Q: My daughter is 4 with 3b hair. It’s so pretty if I wet it, use detangler and use a leave-in conditioner. But as the cold weather approaches, and now she’s in school, letting it air dry isn’t as much of an option, and the diffuser seems to kill the luster and definition of the curl. Any specific suggestions?
Cozy: Wow, you really know what you are doing! Continue your routine in the evening. In the morning all you will need to do is re-activate her curls. Use So Cozy Fruity Delight Detangler & Leave-In Conditioner. Spray it evenly around her hair when she wakes up in the morning and do some quick, gentle scrunching. Her hair will be dry and her curls will be reactivated by the time she’s finished with breakfast.
Q: Help! My curly-headed daughter is 10, and she’s really starting to care about her hair a lot more. She has been suffering her whole life with very long, dry, curly hair that gets matted daily and requires a minimum of two hours of raking through to make it look presentable. Because her curls are so tight, they end up getting matted into what can only be described as dreadlocks! She is horrified by this, but also by the whole process we have to engage in whenever we do it. We have very infrequent wash/detangle sessions because the water only serves to tighten the curls and the mattes get that much harder to work out. When we do have a session, it takes two to three hours to do just half her hair, and we have to leave the other half for another day. Either she needs to go to bed or we have an appointment or her brother needs something or I have to make lunch or dinner or do the laundry or go grocery shopping. We are very stressed out. We live three hours from a city where services are available, but are willing to drive if we can find a stylist to help us. FYI: I am biracial (African-American and Mexican-American with a relaxer”> and my daughter is multiracial. The curls run in the family on both sides, so curls are her destiny. We do not want to cut them. But if the dreadlocks continue, that may be the route we are forced to take. Aaarrgh! Any advice/help/etc. would be greatly appreciated!
Cozy: You may not like what I’m going to say, but you need to comb her hair more frequently. If you keep up with it regularly, it won’t be such a long and painful process each time. Also, you need the help of some products that have been created for this kind of hair. Try the So Cozy It takes two to Detangle Kit. It comes with Lucky Lime Pre-Detangler, a wide tooth comb and Fruity Delight Detangler & Leave-In Conditioner. Use the Pre-Detangler in the bath with the wide tooth comb. To prevent tugging on the hair and thus avoiding pain to your daughter, hold an inch-wide strand in one hand and start combing from the bottom of the hair, an inch at a time, working your way up toward the scalp. Continue working your way around the head. You will avoid damaging the hair if you do this, which will help to prevent further knots. Use the Detangler in between bathing, any time you comb out. Never brush her hair. Other helpful tips: Have her wear her hair in a loose pony or braid at bedtime to avoid knots and wear her hair back when she’s doing sports or other activities. It may seem like a lot of work now, but it will certainly be much easier and save you a lot of time and anguish in the long run.
Q: Do you have any recommendations on what to use on a 4-month-old baby with extremely dry scalp and skin? He is constantly scratching his poor head.
Cozy: You should always consult your physician for skin issues. You may want to try massaging a little baby oil into the scalp.
Q: My daughter is almost two. I am a curly-headed Irish woman and my husband is African-American, so her hair is a mixture of both. I need suggestions on products for detangling or even just to keep her hair maintained. I’ve tried products from Wal-Mart, but nothing really works.
Cozy: You should try So Cozy Fruity Delight Detangler & Leave-In Conditioner. It really, really helps with the tangles. Equally important is to make sure that you are combing the hair properly. To prevent tugging on the hair and thus avoiding pain to your daughter, hold an inch wide strand in one hand and start combing from the bottom of the hair, an inch at a time working your way up toward the scalp — inch by inch. Continue working your way around the head. You will avoid damaging the hair if you do this, which will help to prevent further knots.
Q: My niece is 9 months old and it’s looking like she’ll have curly hair. She has the cutest little curl at the back of her head! The rest of her hair isn’t curly yet, but her dad is a curly and her mom has wavy hair on very humid days. I hear all this stuff about not using shampoos with sulfates, but wanted your opinion on whether it’s okay to use them. And if not, what should she use? It’s not like her hair is dry or dyed.
Cozy: There is so much talk about natural ingredients that it can be very confusing for the consumer. Many products claim to be “all natural” when in fact they aren’t. The problem is that it is an unregulated industry and many companies are taking advantage of the ignorance of the customer. First, make sure you are using a tear-free formulation for the baby. You don’t want to irritate her eyes. Next, take a good look at the ingredient label. Try to avoid parabens. Parabens are synthetic preservatives that are under suspicion for being harmful. The same is true for sulfates. Although there is no hard-core evidence at this time, it is best to use natural products until more is learned. I know that at our company, we have been busy reformulating So Cozy, replacing parabens with natural preservatives and removing sulfates. All So Cozy products are paraben-free and most are sulfate-free as well.
Q: My daughter is 8 years old and has a beautiful set of even, ringlet curls. The first day of washing/conditioning/combing, it looks beautiful. Of course, being a kid, she doesn’t want to fuss with it the next day by getting it all wet in the shower so she puts it up in a ponytail. Well, it starts to look dry and frizzy even in the ponytail. Any ideas? Should she spray it down each day with something? Any recommendations?
Cozy: How lucky your daughter is to have such beautiful curls! It sounds like a leave-in conditioner would be very helpful to remove that fuzz. At the same time, it will keep her hair properly moisturized so that her cuticle stays smooth. Try So Cozy Fruity Delight Detangler & Leave-in Conditioner. When she wakes up in the morning, spray in evenly and then gently scrunch her hair to help distribute it more evenly. Her beautiful curls should be reactivated and her hair should be dry before she leaves for school.
