Another newbie needing advice - dry tangles

ksondy · 03-02-2009, 12:58 PM

I need help with how to deal with both the dryness and tangling of my daughter’s hair. She is 10 so you’d think I’d have figured this out but since grown woman still trying to master their curls, I am not feeling so bad that I haven’t gotten this completely down!!!

Her hair is course like most curly hair. But it is actually pretty thin in density. She has spiral coiled type hair as you can see in the avatar. Also, she has some layers in it.

My problem is that I cannot seem to find leave in hair products to stop the dryness. Her hair is horribly dry and she gets the worst tangles and knots. I am assuming the dryness is a contributor to the knots. It takes us a good 15 min or longer to untangle her mess. Particularly underneath in back. She wears so many ponytails because I just don’t have time before school to deal with it.

She uses a satin pillowcase and we try to put loose scrunchie ponytails in at night. We only wash once a week and intensely condition with heat once a month. I only ever detangle when wet LOADED with conditioner and I use a wide tooth comb. I get it detangled to a point where I can run a fine tooth comb through it (while wet and conditioned) with ease. So I am getting the knots out. I let it dry from near soaking wet and do not towel dry or blow dry it. But by the next day, it is a wreck again. I do have to constantly remind her not to touch the front when drying. She likes to twirl it around her fingers. She loves it long but I am considering reducing the length considerable just to make it easier to manage.

I was going to try the “Knot-Today” product but does anyone have any other suggestions? At 10, this child’s hair is still so difficult to manage that my poor daughter can’t handle it. She tells me that she will come do my laundry once a week when she is an adult if I will do her hair!

subbrock · 03-02-2009, 02:40 PM

what conditioner/leave in are you currently using?

deva curl one condition is pretty rich and might work well to add moisture to her hair. ive tried KCKT and i wasnt really impressed with its moisturizing abilities. i like cream conditioners for my dry hair. and even though my baby girl has much looser curls than me, i prefer cream conditioners for her hair too.

generosityt · 03-02-2009, 03:08 PM

Try giving her olive oil baths before her weekly bath, it's going to do her hair a lot of good and reduce the dryness significantly. Also use some other oil (something lighter than the olive oil like coconut or jojoba oil) for styling after you use the leave-in. I do that with my baby daughter (20 months) hair and she gets great hair, I do that then every morning I wet my hand and use a dime size conditioner in my hand to restyle it.