Managing my curly hair has taken up a good chunk of my life – for the longest time it seemed like the biggest inconvenience and chore. Now I have (not 1, but 2!) curly kids of my own, I’m determined to not let them have that experience too. For Cole, his hair is super short so keeping up with his isn’t really that much work, but for Colly, I know it’s only going to get to be more and more as she gets older. I really want her to embrace her curls and feel confident in taking care of them.
Tangles go hand in hand with curls, and Colly’s have been tough tangly since she was about 8 months old. We started detangling her hair every few days back then, and now it’s essential for her to have a daily detangle routine to combat them from building one giant knot.
I start by using this Suave kids detangler spray and making sure every strand is nice and wet. It’s almost impossible to brush curly hair dry, not to mention really painful. I start from the ends (you may have always started at the root, but this way actually reduces breakage!) and work my way up with our Tangle Teezer brush. This brush has been our go to even with Honey – no more tears are shed once we started using it! I will also section off pieces (using starting with the underneath area as it’s usually the least knotted) and work on them in these individual chunks so it’s a little less for both of us to get through.
Once everything is smooth and tangle free, I will use my fave curl cream (I use this on my own curls!) and work it into all strands of her hair. After that, I give it a little scrunch but most of the curls are already forming natually at this time. I don’t diffuse it unless she’s going to bed or it needs to be dried for some reason, so it just air dries on it’s own. Using the cream helps the frizz stay away and also helps the shape stay in tact which will create less tangles later on too.
This is our routine when she hasn’t taken a shower and just wakes up in the morning with frizzy/wild hair. On days she showers and we wash her hair, I’ll use a leave in condition that I spray in right after the shower and I know her hair is clean.
That’s it! It’s really not complicated, but it can be a little time consuming. Right now she sits pretty well for me and lets me get through it with just holding or chewing on a toy, but I’m sure as she gets older she might get more antsy.
To make it easy, all of these products I’ve chatted about plus our fave spray bottles are all linked in one photo on my LTK, here!
My whole goal is for her to do this herself and do it confidently one day. I have faith we’ll get there and it won’t be something she dreads doing with support and knowledge. Have a question for me about curly hair or our routine? Leave a comment and I’ll get back to you! ➿
