curly hair and I wash every other day, comb once a week with some conditioner and leave the rest of the time
If you feel this is too much, only comb when wet and with conditioner in it, and then leave to dry naturally (possibly with some towel scrunching from you after the bath so it's not sipping wet for them)

I'd just wash in gentle shampoo and let it dry. She has beautiful hair but I'd leave conditioning, styling and products for when she's a lot older.

Follow the curly girl method

My dd has curly hair but I don't style it as much until she's older because she cannot stand still and her hair is short from the curls.

I wash her hair and then scrunch in curling custard by my little coco. I also use their shampoo as it's pretty good and smells great. Microfiber towel is good for curly hair too

That's about it. When she's a bit older and her hair longer I'll use some of the curly girl method.

Your dd hair is beautiful!

Had you considered cutting it short?

You'll make it frizzy with all the daily combing and finger combing. Only comb it when wet and then leave it alone.
It looks like it's growing straighter so these are probably just lovely baby curls and will be gone in a few haircuts.

Very funny

Child’s hair is gorgeous, enjoy it and try not to worry or fuss too much over it ….

@JussathoB "Very funny"
Why? She's 18 months old-she doesn't care. If she was 4 or 5 she can have opinions about her hair but before that it needs to be low maintenance and not starting her on the mindset that girls/women need to spend ages on their appearance.,

I’d just leave it be.
my ds’s hair was like that where he was that age, gorgeous. As it got thicker it got less curly (and darker), is just slightly wavy these days

My toddler has beautiful curls 🥰 I don't brush them often and just let them do their own thing - I often notice they drop out for a period of time and then curl back up again in the same day depending on weather etc

Her hair's not actually that curly - there's no curl pattern on top and as you say, they're falling out during the day. Real curly hair doesn't do that and as she gets older and her hair grows, I'd imagine it'll just have a bit of a wave.

Basically stop trying to force a hair type she doesn't have, let it do its own thing.

If you have to try to force her hair to stay curly, it's really not that curly. Perhaps it is wavy rather than curly, which is also lovely. Let her hair do its own thing. She is only little.

The joys of baby waves they drop, curls don’t. Just keep it as healthy as possible, as the part from the root is straight u might find they disappear and reappear at puberty.

Agree it's wavy, not curly, and will probably disappear as she gets older. My nephew has the same hair, and my sister likes it curling so they don't have to get it cut as often 😆 It's curliest when they don't brush it, so stop doing that. They wash their son's hair with water only twice a week and then blot it with a towel to dry (no combing) and it is well hydrated and lovely. Healthy hair looks after itself, you don't need conditioner. If you stop using it, your daughter's hair will quickly acclimatise and hydrate itself.

PS if you are growing the hair long and not using conditioner you might need to brush it once every day or two with a natural brush (boat, goat etc) to spread the oils down the lengths. Best to do this before bedtime so it will curl up again overnight.

My 3YO has wild crazy curly hair. I use My Little Coco’s shampoo (wash every 2-3 days) and use the curling custard after washing. I don’t really do anything to it, just let it do it’s own thing. Even if I try it has a mind of its own anyway 😂

DD has similar hair. I wash it every other day and put in My Little Coco curling custard then every morning spray it with water and detangling spray as it gets very frizzy and knotted overnight then I comb it and leave it.

I'd stop finger combing it so much and just leave it, it doesn't matter if the curls drop throughout the day!

Curly hair in children is very dry. You can use children's conditioner even on dry hair for smoother combing

We use a leave in spray, mainly to stop it getting knotted