Over the past few months I’ve been achieving consistently good braid-out results on my daughter’s fine curly hair. I wanted to share my “secrets” with parents/guardians still trying to perfect their braid-out methods on toddlers with curly hair.
Understand Toddler’s Hair Type
If you’ve seen my natural hair story video on my YouTube channel, you may already know that my daughter was my inspiration for doing the big chop. When I learned that I was pregnant with a girl, I felt the urgent need to learn to care for and style my natural hair. My goal was to style and care for my daughters hair with the tricks and tips I learned doing my own hair. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. My daughter’s hair texture is completely different to my own and that’s taken me for a wild ride. While my hair is very thick, her hair is fine,curly and prone to extreme shrinkage. Since, I identified her hair’s weaknesses I stick to braid-outs because they keep her hair stretched enough to ensure that her strands are protected from knotting and clumps together to keep her hair moisturized.
Select a Product based on Hair Type
Now that you know your child’s hair texture, you will need to determine the best products for styling it. My daughter’s has very fine hair and I’ve found that very light products work best on it. Currently, her Holy Grail is Jojoba Oil which always imparts shine on her hair without leaving it too greasy. Also, She’s been using Curly Q’s Lotion for Fine Curly Hair and Grapeseed Oil with amazing results. On the contrary, if your child has thick hair, you may want to try a heavier oil and cream. One product that’s inexpensive and works well for most hair types is Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Kids Curling Butter Cream.
Stick to Large Braids
While toddlers want their hair to look pretty, sitting for long styling sessions is not their idea of a good time. I always speed things up by doing 4-6 big braids. That way it’s over before she begins to whine and complain. This also makes life easy for me, in the mornings take down is fast and we can get out the door in a timely manner. Also, if you decide to leave the braids in for a few days the bigger braids are easier to freshen up.
Keep Ends Trimmed
The enemy of beautiful braid-outs is unmaintained ends. Just like adults, toddlers need haircuts every 6 months to maintain their ends. Not only will your kid’s braid-outs look better but your little one will retain more length.
What products do you use on your kids hair for braid-outs? What’s your favorite way to style your kid’s hair?
