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1. Moisturize
The moisture level of your child’s hair is key when dealing with curls. How curly your child’s hair is will determine how much added moisture they need. The curlier their hair the more moisture they will need. If your child has tighter or coily hair it will be essential to also try to seal in that moisture using a curl cream or gel. To refresh curls that were styled 1+ days ago add some leave-in conditioner to a spray bottle and mist their hair. The goal is to keep hair feeling soft. If it is dry and crunchy or scratchy to the touch then more moisture is needed. In most cases, the spray bottle will work well. If that isn’t enough add a small dollop of your preferred leave-in conditioner to your hands and apply to their hair after spraying it with the mixture. We use this one.
2. Detangle
Never try to detangle hair when it’s dry. Always detangle when damp or wet. Use your water conditioner spray bottle to thoroughly wet it down or comb it out in the bath or shower. The easiest way I’ve found to accomplish this is to leave the conditioner in while detangling. I love the Kinky Curly Knot Today brand of shampoo and conditioner. I love the brand because it’s safe and the leave-in/detangling conditioner creates so much slip!
When detangling you also want to start at the ends and slowly work your way to your child’s scalp. Use your fingers or a brush that is meant for detangling. This will require patience. Depending on how long their hair is it may be more of a process. The less tugging and pulling you do the more length you retain. Being that this process is, well… a process I only detangle my daughter’s hair once a week or so. As the days pass I slowly adjust her styles without the need to rewash completely. I’ll share more about her hair routine in another post.
3. Cast
After washing, detangling, and moisturizing it’s time to cast their hair. If your child has loose waves or thin hair you may not want to cast or you might want something lighter like a styling cream as opposed to a full-on gel. Right now I’m using a gel instead of a cream to set their hair. While I know that a proper cream would be more appropriate for their hair type I also know buying 3 different products for each child is a chore. So they use what I use and I just make sure whatever I use is safe for them to use too. I am loving Aunt Jackie’s Elongating Curling Gel. It smells like gummy bears to me, which I love! Then to the final step. If you’d like to you can scrunch your child’s curls once the gel/cream has dried to “release the cast”. I typically don’t do this on the first day. Their curls are tighter but leaving this step to the second day allows me to lengthen the time between washes. It is also fun to see the versatility of their hairstyling capabilities.
Do you have a child with curly hair? Have you tried this method? Let me know if you’ve tried this and how it’s working for you! Or just share what you do to keep your kiddo’s hair looking good.
Thank you for this! My daughter’s hair is basically identical to your daughter’s. She’s 2 now and I can put in the work to create beautiful curls and use styling gel and leave in conditioner and everything, but after a day of carseats, naps, and sleeping overnight, it’s all just a hot mess Albert Einstein afro again. We only wash with shampoo once a week, but we have to detangle every morning, which I’m sure is a big part of why it’s so damaged. How do you go an entire week without detangling and have them look presentable?!? Also I know this blog is old so I hope you’re still checking it!
Yes, you’re right, I haven’t posted in a LONG time. I took a bit of a hiatus. I’m planning on getting back into it. The detangling is a constant in our house! My daughter’s hair is now down to her bum now that she’s 7. The biggest trick I’ve learned, which feels wild, is GEL. I have a favorite gel we use. I put it in her hair after showers at bedtime, then put it in a braid down her back. She wakes up, undoes her braid, and if needed, I add more gel. I know it sounds like too much, but it’s not. If she wakes up with wild hair, I spray it with water, detangle, then add gel. If her hair gets big and frizzy I know I’ve not used enough gel. So, to the best of our ability, her hair days look like this: Day 1 = Wash Day: Shampoo > Leave In Conditioner > Gel > Braid > Bed (we do her wash days in the evening, and I send her to bed with a wet braid…also feels wild, but it works! Day 2 = She chooses leave the braid in or take it out. I gently gel down flyaways, depending on whether they are wild or not. Day 3: Braid comes out. Spritz with water. Detangle if needed. Then gel. Day 4: Let her hair be big and wild, no gel, no nothing. Day 5: Low bun, high bun, or pigtail buns. Basically, I’m tired and don’t want to deal with it, so we just put it up. Day 6-7: usually weekend days, we decide based on the activities if we need to make a fuss or just let it be out and wild. Then the whole week starts over.
I hope this helps! If a quick refresh is needed, all you really need is water and gel. Here’s a link to the gel I use. It smells slightly like gummy bears to me. I love it! https://shopstyle.it/l/cx8eP