A hair question- HELP!!!

[cbone]

My little one is what I would describe as a "pretty tomboy" (though she has disallowed the term "tomboy" and wants me to call her a "sports princess"). The metal image that the term 'tomboy" evokes describes her daily activity pretty well. Running, jumping, flipping, wrestling, and on and on. This takes quite a toll on her hair, which finds its way into knots that would make the hardiest Boy Scout envious. To detangle it requires either a torture session of brushing or a shower where we shampoo and brush followed by conditioning and brushing. Neither solution lasts more than a couple of hours.

Her hair is straight and relatively thin, though she has tons of hair. Do you guys have any tricks or products that you could suggest? Doing hair is certainly not my strong suit.

 

[Empowered]

My daughter has a fricken ton of hair and it knots like crazy. What I have her do is (which you might do for your daughter since she is younger) is to wash with a good smoothing shampoo and then use a detangler (my daughter likes Biolage's detangler). She puts a liberal amount of detangler in her hair and then uses a wide tooth comb to brush through the knots while the detangler is still in the hair. This makes it so the hair rinses without knots.

Don't use a brush, brushes are worthless for knots. Combs work much better. And definitely do not even try to comb until after you have put detangler or any kind of conditioner in. Shampoo cleans the hair, but it won't detangle the hair at all, so combing right after is just going to torture her unnecessarily.

When she gets out of the shower I would personally do a long, loose braid until the hair dries if you don't have time to blow dry it. This should keep it tamed and keep away some of the knots. A pony tail will keep the top part neat, but if you put it in with wet hair, the tail part will just knot as if she was running around with her hair down.

 

[cbone]

Thanks! Have you tried any leave-in product?

 

[gymgal]

Cut her hair? Of course, I could never bare to cut dd's hair. We pretty much did what empowered recommended. Another bit of advice - only put her hair in pony's for sports. It really ruins the hair and scalp.

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[Gymmonkeymomma]

I have 2 sporty girls (one of them a "princess") with thick hair. I've always done comb thru detangler in wet hair, as Empowered describes and the loose braid, especially for sleeping. We rarely blow dry.

 

[Empowered]

Not a fan of leave in products. They did not seem to help my daughter's knotting issues at all and made her hair seem greasy.

Also despite every site on earth saying to not wash kids hair daily, my daughter has to wash hers ever day. Her hair is incapable of being normal unless it is freshly washed.

 

[Blessed4x]

We have tried every product under the sun. My DD has fine, but thick hair. The best thing we've found is the Biolage conditioner in the shower and then Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave In conditioner sprayed on before we comb. She still fusses about it...I think she's just extremely tender headed, but this seems to be the best solution we've found. She's growing hers out to donate to Locks of Love and if she wasn't so close I'd say forget it. She does best with shoulder length...long enough to put in a ponytail, but much longer and it's a mess. Good luck! I feel your pain!!

 

[Flossyduck]

My daughter has the same problem, fine hair but lots of it and long! We have to use an intensive conditioner when washing, then a leave in smoothing detangler while the hair is still wet and before combing. The best detangler we have found is L'oreal Elvive if you have that over there? A good palmful worked through and left for a minute or so does the trick, combs through well and actually makes her hair shine too.

Do you have tangleteezers over there? They look a bit like a horse brush and are much easier than normal brushes.

Yes also to the plait or braid while damp and I'm afraid that she wears her hair tied up in plaits most of the time. It's the only way!

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

My dd has wavy, fine, but thick, very long hair. It's prone to tangles. What I find helps the most is Aussie Moist Shampoo and conditioner- sometimes she uses the 3 Minute Miracle conditioner instead, also an Aussie product. When it's dry in the mornings I wet it with a spray bottle and use a detangler. The Suave one with the octopus on it works the best on her hair- my DD's hairdresser said to be careful b/c some of these detangling sprays have alcohol in them and can be drying, but I swear this is the ONLY one I have found that works on DD's hair- the other kinds leaver her hair sticky, greasy, can't run your fingers through it when it's dry. I also (especially in the summer- when she swims a lot, or during meet season- when she wears a lot of hair products) have her use a clairifying shampoo (I like Paul Mitchell) every two weeks. It helps with the tangles, that and a good end trim every couple of weeks. Hope this helps.

 

[gymgal]

We use aussie leave in detangler with good results. We use it on wet as well as dry hair (throughout the day if it gets bad). But the best way is combing it while in the shower with conditioner in the hair. Then finding it out. We use biolage.

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[Faith]

Leave in conditioner is about the only thing that works for us. Dd has very fine hair, which we have to keep short. I spray in conditioner before brushing, and that neatens it up.

Smaller dd I bit the bullet and had it cropped. So much easier!

 

[cbone]

We use Aussie Moist shampoo and conditioner. She loves 3-Minute Miracle, but we go throgh it so fast. I think I'll try some of the other products mentioned here and report back. Thanks for the input, everyone. I really appreciate it!

 

[Kiwi]

Garnier Fructis Anti-frizz Serum is a great leave-in product to prevent tangles. L'Oreal Elvive is a good de-tangler to use right after washing if hair is very knotted, but the detangling effect only happens at the time, i.e. doesn't last. PPS Energy Spray is quite good between washes, spraying before bed makes hair less tangled next morning.

 

[Jen H.]

Keep it in a braid.

 

[cbone]

Keep it in a braid.

I did a loose braid this morning per another poster's suggestion. My daughter was MAD! She was complaining that it "felt weird". I told her to try it today and see if her hair was less tangled tonight. She (very) reluctantly agreed. We'll see how it went in a few hours.

 

[gymtastics]

I know this sounds strange, but what I would do is add a thickning cream and then french braid her hair, then hairspray. The thickning cream should help her hair to "grab on" better!