Remember months and month ago when I first posted about my daughter’s dreadlocks? Her hair seemed to improve a bit, and the dreadlock factor was less of an issue. She still has that sweet, fine baby hair and it seems to be growing at a snail’s pace. I have to say I’m a little impatient. I know I’m lucky she has *any* hair at all, but I am still looking forward to her having real hair.
Anyway, the back of the head dreadlock is back. And it’s worse than ever. See:
I’ve tried everything that I can think of. But I’m at a loss. As you can see, nothing works. So all of you with girls out there, any suggestions?
Shannon Kelly
January 28, 2010Alas, I cannot help. My girl is three and STILL has the issue. I wash, brush and “fix” it every evening. She sleeps and wakes with a mass of tangled frizz on the back, right side of her head every morning. For Kate and myself, please post any remedies you may have discovered!
Christa
January 28, 2010My sister has the SAME problem! The only thing that solves it is washing her hair but then within the hour it looks awful again! We trimmed her hair and that helped…for a little. One thing that we’ve tried and it works fairly well is using a little bit of hair lotion (herbal essences to be exact http://www.herbalessences.com/us/collections/none_of_your_frizzness/creme.jsp) right when she gets out of the bath!
Jenny
January 28, 2010Both of my boys have the “crazy hair” in back. I put in Aveeno leave in conditioner after the bath… but after a nap or a night’s sleep it’s back to the nappiness again. Let me know if you figure it out
)
Jana
January 28, 2010The pictures cracked me up! My 19 month old has far less hair than that so it hasn’t been an issue yet, although she’s got some major frizz. My 4 year old has very curly (ie frizzy) hair like her mama so we use a J&J kids shampoo for curly hair at night. In the morning I use a spray on leave-in conditionner for kids. She likes it because it smells good and it really helps brush out the curls. Good luck!
So when did your 4 year old get hair? LOL I see girls with a full head of hair and find myself comparing them to my daughter and wondering when she’ll get real hair.
Clarissa Neiding
January 28, 2010I am wondering if a spray leave in conditioner would help. So it gets like that all the time? not just right after she was sleeping?
It’s definitely worse after a nap or a long car ride. But, once it’s there for the day, it just doesn’t go away. I can’t comb through it and it just poofs and looks crazy!
Kate
January 28, 2010Okay, so I’m thinking I definitely need some sort of good leave in conditioner. I’ve been putting some conditioner on when I wash, but clearly that’s not enough. LOL
I also need to get a better comb for her. The really fine tooth combs don’t do anything but make it stick straight out and look ca-razy.
TwentySomethingMomma
January 29, 2010Have you tried a detangling spray? We let my oldest son’s hair grow out quite long when he was younger, and we always had this exact same problem. Using a bit of detangling spray (we used L’Oreal for Kids) and then combing through veeeeeeeery slowly usually helped to tame the mess.
Okay, this is probably going to sound dumb, but what kind of comb? An adult one or very fine tooth? I feel like the very fine tooth combs don’t really break up the rat’s nest.
Usually what I’ll do is spray in the detangler, let it sit for a little, and then slowly start to break up the tangled hair from the root down. I do use a fine-toothed comb, but the detangler usually softens the knots enough that they’re not too hard to get through.
Here are a few before pics of my son’s “rat’s nest” (LOL):
Side-view
Back
Yikes!
Now here are some shots taken a few minutes after using the detangler:
Side-view
Back
There are still a few fly-aways, but the messy knots are gone and his curls look shiny and smooth instead.
Unfortunately I only know how to deal with the knots once they’re there, and not how to prevent them completely, but I hope this helps. Good luck with your little one’s hair!
Kitty @ Coupon Divas
January 29, 2010Hi Kate, My daughter is 8 now and boy does that picture bring back memories. Mine had NO hair for what seemed like 2 years then when it did grow, she rubbed her head into a pillow so hard it looked the same as your daughter.
A hairdresser told me to get satin type pillow cases because then the head slides across the pillow and cuts down on the tangling. I bought the kind with the zipper so the case didn’t fall off during the night.
I am, of course, assuming your daughter sleeps with a pillow. If not, this won’t work – LOL! It did work for us and I am happy to report that even though my daughter’s hair grows really slowly, it is SUPER thick and beautiful. I wish I had her hair!
She doesn’t sleep with a pillow yet. LOL
But that might be a good solution for Shannon up there who’s daughter is 3.
Tabathia B
January 29, 2010If a detangling spray won’t work, you should try a detangling spray product for children of color which should work because its for coarser and thicker hair and should help solve the problem
Someone on Twitter suggested that, too. I’m willing to try whatever works!
Lindsey@Kindred Spirit Mommy
January 29, 2010Oooh, my daughter has this, too! lol I’m glad I’m not the only one. I feel like I’ve been waiting a long LONG time for “real hair” to grow in! My daughter has curly hair, too, so it just looks kinda wild. I have noticed that when I use a good baby shampoo (just tried EcoStore USA and it’s pretty nice) and smooth it down after she gets out of the tub that it stays pretty smooth. I haven’t really tried to do much with it, to be honest. I’m just waiting.
I think part of the problem is that she usually bathes right before bed. So I comb it and think we’re all good. And then she wakes up in the morning and OY, it’s a mess.
We’ve been trying some Ecostore USA products, but not their shampoo. I know they were having a baby sale so I might have to look into the shampoo.