Queston about kids' hair care?

[mommat04]

I have a 6, 4,3 and 1 year old. I basically just use baby wash on their hair (not the 6 year old) and was wondering if anyone follows a not shampoo routine for their kids' hair? So you shampoo? Condition? Etc. THanks!

[countryhopper]

I've read on some no-poo forums that many parents have found success just rinsing their children's hair in plain water. Young children's hair doesn't get as greasy as adults' hair, so shampoo is not always necessary to use.

[sweet*things]

Past the infant stage, I started using my shampoo and conditioners on my daughter's hair. I tried some of the special for kids' products, but they were all filled with chemical scents (which I can't stand) and left her hair dry and tangled. With "real" shampoos and conditioners there wasn't nearly as much crying and whining about detangling, because it was finally easy to get a comb through her hair. You just need to use smaller amounts, especially with conditioners, because baby fine hair gets weighed down easily.

I'm trying to remember the shampoo I was using when she was really little... Anyway, it didn't hurt my eyes, so I figured it would be okay if some accidently got in hers. I can't remember which one it was though, sorry.

Also, I don't wash her hair more than once a week (barring some disaster, lol), it just doesn't need it any more than that. And now that it's long, I oil her hair at least twice a week, sometimes more during the winter.

[inty]

I have 5.5 and 2.5 y.o. with BSL and APL hair respectively. I wash their hair with sulphate-free baby shampoo (and sometimes babywash) but only when it really is dirty, which usually is once in 3-4 weeks. During this time they get it (partially) wet when playing in the bath, which is also ok.
I sometimes oil my oldest daughter's hair if I can't comb through it.

[Messyhair]

My little boy is only 6 months old and his hair is just as oily as mine, so he needs a shampooing every second day. I don't think water-only would work with his oiliness, but I haven't found the best routine for mine yet, either.

[clichepithet]

I have a 7 yo with 1b / F/M / ii hair at the "can-I-call-this-waist" stage. I use Suave Kids 2 in 1 on her hair. A: because she likes it and chose it herself, B: because it's full of *cones which helps detangle. I usually follow with the knock-off Garnier for extra conditioning/*coneage. We also occasionally use the Suave detangler for kids as well, again, because she likes it. I do run a clarify every other week or so for her. Her hair is double braided every night, and attempts are made to keep it contained in the day to day, but you know how kids can be.

*EDIT: I also oil on occasion. Usually after we clarify. And we don't always wash every night, sometimes it's just a fresh-water rinse with some condish on the ends.

[GeoJ]

I most often use WO (water only) for my 4 year old DD (her hair is between hip and tailbone right now). After her swimming lessons in a salt water pool I use conditioner only on her hair. I have only rarely used shampoo, and only when she gets her hair really dirty. :)

ETA: I forgot to add that I also sometimes oil her hair with coconut oil, particularly her curly ends.

[GoddesJourney]

This is a great thread. I plan to have babies in the next couple of years, so I've found myself seeking out and absorbing information lately, trying to avoid that "I wish I knew this then" experience in the future. I really appreciate all of you parents who share your experiences, tips and tricks. Thanks guys.

[BrightEyes]

Past the infant stage, I started using my shampoo and conditioners on my daughter's hair. I tried some of the special for kids' products, but they were all filled with chemical scents (which I can't stand) and left her hair dry and tangled. With "real" shampoos and conditioners there wasn't nearly as much crying and whining about detangling, because it was finally easy to get a comb through her hair. You just need to use smaller amounts, especially with conditioners, because baby fine hair gets weighed down easily.

I'm trying to remember the shampoo I was using when she was really little... Anyway, it didn't hurt my eyes, so I figured it would be okay if some accidently got in hers. I can't remember which one it was though, sorry.

Also, I don't wash her hair more than once a week (barring some disaster, lol), it just doesn't need it any more than that. And now that it's long, I oil her hair at least twice a week, sometimes more during the winter.

This is exactly what I do with my 3 year old's hair. For my 1.5 year old boy, I still use SLS free baby shampoo.

[chargersfan]

My 5 year old son uses shampoo, I'm not worried about damaging his hair, I keep it short and get it cut often.

My 3 1/2 year old daughter has waist length fine hair that I would love to wash less, but I have to wash it about every other day -> every 3 days b/c she gets it so dirty or gets food in it quite a bit (I put her hair up but she takes it down throughout the day). I switch between S/C and CO for her hair.

[Mearwynna]

My three year old is really curly so we only use conditioner on her, both to wash and to condition. It seems to help her curls stay nice. Water only for the baby but I have to wash behind his ears with a little soap. My 6 year old boy just gets a bit of shampoo. He has short hair. My 8 year old daughter gets regular shampoo and conditioner. She says she's growing it out so occasionally we'll do a spa day and I'll give her a smt or a deap conditioning treatment.

[SheaLynne]

I am doing CO with Suave on my 5 yo. We also SMT hers when I do mine (girls' night hair stuff!), and put leave-in EVOO and conditioner on her curls.

[*Rose Red*]

When I was a child my mom washed my hair once or twice a week, I can´t remember that she used conditioner. I started with conditioner when I was twelve years or so and I always wanted to wear my hair down and so it get tangled.

[sweetestday]

I have three boys 5 and under. I used to use Burt's no spill shampoo bar, but when that ran out, I've only used water. They play so long and hard in the tub, I usually don't even use soap on them. They come out sqeaky clean, so unless they've been into something really yucky, I think just water is fine.
Give a good body rub down with lavendar oil after bath, before bed, and they smell yummy... and are totally relaxed. :)

[Sheltie_Momma]

I like California Baby bodywash/shampoo combo. Also Nature's Gate has a new hemp bodywash that works great on my kids for both body & hair. Your kids will not smell hempy though ;) just fresh and herbally.

[MissMandyElizab]

My ten year old girl made a choice to ahave short hair bit she omly washes once a week with poo and co washes twice a week and always has she enjoys it and i never gotten a odd comment from any one about it we do use a nat. soap lavender oil after her bath

[sapphire-o]

We wash their hair once or twice a week with mild shampoo, then some cone-free conditioner. We don't really do much hair care other than that. They have my slippery hair that doesn't tangle so combing is optional. One of them has shoulder length hair.

[italianamama]

My three year old daughter's hair is thick and finely textured, and between waist and tailbone (almost tailbone). I use pretty much the same hair care routine for her as I do for myself- oiling, sulfate free shampoo, suave naturals conditioner, wooden comb (no brushing!). I also keep her hair in protective braid styles except on special occasions. I've found with the little ones that you don't have to shampoo as often, especially in the winter- I shampoo her hair about every 10 days. In the summer I use water or conditioner only in between shampoos. :D

[GuinevereMay]

My almost five year old has TB+ fine hair (but lots of it, like her mama.) I shampoo once a week, then leave in conditioner. I will wet her hair more often because she gets dirt or food in her hair. Usually wetting and combing will get whatever is in her hair out. I use coconut oil on her hair just about daily, to help slick her styles down.

The baby (one year old) gets washed and oiled once a week. (Unless she gets a lollipop stuck in her hair or something.)

[walterSCAN]

Side- note: All of the 'we do this for his/her hair' posts keep weirding me out for some reason... I think it's because my mom let me wash/ shower myself from about age 5, and I don't really remember any 'we' stuff with regard to bathing. Past that age, she didn't really do anything with/ for my hair except enforce regular cuts... :/

Now that I think about it, I kinda wish she had been more like you guys, helping me with my hair and such...

Anyway, I'm with GoddesJourney in thanking all of you for sharing your experiences/ methods-- the 'plan' is to start having babies in the next couple years and I'm in 'soak up information' mode too. :wink:

[JamieLeigh]

My kids are old enough now to pick what they want, so I let them decide. My two daughters and my middle son like the CO method I use, and their favorite is the tropical coconut from Suave. So I just use conditioner on them. My oldest and youngest sons still like Johnson's baby shampoo, so that's what they get. :)

[lora410]

I mainly just condition my dd's hair because it never gets greasy. Baby shampoo is very harsh on hair, so if you use shampoo switch to a gentler one.

[Tapioca]

Cricket (7-yo DD) is sensitive to sulfates, so I did CO with V05 conditioner when she was little. Now that she's old enough to take showers by herself, she uses the Suave 2-in-1. She's fine with sulfates if they rinse off right away, but sitting in a tubful of it for a while tended to give her urinary tract problems. She still uses a sulfate-free body wash (Refresh from Trader Joe's), since she's not always very thorough about rinsing "down there".
And someday ten years in the future, she's going to read this and be mortified.

[Carrie Ingalls]

My goddaughters' (4years old and 2years old) mother seems a little clueless when it comes to her kids hair (I try to share info with her when possible). So, whenever my sister (also a longhair) or I happen to be babysitting and give them a bath this is the routine we use to try to breathe some life back into the girls hair (and ward of rash and impulsive hair cuts):
First a quick Suave 2in1 shampoo wash (mostly scalp) and rinse immediately. Then we slather it full of conditioner, gently comb, and pin up the 4's bsl hair (used to be tbl...but the mother chopped it :( ) up and let them play for a while. After they are done playing we rinse out the condish and use a little bit of a leave in.

Just the fact that we put condishoner in their hair makes a huge diffrence! Their mother has a tendancy to be oblivious to some things that I take for granted.

[sherigayle]

I have 2 boys and they have very different hair from one another. My oldest is 7 with thick straight hair and he uses a children's hair and body wash. I think it's made by Suave. My youngest is 4 and has fine, curly hair and I've only ever used conditioner on his hair. We only wash their hair once a week.

[bedazzlecat]

My 6 1/2 y.o. daughter has thick, straight hair and wants long hair. It's been staggering at shoulder length for the longest time with no noticeable growth. Until this morning, I hadn't considered oiling it, but it felt so dry and I was astonished that my own hair was softer than hers. So I wet it with a spray bottle and ran some oil through it and pulled it back in a pony. I think that tonight during her bath I'm starting conditioner only.

Probably the fact that my mom sometimes fixes her hair and loads it down with aeresol hairspray to make ponytails and the like stay in place is probably not helping much. I tell her I don't like that gunk in her hair and she says "It just brushes out." Gah!

[sherigayle]

I have 8 year old and 5 year old boys. My 8 year old has very thick straight hair. He uses kids suave shampoo 2 in 1. Up until recently he only washed once a week. He's starting to need it more often now. My 5 year old has fine, curly hair. I only use conditioner on his hair and leave a small amount of conditioner in his hair after washing. I also spritz his hair with a water/conditioner mix every morning to detangle his curls. I still only wash his hair once a week. When they were babies, I only used water on their hair.

[MAO]

My 10 yr. old DD sweats A LOT and unfortunately she has very fine hair that is noticeable when it gets oily. So I tend to wash her waist length hair with s&c about 2x a week. I oil her length beforehand when I can remember to. She is pretty uncooperative about other methods of washing unfortunately. I have tried CO on her once before and it barely took more than a day for it to look oily again.

ETA, I only buy SLS and cone free products now. Too bad it doesn't keep her hair from breaking off and littering the floor when I detangle it at night before her bedtime braid.

[nemileo]

On my baby boy I only use coconut oil in the bath water(he has quite a lot of hair since birth) It got greasy in the beginning, but now it just turns out soft and nice, and helps with the infant scabs on the scalp. (It loosen up and is easy to pick out of the hair)

For our 8-year old, we use CO mostly. But she only washes her hair every three or four times she have a shower. She has curls that frizz easily, so CO is the best way to handle her hair.

[sherigayle]

:p Apparently I was very "out of it" today. I didn't even realize I had already posted to this thread. And now as I re-read it I didn't understand why I had gotten my kid's ages wrong. Ugh, a migraine in the morning and I am useless all day.

[picklepie]

I most often use WO (water only) for my 4 year old DD (her hair is between hip and tailbone right now). After her swimming lessons in a salt water pool I use conditioner only on her hair. I have only rarely used shampoo, and only when she gets her hair really dirty. :)

ETA: I forgot to add that I also sometimes oil her hair with coconut oil, particularly her curly ends.

This is exactly my routine for my 5.5 yo dd's BSL/3a/i hair, with the exception that she swims in a chlorine pool, and I put cone-free cond. in her hair both before swimming and after rinsing. I've used shampoo on her hair probably less than ten times in her life.