Child’s wavy hair advice

[Gemma020917]

Does anyone have any recommendations for brushes or products best to use for long wavy hair?
My daughter is 3.5 years old and has long (pretty much to her bottom) wavy hair. It was like ringlets when she was younger.
However recently it has become very dry and prone to knotting and ends up frizzy after brushing. It has also started knotting overnight despite having been conditioned the previous evening. I don’t want to cause further damage to the hair and I don’t want her to start refusing to have it brushed because it hurts, as she’s always been very tolerant with it

any advice would be appreciated

This is probably the best advice

https://curlmaven.ie/how-to-take-care-of-your-kids-curly-hair/

Don't brush it other than in the shower covered in conditioner! I only brush my hair twice a week when I was it with a TangleTeezer as my wavy hair turns into a knotty poofy triangle otherwise. I sometimes give mine a quick comb between washes with an enormous GKomb if it gets too messy, but the key for me is leaving it alone as much as possible.

I sleep with my hair protected to keep the waves looking good and avoid tangles. I use a Bambonn hair wrap but you could just put it into a ponytail/scrunchie bun on the top of her hair given than it is quite long.

I really rate Merwave products for shampoo, conditioner, gel etc. but they are quite expensive. But you might be fine with cheaper products and less brushing.

Give it a good trim. Only brush it when it’s wet. Use plenty of conditioner and use a brush specifically for curls. Put ‘curly hair brush’ into Amazon for examples.
When you go out put it in plaits etc. If she wants it down then it’s best to wear it down after washing, conditioner and letting it dry naturally. You can put a little product in it for special occasions like ‘my little coco’ which is for children.

Looks to me like she still has curly hair, it just looks like that because it's being treated as "normal straight" hair. You need to start treating it like curly hair, deep moisture, curl products such as a curl cream, curly hair brush, don't brush between washes, if need be use a wide tooth comb. Silk pillowcase on her bed. Protective hairstyles such as plaits. You can buy a curl serum and moisture spray to use between washes to help keep the frizz down. I would only wash her hair once a week.

Personally I would cut it shorter, much easier to take care of. Not short short, just take a lot of the weight off.

Thank you for the advice I don’t have this hair type so clearly clueless!

You'll learn quickly 🫶
I would buy a detangle type brush and use that when her hair is full of conditioner in the bath/shower. While her still hair is wet put a little bit of curl cream through it and then scrunch those curls!

Google the curly girl method. I mean it's for adults, but you can just adjust it for your LO x

We need update pictures to see if her curls come back 😍

Yeah, she still has her ringlets you just cant see them because you're dry brushing it.

Try an experiment. Wash and condition her hair and brush it while the conditioner is in. Once you've rinsed the conditioner out, get a tiny (and I mean tiny) blob of conditioner on your hands and just apply to the very ends of the hair. Wrap in a towel or towel turban. Leave to air dry (she may need a towel around her neck, like hairdressers would do). Wait.

When its dry you'll know if she has curly hair! Report back! Then you can start on a curly routine, if required!

Like others have said, please stop brushing it when it’s dry. It looks like it’s in decent condition otherwise!

My daughter has this hair type, when wet its so curly but if dry brushed its just gigantic! I spray a leave in conditioner I got from my hairdresser, its the pink one from cotril. This then allows me to brush and style it, once dry, her curls are defined and look lovely.

Dd has similar hair, it needs regularly trimming (just a little) so that the ends don't become dry, scraggly and knotty. It also meant that the curls bounced up again when conditioned.

My 5yo daughter has similar hair although not as long. Hers is washed once or twice a week with various child's farm solid shampoos and their dry and curly liquid conditioner. It's brushed through when wet

Every morning i use child's farm leave in conditioner and comb it through. I style it and then add a little more to the ends and gently work it through them with a little scrunch for extra curls.

Her hair is curliest when we are on holidays with a pool and she spends her time in and out of the water going from wet to dry without intervention

It needs a good 3 inches off the bottom

Thank you I do appreciate these tips and I will definitely stop dry brushing I just really didn’t know that was best! I wish I had looked into it sooner I suppose whilst it was short it was easier and i thought she would lose the curls

I’ve been today and bought some curl defining jelly and curl moisturiser and I’ll do some more research on other brushes/ combs!

I have poker straight hair but knew from friends with curly hair that curly hair needed different treatment but didn't know what this would entail.
My daughters hair was still pixie cut length at 2 and it was around 3 that I started looking at taming the frizz too and started with conditioner treatment. The biggest difference was her hair was a lot shorter when I had to get a handle on it!
You know now and can adjust!