When to Cut and How to Style Your Curly Child’s Hair

Knowing when to cut and how to style your curly child’s hair can be very confusing if you’ve never dealt with curly hair before or if your child’s hair has more or less curl than your own lovely locks. Here’s a quick and easy guide to help you remember what you need and how to take care of their hair so that it looks great at all stages. 

Why and When to Cut

There are two reasons that you should cut a curly kid’s hair. The first is that you want to change up their style or shape. The second reason is to improve the overall look of their hair. This one is more complicated. Are the ends of your kiddo’s hair scraggly? Are the ends split? Has their hair been more difficult than usual to style? Have you seen more single strand knots than usual? If their hair is longer is it looking highly uneven due to breakage? All of those are signs you should give them a trim. Other than that the standard 6 months doesn’t really apply to curly hair. As long as their hair looks healthy and happy you’re good to go!

How to Style

The main concern for curly hair is moisture. Let me say this again the MAIN concern is MOISTURE. If you can hold a lock of your child’s hair in between two fingers and rub and you can hear a scratchy noise their hair is too dry! Add moisture immediately if that means water, leave-in conditioner, or a moisturizer, do it!

Washing

If you’re completely new to the world of curls you’ll want to check out co-washing. That’s where you wash/cleanse hair with conditioner instead of shampoo to avoid the harsh chemicals. There are a lot of products out there but not a lot of products I would be willing to put on my child’s head. 

Once you’ve chosen your method of cleansing take a quarter-sized dollop or less (depending on the size of your child’s head) using only your fingers. Don’t spread it on your palms as it will make it more difficult to distribute the product. Then lift the length of their wet hair gently and slide your fingers through to their scalp. Apply the product and gently massage it in until all of the dirt/debris/buildup has been removed. There’s no need to use too much on the strands themselves unless you’re using a fair amount of styling agents. If that’s the case then go ahead and massage it downward toward the ends of their strands. Try not to plop the length of their hair on top of their head and scrub. That will cause their hair to tangle which is not what you want. If you’re not doing a co-washing method then follow your shampoo with a conditioner. Let the conditioner sit on their hair for a minute or two and then rinse. It’s very helpful if you’re able to purchase a showerhead that is removable and can be positioned to ensure that they don’t get it in their eyes. 

This is when I would apply some leave-in conditioner and finish styling. 

Styling

After washing or if a refresh is needed is the perfect time to style. I like to use a leave-in conditioner, then a moisturizer, and finish with gel to hold the style. When adding the leave-in I comb or finger comb their curls. When applying the moisturizer and the gel I apply it to my entire hand and scrunch gently into their hair. You’ll learn how much of each product you need to use with a little trial and error. 

Checkout the products I’m currently using for my little ones below.

The Products I’m Currently Using for My Little Curly Kids

What products are you currently using? I’ve tried a few other items but haven’t gone through that many yet. Let me know what you think of these items if you try them in the comments below!