Can anyone help with curly hair care advice for my daughter

[ViperActive]

She’s 10 years old and has always had wavy hair but as she’s getting older it’s a bit more curly now, looking at charts I’d say it’s 3C curl.
how best to manage this ? I’m looking for advice and tips on hair brushes, shampoo and conditioner and what to do in mornings.
What we have been doing is washing and conditioning hair and brushing through, then it dries naturally curly but the next day, if you brush it, it goes frizzy and poofie (my daughters words). If we do nothing it looks messy.
my hair is poker straight so I’ve no clue really. Any help appreciated. Thank you

Never ever brush or comb curly hair when dry. Combing through conditioner and then using a wide toothed comb while it's still wet is fine but don't brush it any other time.

You will have to try different products and see which her hair prefers. Lots of people love only curls but it doesn't work on my hair. John frieda curly mousse works on my hair but not on my daughter. The main thing is to get moisture into the hair.

Following with interest as DH and I have poker straight hair yet have 2 kids with the most amazing corkscrew curls which I don’t know how to deal with!

Look up 'curly girl method' on Google. Lots of advice on how to manage curly hair and what products to use. As pp said, brushing dry curly hair is a big no-no (you can detangle it when wet then use a rich conditioner to scrunch & lift the ends to define the curls again).

I use this when my hair is wet: https://www.lookfantastic.com/the-inkey-list-chia-seed-curl-defining-hair-cream-150ml/13228955.html

do not brush though afterwards!

There are loads of brilliant curly hair YouTubers. I like Gina
It can be a bit daunting. The key things are:
-Avoid silicone based conditioners
-Condition a lot!
-Never brush hair once it's dry
-Get a cheap spray bottle (I got one for £1 in Wilkos) and use it to spritz either water or a water/conditioner mixture on your DD's hair to refresh the curls. So instead of brushing in the morning, spray with water, put a bit of conditioner or a curl cream on your wet hands, and just scrunch up the curls and detangle with your fingers.
-Leave it to dry without fiddling with it.

We only wash hair in the mornings. Shampoo then wide comb through with buckets of conditioner. Quick rinse (no need to get rid of all the conditioner, it helps the curls set). Leave to dry naturally. I wash my straight hair daily but leave dd's 3-4 days at a time, you can refresh with spray conditioner.

Second the advice of never brushing dry curly hair. You might be able to brush it when wet but only ever use a wide tooth comb when dry.

I love the cantu brand which you can get in Superdrug or Amazon. John Freda leave in conditioner spray is great too.

The curly girl method is great and good place to start. There’s also a method where you take each strand of hair and re curl it when wet with moose…I will see if I can find a video. This looks amazing but is very time consuming

Umberto Gianni do some great curly hair products. It's finding out what's best for her hair. I'd advise to always air dry, no combing dry hair, just use fingers to take away knots.

Cantu do a good curl definer for after wet brushing for kids. Me and my dd both have very curly hair and find it works well. As an adult I use a mix of leave-in conditioner and joico curl gel.

I plait my DD’s hair overnight and it really helps. (Advice from my curly in-laws)

Look at the Curly Ellie website for products: they’re lovely and specially formulated for curly kids (work well on curly adults too). And they have tips on how to care for curly kids hair too
https://www.curlyellie.com/

Don't wash it every day - I have 3c hair, and it's best washed only once a fortnight or so. A bit if oiliness is brilliant for it.

DD1 has the most amazing corkscrew curls, it’s taken me a while but we found a range of SLS free shampoo that has a specific range for curly hair - it’s called Noughty and the curl range is “Wave Hello” they sell it in Tesco now, or you can get it online. Once or twice a week I wash with shampoo, rinse, apply conditioner liberally, then comb through the curls with the conditioner still in it with a wide tooth comb. Then get DD to flip her head upside down and “squish” water into the hair with the conditioner, this encourages the curls to clump and be defined! After that she has a microfibre hair towel on for a bit, then we rake through some curl cream and scrunch. She sleeps with a silk pillowcase with her hair up in a pineapple on her head, I’m investigating silk bonnets!

It’s a lot of faff but worth it. There are some great curly hair “bloggers” on instagram and Youtube. The cardinal rule with curly hair is NEVER brush it dry, only wet with conditioner!

I have long curly hair and my top tip is wearing the hair up in a snood at night (thin neck tube you can buy in Millets etc for out door wear). It means you can go a few days between washes, which is half the battle. If she doesn't like the idea of a snood, then a silky hair scrunchie to tie her hair on top of head like a pineapple at night. Keeps my curls fresh so in the morning I don't have to do anything to my hair.

Thank you all so much for these amazing tips. I wish I asked sooner!
this is really helpful information.
I think I may have her hair type wrong now. I’ve been looking at more charts and I think I’ve put her too curly with 3c, it’s kind of bordering wavy to curly but when I do something right like after hair wash day it is more curlier.

My daughter taught herself curly girl method, and after trying lots of far more expensive products, says the two best ranges out there are Garnier Hair Food (the papaya one especially) and Herbal Essences Avocado and Aloe. Both as cheap as chips. Sulphate free etc. I was treating her to all the heavily marketed "curly girl method" stuff at ££££s and she said the above two ranges knock the more expensive ones out of the water.
She also plaits at night.
Not sure what the hairwashing routine is as she's at university now. But I do know it involves being in the bathroom for about an hour 🤣

normal shampoo
dry hair conditioner
Wide tooth comb with conditioner in
rinse, when hair still pretty wet
use Cantu kids curl cream or similar, about 50p size dollop, rub hands together and finger-thru hair from ears down. more cream if needed. Scrunch up or make finger curls or just leave it.
never brush will just be frizzy