my family is into hair. my great grandmother’s motto was “you had to suffer to be beautiful” i was privy to roller sets weekly from the age of 18 months until…i guess until i cut my hair short in 8th grade. because of my upbringing i could never stand the torture of braids or styles where i didn’t have immediate access to combing, styling, or playing in my own hair. i NEED to do things things on a regular basis. brownlee likes to joke that it takes me days to do the little bit of hair that i have when it comes to washing, drying, straightening, and then curling all 3-4 inches of hair on my head. SO WHAT! that’s how i roll! i get it cut on the regular, i do it on the regular, i buy stuff to put in on it on the regular. that is life.
lots and lots of people i know have made the transition from chemically straightened (permed) hair to having their hair in its natural state. i’ve had a perm since i was about 2 and i don’t have any plans to go to the other side. and everyone told me if i had a girl that i would be in trouble because i don’t know how to comb hair. that was a false statement cause i comb mine all the time, but i do realize that now i will have to deal with a real live curly head.
as addy’s hair grows longer and thicker and mo longer and mo thicker it is getting curlier and curlier. it was small waves at first, but now its full blown heavy sections of curls. i can almost gather it into two ponytails! and soon the days of doing absolutely nothing to it but throwing on a headband will be over and i need to get it together.
yesterday i ordered some awesome new hair clips for her on Etsy (OneLittleMonkeyShop, how fitting) but then i got to thinking they might require more than just picking at a few strands in the front and attaching the clip. i’m not ready to corral her in my lap and force her to slicking brushes and extensive plaits and twists (not EVER) but still.
i like the Johnson&Johnsons and Aveeno baby hair wash i’ve been using but i should probably start to only wash her hair as often as i wash mine. unless of course she gets throw up in it, which is somehow a common occurrence. and i’m going to have to try out some sort of moisturizing…something to help it out through the inbetween times.
i want easy, the total opposite of the picture up top. but also something that will help care for her hair and maybe even accentuate the curls. is that possible? i’m really looking into these Curl products for babies. they will even send some samples with the product!!! i know natural hair care can be expensive (hell, hair care in general) but i also know that as she gets bigger her hair will continue to change. mine just quit falling out the other day! so who knows when hers will get to some stable point.
anywho, does anyone have any tips on what to do? any hair care secrets of your own or advice on what to do with baby’s hair? i’m open to most suggestions, but please remember who you are talking to. don’t get too technical on me. i’m not really trying to plug any products or anything, just want to have something that actually works.
Love your blog! (I'm a March 2011 Bumpie — name: KnitForte.) Anyway, I'm going through the same thing with my DD hair. My sister is a hairstylist and I haven't really styled my own hair since I was 15 (I'm 37 now.) My hair is permed within an inch of it's life, but I plan to not subject my daughter to the same fate. So I've been buying tons of haircare products for my baby girl. I have Cara B products and they smell great and made my baby's hair super curly. However the leave in conditioner made her hair super crunchy and flaked when I combed it out. I also did buy the Curls products for babies and they're wonderful too. They smell great and made her hair manageable, but the leave-in and spiral curl moisturizer also flaked white bits when I combed or brushed her hair hours later. My sister swears by Soft and Precious moisturizer, but that made her hair flaky too.
Now it could just be that my LO can't handle a lot of product in her hair yet. (After trying all of those products, right now I'm just using baby oil and a bit of water.) I know that Carol's Daughter's has a line of kid products, so I'm going to see if I can get a few samples the next time I'm at Sephora. I'd love to hear what works for you!
glad you stopped by!!! my sister just chopped her hair off and we went to target and got some Shea Moisture stuff for her. i tried a dabble on Addy and it smells GREAT but i really don't know if it made a difference because my aunts had already been playing in it. actually it would be awesome if it did work well because i hate ordering things online because i am highly impatient. but now i'm hoping they have a baby line. i'll have to do something because i got in my etsy clips and i really really want to put all of them in her hair even though they don't match lol. they are just THAT cute. but i'll be sure to keep everyone posted.
This was a great blog, I bet….I never made it past them rollers!! LMAO
Clearly, I don't know what works on real live baby hair, but…I love the shea moisture products (hair milk & hair smoothie) for my head. I think if you decide to use either of those, you should go with the hair milk b/c it's the least heavy. All of the products (hair and otherwise) are all organic (so I'm guessing that makes em safe for a baby?) and they smell GREAT!!! Also, if you wanna go real old school…vaseline and water does amazing tricks…with a really good brush (this is for when she's older and her scalp can handle a real brush). Thats all I got…hope it helped. lol. 🙂
Oh…and that picture gets me everytime. So cute. 🙂
i figure if i do get some stuff and it doesn't work then we will just pass it on over to you lol.
Lol. That's what Jenni did to me. I still have 3 or 4 jars of coconut oil in my cabinets.
Awesome blog! I have several little girls under age 5 to whom I provide natural hair services. Carol's Daughter has a great product line for children, all natural, on the high end side. Locally, there is a shop off of 59 at Aldine Mail Ft, called The Original Fragrance. The owner makes a product that is equivalent to CD products, somewhat cheaper and natural, but just as good, in my opinion better. In addition, Dr. Bronners makes almond oil, which can be blended with a jojoba oil (whole foods) which will make her hair manageable as she gets older, help retain moisture, and promote growth. I saw above someone mentioned shea butter which is also very good.
thanks for the advice!!!
I don't comment enough on your blog, but I read all the posts when they get sent to my email. Awesome stuff!! 🙂
I've found some great products that work on my hair, but I don't think all of them are suitable for babies.
My #1 product, hands down, if-I-was-caught-on-a-desert-island type of product, is coconut oil. The pure organic kind you get in a tub at Whole Foods. It lasts a long time and works better than any other single product I've used.
I would try a little of that. The only thing you would have to worry about is if Addy is allergic to coconut! Coconut oil is a humectant, it protects the hair and seals in moisture.
Also, I mentioned to you on twitter the company Oyin Handmade. It's a couple out of Baltimore that also has a baby/young child. I use their Hair Dew and their Burnt Sugar Pomade. Their focus is on organic, natural products. I would recommend their baby line for Addy: http://oyinhandmade.com/shop/index.php?main_page=…
I order their products through http://www.curlmart.com/store/ . Check out that site for other suggestions.
My other hair staples: shea butter (but if you use it pure it can flake and leave hair hard…try something whipped and mixed with oils like Oyin Handmade) and Kinky-Curly Knot Today Leave-in Conditioner (great for detangling and also made from all natural ingredients, you can get it at Whole Foods or online).
From what I've read online about natural baby hair care, and from my own experience as an adult with some product allergies, the purer your product and the less ingredients, the better! Hope this helps 🙂
It helps soooo much. I totally forgot there's a Whole Foods right down the street from us so we might check them out. A few people have mentioned Kinky Curly and they sell it at Target so that's a plus for convenience. So far almond oil has been working for keeping it from getting dry but i am tempted to just try something out and maybe water it down. I'm not trying to have her all luxurious just yet lol.
Hi Bre!!!!
Its Ketie! I have been natural for 1 1/2 now & love it only because I am educated in what I am supposed to be doing. Simply do what I did and go to youtube and research natural hair (find kimmaytube she has waist length natural hair and it is soooo pretty) also join curlynikki.com. I use the same products on my hair that I use on Jordyn’s. Mainly water, olive oil, castor oil, aloe vera juice, raw shea butter, and unrefined coconut oil.
I mix everything myself and sometimes add other items as needed.
Now my Jordy does not have as much as Addy… but this fro of mine is so manageable now with the products that I use and has very defined curls. PLEASE DON’T EVER PERM HER HAIR…lol Please send me an email @ Krichmond_lomax@yahoo.com if you have any questions I will help as much as I can.
hey ketie!!! so far the almond oil has helped to keep Addy's hair from being dry and i bought Beautiful Curls' curling cream so it's really been defining her curls. i don't have any plans to perm it so i will definitely need all the natural hair help i can get. my sister just cut all the perm off her hair so i'll make sure she checks out the youtube sites you mentioned. thanks so much for stopping by the blog! 🙂
Thanks for this detailed post!
Great,thank you for this advice
benefits of coconut oil for hair