~Baby Hair Questions~

[madeliamady]

I am new to the forum and was glad to find it! We just adopted a little girl who is full African American and is now about 4 months old. She has a ton of thick hair, soft curls on top (about 3 inches long if pulled straight) and coarser hair in back (along with a small linear bald spot). I have gotten some suggestions for products and what to do with it but it is making me more confused! We put a silk sheet in her crib which has helped with the bald spot.

Right now I am washing her hair twice a week with Mustela foaming baby shampoo (per the foster moms recommendation) and then using johnson and johnsons no more tangles leave in conditioner daily when I comb her hair out. I would like to use Curls products since they are natural and meant for AA haircare. Her hair is really tangly even though we comb it out every day so I am hoping there is a product or something I can do to help with this. Also right now I am using a pick to comb out her hair but was told to get a bone comb or boar bristle brush but there are a ton online so any suggestions on which ones would be great too. And when do I use which!

If anyone has a good routine, product suggestions, etc. Please let me know! Also if there is anything that I might be doing that will hurt her hair in the long run, please let me know. I want to be able to take good care of her hair and I know her hair will change over the next couple years so I am hoping to be active in this forum for more advice!

Thanks~Jenn

[soblessed]

Hello!


I just wanted to say congratulations to you on the adoption of your little baby girl!

Putting a silk sheet in your baby's crib was a great idea! As, this is an excellent way to protect her curls from excesive matting, tangling, and breakage.

I would suggest your switching over to the It's A Curl For Babies line from Curls. There's the Peek-A-Boo Tearless Shampoo, Patty Cake Conditioner, and the Ring-Around-The-Curlies Leave-In Creme. The products are fomulated with certified organic ingredients and they are opthamology tested and pediatrician recommended. And, also I recommend you getting the (Pink)Baby Denman Brush sold through Curls as well. Your first step would be going to the Curly Hair Products for naturally curly hair|kinky hair|ethnic hair|biracial hair|curly hair care site to order the recommended products. And, after you get them in, you can continue to wash your daughter's hair twice a week or even reduce it to only once a week (depending on exactly how dry your daughter's hair is). After washing your baby's hair, you would then condition it. After conditioning your daughter's hair, lightly blot it with a towel (making sure to leave a fair amount of water still in it. The more water that you leave in the hair verus vigorously rubbing it dry will help a whole lot when it comes to detangling. Now, to detangle, you would take a small section of your daughter's hair, lightly detangle it with the Baby Denman Brush working from the bottom to the top. After detangling the small section you would apply the leave-in creme to it. After applying creme to this first small section, you would then move on to another section and repeat the same process: lightly detangle & apply product. Once, you have finished detangling and applying product to your baby's entire head, you would just let her hair airdry.

And, if anytime through out the day, you feel that your daughter's curls need refreshening or remoisturizing just reapply a bit more of the leave-in creme to make your baby's curls come alive again.

Most African-Americans have naturally dry hair. So, the products that you need to properly take care of your baby girl's hair must be sufficiently hydrating upon application as well as allow your daughter's hair to retain long-term moisturization too. The problem with either product is that they may contain moisturizing or supposed gentle ingredients in them, however they are not providing long-term moisturization to your daughter's hair or even sufficient amounts of moisture to your daughter's hair upon application either.

[madeliamady]

Thank you! Looks like I will be ordering some new products to try!

A couple more questions...

What about brushing it daily? It gets so tangly so right now I am combing it out every day. If I use the suggestions you mentioned, would I use a detangler or conditioner on dry hair to comb through it on non washing days?

Thank you!!! ~Jenn

[soblessed]

Jenn, to style your baby's hair on a everyday basis, you would do the following: First, take a section of your daughter's hair and glide your fingers through the setion to first to help with loosening up any possible tangles. Second, apply the Leave-In (making sure to thoroughly smooth it through with your fingers). Once, you have finished smoothing the product in, then brush it to remove the larger tangles and then move on to another section. After you have finished, if your daughter's hair' still looking or feeling sorta dry then just smooth in a little bit more of the Leave-In. And, then, just style her hair with one of those cute head band bows. The type of bow that I am talking about is here at: http://hairlovetoknow.com/Hair_Bows_for_Baby_Girls. Once your daughter's hair grows out more, then you can of course modify her styling options.

[baybelle]

Congratulations on your adoption! I was just wondering where to get a satin crib sheet b/c my daughter is not old enough to understand why she needs to wear a head scarf or a bonnet.
Thanks!

[madeliamady]

I could only find silk crib sheets for around 250$ online and wasnt going to invest in that. So instead we went to TJ max and bought a thin pink baby blanket that the back was lined with silk. We put it (silk side up) in her crib and tucked the edges under the mattress. Once she figures out how to wiggle alot we will probably pin it under the mattress to keep it in place.

It definetely is helping though. We also got a little "silky" blanket that came with a bear and we put the silky behind her head in her car seat as well.

[baybelle]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll have to try that.

[madeliamady]

OK, I had a few suggestions for products found in town here and they aren't working at the moment so I am ready to make a purchase. Just want to see if the recommendations from before are still appropriate.

Our little girl is now 7 1/2 months, still tight dense curls (4-5 inches long), getting dryer, the back is more textured where she rubs her head (2 inches long).

We still use a silk sheet, silky in the car seat, and am using a metal Pick to comb it out every day. I was using Silken Child detangler which worked well for a while but isn't quite doing it at the moment. Then someone recommended Mane and Tail, and that was horrible for her, made her hair horribly dry, so we switched right back to the silken child. We wash her hair once a week and then I use the pick to comb her hair out with the conditioner still in her hair in the bath tub. The ends of her hair are really fine so it gets tangly pretty easily (pretty much as soon as I finish combing it, its already retangled) not sure if trimming just the last 2mm of the hair would help or not (I was told not to cut her hair till she was at least 3).

Anyway, wondering which products to try (curly Q vs its a curl) and is there a sample pack or something to try that would have the right products that I could purchase before buying a big thing of them?

Also, Pick vs brush. The Pick is working ok, but taking a while since her hair is so tangly, will a brush really detangle more?

Thanks~Jenn
If I could figure out how to post a pic I would!

[soblessed]

Hey Jenn!

Because, it sounds like your daugther's hair is very dense and thick and dry, I would suggest that you use the Curly Q products on your daughter's hair instead of the It's A Curl products only because they probably at this time wouldn't be moisturizing or smoothing enough for your daughter's very thick and dry hair.

The products that you were steered towards I personally know wouldn't be good for your daughter's hair. As, Mane and Tail isn't very moisturizing to African American hair and the Silken Child products unfortunately wouldn't have been the answer to your daughter's hair problems either.

So, I am glad that you are back and want to try the products in your daughter's hair. Now, there are Curly Q Sample Kit available. However, I must tell you that the products come in 2 ounce sizes and I feel that the Sample Kits are better off being purchased when someone is going on a trip and don't want to use bring their full-sizes along. As, the amount of usage that you get from the samples sizes are very very limited. But, if you still want to get a Curly Q Sample Kit anyways then the one that you should get for your daughter's hair is the Curly Q Sample Kit-The Essentials + Curly Q Custard.

Anyways, the products that I do suggest that I do recomend for your daughter's hair are:

Curly Q Curlie Cutie Cleansing Cream
Curly Q Coconut Dream Conditioner
Curly Q Moist Curls Moisturizer
Curly Q Custard

To detangle your daughter's hair, I would suggest that you use a brush like the Pink Baby Denman Brush (the one Curls sells) instead if a pick.

Also, to detangle your daughter's hair after you wash and condition it, I would suggest that you do the following:

1. Spray your daughter's hair with the Moist Curls all over and then massage it in.

2. Next, take a small section of your daughter's hair with your fingers, take the brush and detangle the section of hair(working from the bottom to the top).

3. After detangling the small section, then apply the Custard to it and make sure to thoroughly smooth it through.

4. Afterwards, you then just take another small section of your daughter's hair with your fingers and repeat the same steps all over again (detangle, apply product, smooth it through). If you get to a piece of hair that has already started to dry out, then just re-dampen it with the Moist Curls.

5. Lastly, you would just let your daughter's hair airdry. You can dress up her hair with colorful barrettes placed in the front of her hair or you can even use baby headbands to dress up your daughter's hair too. I do not recommend doing alot of manipulating when it comes to her hair, as she is just a baby and her scalp is very, very fragile. And, you could actually end up taking out a lot of your baby's hair out in the process.

In the mornings, to get your daughter's hair back to looking its best, you would first spray your daughter's hair all over with Moist Curls. You are only to spray enough to dampen your daughter's hair and first refresh it after her having slept on it all night. As, your daughter's hair should never be left dripping wet. After you have finished spraying your daughter's hair all over, then you would then just massage the Moist Curls thoroughly into your daughter's hair. Next, you would apply small amounts of the Custard to your daughter's hair and you would make sure to throughly smooth it through. Lastly, you would take the Baby brush and lightly detangle the ends of your daughter's hair.