Her Hair

Thought I'd share our current routine for her lovely locks...

My favorite resource is happygirlhair.com.  That's where I get most of my info about products, hair care, styles, and even skin care.  In fact, I'm about to make some changes for winter skin care (frequency and type of lotion) based on her recommendations! I recently stumbled across a few other sites that look good too: Chocolate Hair/Vanilla Care, Hair and Skin Care, Tightly Curly, African American Hair Care Tips, and an article at adoption.com. 

Every time our sweetie gets a bath we use conditioner (and soap, of course, but that's another topic).  We've used Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Moisturizing Conditioner all along.  I never rinse it out, I always just rub it into her scalp and through her hair and then leave it in.  Once a week, or sometimes less often if her hair seems dry (like it will in the winter!), I put Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Shampoo in before the conditioner, and I do rinse that out.  We got them from amazon, and they've lasted us a really long time.

Every morning and usually after naps I use a spray bottle with half olive oil and half water in it to spritz her hair.  Then I put some kind of conditioning lotion in it.  I think my favorite is Alaffia Shea and Virgin Coconut Enriching Hair Lotion.  I try to stick with shampoos, conditioners and lotions that are all natural, with no alcohol or artificial ingredients that would dry out her hair more.  They're usually more expensive and aren't as easily found at stores like Walmart.  A few other natural conditioning lotions are Blended Beauty Curly Cake Shake, Madagascar Vanilla Styling Creme, Qhemet Alma & Olive Heavy Creme, and Kinky Curly Curling Custard.  If you're in a pinch you might even try coconut oil.

After the spray bottle and the conditioning hair lotion, I use the tangle teezer.  I used to finger detangle every day, and we've gone from crying every time I finger detangled her hair to singing happy songs while I quickly, easily and painlessly comb through her tangles with the tangle teezer.  I highly recommend it.   They're online and I've heard they're at Sally's Beauty Supply also.

And that's all, folks!  As far as styling, I mostly just put headbands, flowers or clips in her hair for now.  Sometimes I get adventurous and do puffs, which are really just lots of ponytails all over her head.  Once we get to more styling... I'll probably let you know.

A couple of other things hair related.  Sweet miss sleeps on satin sheets, she uses a winter hat with a satin lining on the inside and she has a little square of satin that sits behind her head in her car seat.  I won't go into all the details, but those are important little changes to make.  And it doesn't cost much.  You can buy a little bit of satin at a fabric store and sew it on the inside of a hat and attach a piece to the back of a car seat.  If you'd like to buy them pre-made, and if you'd like to order satin sheets, here are a few places you can do that:  The Theme Room, Little Piddles, Infant Hair Saver, and MustardSeed (additional gallery).  

If you have a boy, it's really easy to just keep his head shaved.  Then you don't have to worry about tangle teezers, conditioning lotion, satin lined hats or satin on the car seat.  Sounds a little like the difference between me and a certain other boy I know...