Child curly hair help!

[curlyhairmare]

My 2 year old has a lovely head of curls and to be honest I’ve no idea how to manage this!

Currently she is either bathed every morning as her hair needs to be wet but brushed or I have to spray her hair with water/conditioning spray and then brush, but she absolutely hates it. Huge meltdowns and it’s making life difficult in the mornings, it’s also a long process as it needs to dry etc.

When she wakes up in the morning the curls are frizzy and very knotty and I can imagine it does hurt her. Am I missing a trick? Is there any solution other than wetting hair before brushing. Is there anything to stop it knotting in the night? Any help appreciated!

Satin pillowcase

We have to put a silk bonnet on my 3 year old at bedtime to stop her curls being a tangled mess in the morning so that could be a route to take?

if we put it in a French plait (or Elsa plait as she calls it) it doesn’t seem to be too bad either

My 3 grandchildren have all got really long curly hair.

Use a tangle teezer not a hairbrush.
Lots of conditioning spray (childs farm do a good one) before using and leave to work before going through with the tangle teezer.
Tie hair bed at bedtime so it doesn't knot in their sleep.

We only have tangle teezers in the house as it is. I also already use the conditioning spray which doesn’t work on the knots but I’ll have a look into the child’s farm one as I haven’t tried that one yet.

What does a satin pillowcase actually do?

A silk or satin pillowcase stops it getting so tangly.

Make sure you're using super-gentle products, and detangle with fingers or a wide tooth comb rather than a brush. Brushes are so bad for curly hair, honestly. The only kind I use is a silicone scalp brush, and then only when my hair is soaking wet and full of conditioner.

There's a lot of Facebook groups which will give more advice and can recommend suitable products - I can't recommend child-friendly ones, as it's only me with curls, not my DC, although I've heard good things about the Cantu childrens range.

Satin/silk pillowcase and bonnet for night - it reduces friction so should tangle less. Etsy and amazon does some nice child ones or a local beauty supply store/hair shop. After washing her hair, put lots of conditioner on and then comb her hair, the slipperiness from the conditioner will help You can also wash her hair with conditioner only
Oh and maybe braid her hair at night

L'Oréal pear detangling spray is great, or once when we were on holiday and I forgot it, I just used conditioner and left it in.
Plaits all the time as soon as it's long enough.
I now understand why my mum made me have short hair until I could deal with it myself.

I was a curly haired child and my mum had beautifully straight hair and did not know what to do - the pictures of me say it all!

1. Never ever brush it when dry. It will make it go super frizzy / fluffy.
2. When wet use a wide toothed comb with plenty of leave in conditioner. As she gets older you may want to add a small amount of curl cream or something to help them stay together.
3. In the mornings - never brush! Use a little bit of a serum and it should bring the curls back together. Otherwise go to bed with hair in plaits or curled up in 2 buns, anything to reduce the overall amount of friction on all the individual hair strands.

I'm still learning!