Do you have a toddler with curly hair? Do you have no idea how to deal with it? I can help with my easy routine for toddlers with curly hair!
I have curly hair. It was the 1980s and my mom had no idea how to deal with my curly hair. Neither did any of the hairdressers in my small town. The result is that I hated my unruly hair for a very long time. It has gotten better as I’ve gotten older and better learned how to deal with my hair, but my hair and I still have a complicated relationship.
When my daughter’s hair started coming in curly, I panicked. I truly thought I had dodged the curly hair bullet. Then I vowed that I would work with her hair and teach her how to work with her hair instead of fight against it. Only then did we have a prayer at her not growing up hating her hair like I hated mine.
I had the knowledge I had gained about my own curly hair, but I found it difficult to find much useful information about taking care of toddlers with curly hair. I mean, she’s a toddler. She doesn’t tolerate a bunch of steps and she certainly doesn’t need magazine hair. She’s just going to get boogers or mustard or some other substance that absolutely doesn’t belong in her hair in her hair.
So, after quite a bit of trial and error and a lot of crying (from both of us), we have nailed an easy routine for toddlers with curly hair. It’s easy, effective, she tolerates it, and I don’t dread doing it. If you have a toddler with curly hair, you might want to give this routine a try. I hope it works for you as well as it works for us!
Easy Routine for Toddlers with Curly Hair
Shower/Bath Night
I’m flipping the script a bit and starting at the end of the day. Why? Because we set the foundation for our routine for toddlers with curly hair when we wash the hair. And we shower or bathe our toddler at night 99% of the time. This is the bulk of the work for our easy routine for toddlers with curly hair, so if it’s easier for you to do this in the morning, then go ahead and move it to the morning.
Curly shampoo
Rule number one for toddlers with curly hair: you need shampoo. The all-in-one kids wash just doesn’t cut it. You need to buy a kid’s shampoo. We have tried a few different options, and our favorite so far has been Giovanni Eco Chic Kids 2-in-1 Shampoo & Conditioner. What sets it apart for me is that it has pretty good slip to get most of the tiny tangles out of her hair. The kids also love how it smells. My son (who doesn’t use it) swoons over its strawberry and watermelon scent.
Tangle teaser
While she’s in the shower or bathtub, the other product we use in her hair is a tangle teaser brush. I have found that it’s absolutely crucial to get as many tangles out of her hair in the shower as possible. Once it starts to dry even a little bit, it gets exponentially harder to get the tangles out. We have tried a bunch of different brushes for in-shower use, and the best by far is the tangle teaser. It does a great job and doesn’t cause pain. Hooray!
Detangler spray
Right after she gets out of the shower, I spray her entire head down with a detangler spray. Whatever tangles the tangle teaser didn’t grab will disintegrate after a good spray with the detangler. We have used a bunch of different detangler sprays, and many of them work well. Our favorites have been Giovanni Eco Chic Kids’ Hair Smoothing & Detangling Spray (same great scent as the shampoo!) and Not Your Mother’s Kid’s Curly Care Detangler, but there are lots of great options out there.
Curl defining brush
I let the detangler spray sit in my daughter’s hair while we get her dressed for bed. I’ve found the longer it sits, the easier it is to remove the tangles. Once she’s all dry and dressed, I take a Denman brush to brush through her hair. It is this brush-through that defines and separates the curls into spiral clumps, so it’s worth taking your time. I take a clump and brush up and away from her face for the best results.
Curl cream
Once her curls are clumped and ready to go, now it’s time to seal it with some curl cream. I take about a dime size of the Giovanni Eco Chic Kids Styling Taming & Curl Cream and cover both of my palms. Then I apply the cream using the praying hands method over her whole head.
What’s the praying hands method? Take your hands and clap them together near the scalp, then slide your hands along the whole length of the hair. I start at the top of her head, then go to the left side, then the right side, and then end at the back.
After her hair is fully covered with cream, it’s time to scrunch! I take a handful of hair in my palm and squeeze toward the scalp to help define the curls. I like the hair to be pretty wet when I do this, so if my first scrunch or two feels a little dry, I will spray a little water on her head to help moisten the process.
Then it’s time for bed!
Morning Refresh
Because we have more time in the evenings to do the bulk of our routine for toddlers with curly hair, we need to refresh my daughter’s hair in the morning so she doesn’t look like she put her finger in a light socket. Sticking with the easy theme, it takes approximately one minute of your morning.
Water
Curly hair craves moisture, so you have to start there if you want a refresh routine for toddlers with curly hair. You don’t need to soak your kid, just spray enough water on the hair to dampen it.
Detangler
I don’t know about your toddlers, but my toddler is an active sleeper. She flips and flops all over her bed while she sleeps. The impact of this nocturnal activity is that her hair is a tangled mess when she wakes up in the morning. More of her hair is tangled than isn’t tangled. Water alone doesn’t cut it to remove the tangles, so we need a detangler spray.
We just use the same detangler spray we use right after the shower on the weekends, but if she’s heading to school, we use a lice prevention conditioning spray – Fairy Tales Rosemary Repel Conditioning Spray. It’s not as good at removing the tangles, but I’m paranoid about head lice, so it’s worth an extra ouch or two. My daughter might disagree, but she doesn’t know the horror of head lice.
Curl defining brush
I use the same curl defining brush that I use after the shower (versus the one I use in the shower) for the refresh part of my easy routine for toddlers with curly hair. Use that same up and away from the face motion and seal it with a scrunch.
Other posts
Looking for more kid tips? You might want to check out these posts:
I hope you found this easy routine for toddlers with curly hair to be helpful. What products have you tried on your curly headed kids that you love? Please share below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.