Talk to me about red hair....

[whiteisle]

....my little girl, just turned 2, has wonderfully beautiful red hair...........that is completely out of control! It's not too thick, has spiral/ringlet like curls, tangles if you look at it wrong, and seems to be dry in places (especially the back crown area). I try to be very careful when combing the tangles out in the morning, then wet or wash it, add conditioner and rinse out, sometimes do a leave-in and let air dry. After all that it's just gorgeous but short lived. By the next morning it's one big tangled red rat's nest! I guess my concern is the dryness and eventual breakage. She actually says she wants her hair long and I'd love to be able to help her achieve that by taking good care of it now and teaching her how to as well.
Any advice on what I can do or change to help the dry and the out-of-control factor? Thanks!

Oh! And I've tried CO but no changes other than it weighing down her hair and dulling it.

[eadwine]

What are you doing at night? Braiding it, leaving it loose?

[MemSahib]

I don't think it's her red color but the curls which are making it hard to manage. Definitely, braid it for sleeping and maybe a good bit for daytime, too. Plus, it sounds like her hair is fragile and might need extra TLC. I'm sure some of the curlies on the forum can help you better than I can.

[shrimp]

Yup - not sure what the colour has to do with anything?

Check out the curly/wurly thread, that may have some useful advice, otherwise you might want to get a copy of Curly Girl from your local library :flower: I'm sure there are many of us curly heads who endured painful 'haircare' sessions who wish these rescources were aorund then.

And this may be controversial but I find my hair so much easier to care for when I wet braid it to take out the majority of the curl. I love my curls but find them really hard to work with, I'd rather have less damaged straighter hair than damaged curls. (of course not saying curls= damage, jsut for me they do as I'm rubbish at coping with them - particularly at this length - and have old layers which make things tangly)

[Nightshade]

Also not thinking the color has anything to do with it. You should ask Kimberlily, (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/member.php?u=3770)I remember she had similar issues with her daughter's hair lately, but I don't remember how that was resolved.

[Anje]

Relax, you're not going to dull her color, like you might need to be concerned with if it were dyed. It may lighten or brighten with sun exposure, but that's about it. Small color changes with CO are normal -- many people report it, and I notice that it darkens my red hair slightly, while dried out areas are lighter.

I agree: braids will definitely help keep it under control and a bit more manageable. You might also want to get her some silk pillowcases, which will further minimize the rat's nest by morning. (Dharma trading (http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1384272-AA.shtml?lnav=clothing.html) has some of the best prices around for those.) You might also try dosing her heavily with Kimberlily's defrizz spray (recipes section), or with oils, so that the frizz gets controlled a bit and her hair gets more moisture.

You might also want to wait until she has conditioner in her hair to comb out the night's tangles. IIRC, many curlies prefer to comb only when their hair is wet and conditioned.

[Siava]

My 12 y.o. has long, curly hair. She must put it up at night or else it ends up being a rat's nest like your daughter's. She found it odd sleeping with her hair "fixed" at first, but soon got over that. Now it's just habit.

[squiggyflop]

my brother has the same hair.. red and curly.. im pretty sure my parents combed his hair with cone filed detangler.. they have ones specifically for curly hair.. not sure if those have cones though.. i dont think red has anything to do with tangles.. most children that are 2 have tangled hair by bedtime.. you would too if you rolled around on the floor and played like a 2 year old all day.. i think that all you can do is put her hair in pigtails/ponytails and hope she doesnt undo them.. my mom used to put my hair up almost every day to keep my hair from getting mattes by the end of the day..

[coppercurls]

At her age, braids & good detangling spray will be her hair's best friends. My mom would also roll my pigtails on sponge rollers and gently brush each pigtail into one big curl-think Cindy Brady. HTH

[whiteisle]

Thank you all for your replys. As far as the color, I didn't know if red hair might have a different texture by nature.
I guess not.:o

Putting her hair up is a good suggestion, however, it's too many lengths/layers right now and I don't have a prayer of getting even the majority of it put up right now (and it staying, lol!) I guess I just need to find a good conditioner that works for her.

Thanks again!

[Saranne772]

I dont have any advice but my her hair sounds beautiful!!

[Ohio Sky]

My 4 hear old has about hip length thick hair, and its not curly but we do have problems with the tangles.

Luckily, her hair loves everything I do to it, so experimenting with her routine is easier than experimenting with mine! Ive found a few things that help A LOT.

Ive found that her hair does best if only washed once or twice a week. She never gets greasies, just once in a while a 4 year old wants to roll in the mudd ya know? So I just wash it when it looks dirty.

Ive been using a jar of Garneir Fructis sleek and shine conditioning creme- leaves her hair tangle free, if only for a day. Heavy cones, but her hair likes cones.

I damp braid her hair every night with sweet almond oil- this stuff does WONDERS for her hair.

It is long enough I put it up every morning but it rarely stays there. By the time I get off work her hair is a rats nest. I find the almond oil helps more with detangling than any actual detangler Ive found, so I have a mister bottle with a bit of diluted CO in it and some almond oil, thats what I use to detangle.

Curly hair seems to like coconut oil better in general, at least it seems like it to me.

Some of this might help you, or it might not- everyone is different. have to experminet with hers just like with your own, but the oil is probably a good place to start as curly hair often needs more moisture.

[Islandgrrl]

It's not the color that's responsible for the tangles. It's the curls. I have straight-ish red hair that doesn't tangle much. I could sleep with it down and have no problem with it in the morning.

Check out the curly/wurly thread for good advice on how to deal with the curls.

[Starr]

My 2 year old daughter has fine curly hair that tangles horribly when left loose for too long or if it rubs against something (the carseat is a horrible culprit).

What has worked best for me in battling the tangles:
-Washing only once a week, doing WO in between, which seems to be every night since she can't seem to take a bath without soaking herself (and the floor) from head toe.
-Washing her scalp with a gentle natural shampoo
-Conditioning with a cone free conditioner (the silicones will just weigh her curls down)
-Detangling while wet and saturated with conditioner- keeps the fussing to a minimum
-Rinse conditioner well
-I oil her hair with SAA and braid before bed. It prevents tangling.
-To refresh the curls I spritz with an aloe/glycerin/distilled water mix in the morning- it keeps her hair moisturized and the curls spring back to life.

[Irishred]

nope, not the red. I would say it is a cross between her natural curls and being 2yo. My now 4yo has many problems with tangles. She is blond and maybe a 1b. clips and pigtails are tangle savers. I also try to use a leave-in when combing her hair out or comb it with conditioner in it. I wash her hair 1 or 2 times a week depending on if her brothers have dumped dirt on her (7 and 1 LOL) while playing. Other bathing is just water rinsing.

Definitely get her a satin pillow case. I got my DD a pair at the local Family Dollar. They could be slippier (um, is that a word) but are better than the cotton ones we have. They are her princess pillow cases.

Find a leave-in/de-tangler that works with her hair.

Pig Tails!!!!! When my DD was 2 (before she 'trimmed' her own hair) and her hair was still all virgin never been cut hair, she liked to do 2, 3 and 4 pig tails. Sometimes only half ups done like that but ANY thing can help contain and lessen the tangles. Pretty clips can help to, especially with 2 tails. She didn't like a single fountain on top but mostly because of her natural hair growth pattern, I think it was uncomfortable.

I know even simple pigtails can save a LOT. It has been a struggle over the past year since my DD's hair has gotten long enough to put up again. She had gotten used to having tangles combed out and stuff being put in her hair. So that helped. But, putting and leaving it up was a challenge for us. One nice thing about the hot weather, she WANTS it up. We do just basic pig tails with a couple barrettes/clips every other day. On the alternate days I try to do something different, usually some kind of braid but occasionally just a different clip and tail combination.

The short of it, even just pigtails can help because they keep the hair contained but they also keep it out of things like their food or messy playing.

[Anje]

Any chance you can fit her hair into two french braids? That'll contain most layers more than a couple inches long, assuming she'll hold still. Otherwise, multiple pigtails.

[SpaceJunk]

I'm not so sure I agree with the color being a non-issue entirely. I have red/strawberry blonde/whatever you want to call it hair. My particular shade is actually made up of more than one color when you examine closely. I have more than one texture also. I have thicker darker red hairs mixed in with smoother and finer blonde hairs. The coarser/darker hairs seem to be concentrated more at the back of my head, but it is mixed overall. My hair was pretty curly when I was little but now that I am older and the hair is longer its more wavy than curly. My hair tangles easily but that could be because of my own dryness/damage and varying lengths I am trying to grow out.

At any rate, it is feasible that if your child's hair is anything like mine it could be that its the natural characteristics of the hair that causes some craziness. I am not sure how difficult my hair was to take care of when I was a child, I'd have to ask my mom about that one. My hair was never longer than shoulder length back then. But I do know that as an adult I commonly have dryness issues and always wish my hair was sleeker. And its somewhat frustrating to find that some of my hair likes certain products/treatment more than the rest of my hair does! Sometimes it is as if I have 2 people's hair growing off the same head, the top layer and the under layer.

I wish I had advice to give, but alas I am still searching for my own holy grail.

[truepeacenik]

Yup - not sure what the colour has to do with anything?



making me jealous of natural red AND curls? proof of superior breeding? attitude? :silly:

My mom often permed my hair. What got both of us to the age where I combed my hair was gallons of Tame spray in detangler. There has to be a similar product on the market now.

The one time mom cut my hair after a perm, I could have played Annie.

[lookingglass]

'Sounds like my hair!:D I have to rinse conditioner through it nearly every day and use a leave in AND gel or I am a tangled poof! I CO with whatever I can get my hands on (VO5 something or other!), use Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose as a leave in (or deep tx), and some aloe gel raked through that. I must sleep in a braid if I want it to stay untangled during sleep, to avoid the CO in the a.m. (but I still have to do an updo 2nd day if no CO). Yes, it is a bit of work, but she will get MAJOR hair envy!:eyebrows:

[SFreader]

I have red curly hair too....

Braids, let her do the ends; it helps her to learn to do her own. by 7 I could put my hair in two (pippy longstocking) braidsy by myself.

Try bed head "After Party" lots of cones but it makes my hair slipery so that the tangles come out easier.

Oil, Oil, Oil - dry curls love oil. I have JoJoba for light days, olive and avacado for medium, and coconut for heavy. I also make a bees was and oil emulsion when I want to "gel" my hair.

[Joliebaby]

My 5-year old niece has curly blonde hair that she is growing out, out of her own wish. I think she wanted to grow her hair out when she was 3 but only when she asked "when is my hair going to grow long" (obviously never if it keeps getting trimmed to a bob) was it really let to grow. It is now to midback. Last time I combed and braided her hair I decided to buy her conditioner.. The tangles were quite bad, and the detangler spray helped a bit but not nearly enough.

Luckily she really wants long hair, so I think it will be easy to talk her into using conditioner, saying that long hair needs it. Her hair is washed once a week.