Curly Hair, Diverse Care – Tailored Hair Routines

Curly hair is awesome! Our daughters have very curly hair with different hair care needs. We adore the versatility of their afro-textured hair and have learned to love the art of styling it. Learning by trial and error, we have grown into our jobs of personal stylists. In this post I discuss our hair washing routines.     

Adorable Little Girl #1

Type of Hair: 4A Kinky soft, tightly coiled, has a defined curly pattern. Some 4B in the back. 

Frequency of Hair Washing: Every 2-6 weeks. Bathing occurs 2-3 times per week (or more if needed).

Time Requirements:  1-3 hours to remove style and wash. 4-16 hours to set a new style  

Tip:  Once in a protective style, wearing a sleep cap at night can extend the life span of the style.  

Removing Protective Style and Detangling  

We always start by finger detangling. This prevents breakage, prepares the hair for washing and supports a “no tear” comfortable hair experience. It takes a little more time and patience, but we feel it’s worth it.  During this step, we heavily spritz the hair and apply a leave-in conditioner that adds slip. Depending on your child’s hair texture mixing the conditioner with water can help tailor the right consistency. 

Shampoo

Our shower has a detachable spray handle nozzle that has made washing much easier. After soaking the hair, I apply a small amount of moisturizing shampoo. I gently finger part the hair exposing and agitating the scalp cleansing dirt and built up products in the hair. 

Condition

After a thorough rinse I add a generous amount of conditioner while gently finger detangling. Sometimes we will play in the bath letting the moisture and conditioner seep in. Then comes a final rinse.

Moisturize and Detangle

Once clean I add a leave in moisturizing, conditioner and detangle again removing shedded hair. This is the perfect time to set the main part lines for our next style. A large tooth comb can be used to after finger detangling. Part lines look crisp and sharp with the help of a rat or pin tail comb. Smaller sections can be placed into twists or braids to prevent shrinking and tangling in-between styling sessions.

Sealing

Once the hair is clean and well moisturized a pure coconut oil can be used to seal each strand. Applying the coconut oil to my hands prior to braiding or twisting works well.     

Adorable Little Girl #2

Type of Hair: 3B Curly, tight medium amount of curls, can have combined texture.  

Frequency of Hair Washing: 1-2 times per week with occasional co-washes. Bathing occurs 2-3 per week or more if needed.

Time Requirements:  30 min to remove style and wash. 10-15 minutes daily to detangle and style.

Shampoo/Co-Wash

Her hair is washed or co-washed each bath time about 2-3 times per week. Co-washing means no shampoo only conditioner during the wash. This prevents dryness, help maintain moisture, keep the hair soft and prevent breakage. However as with any 3-year-old sometimes they need a good deep cleaning with shampoo!

Daily Detangling

Daily, we heavily spritz the hair with a mixture of water and leave-in conditioner. A wide tooth comb works great for detangling and styling. She frequently only wants a pony tail, but I anticipate she will rock the “messy bun” when she gets older. 

Moisturize or Seal

Once the hair is clean and damp apply a light moisturized or small amount of pure coconut oil to seal the moisture in.

In our home hair is another opportunity to express ourselves and our personality. We hope all these early lessons learned will come in handy as we teach our girls how to love and cherish their amazing curly hair!

 

Megan Bayer
Megan has lived in Wichita since 1999, graduated in 2003 as an RN, and received her MSN in Nursing Education in 2016. Megan loves teaching and works in healthcare as Director of Simulation at Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is a survivor of childhood cancer that led to some complicated reproductive issues, including the loss of their son Lincoln (18wks, 2008) and daughter Basil (23wks 2010). With a best friend to spend a life-time with and a vision of a family David and Megan embarked on three amazing adoption journeys. With active kids (London 2012, Locklyn 2013 & Ronnie 2015) and busy careers, life is anything but slow-paced.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Awesome glimpse into your daily hair routine! I’m always impressed in the amount of time black hairstyles take! Good job mama!

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