Detangling children's hair without the screams
Detangling your child’s hair – is there anything more heart sinking? With the tangles comes the tears and tantrums. But not anymore, we’ve got the solutions and the self-care tips to help you win the all-time hair battle.
Night-time tangle time
Think how often your child is on the move. Running, rolling around and exploring, it’s little wonder by night-time your child’s hair – whatever the texture, ends up tortured and tangled.
Detangling a child’s hair can be traumatic – and that’s not an understatement for those in-the-know, the screams and tears can make it easy to leave for another night. But just like cleaning their teeth and slipping into their favourite PJs after a bath, it’s important to make them understand that caring for their hair is an important before-bed-step.
If nightly detangling becomes a caring routine, it can easily turn into a bonding experience, encouraging them to take ownership of their own hair. Here are a few tips to make it easier:
- Detangle hair earlier in the evening, rather than later. If your child, or yourself are over-tired, it can make detangling more of a chore and tempers can fray!
- Make it entertaining. Trichologist, Stephanie Sey, says, “Make haircare a fun activity together, give them a doll’s hair to detangle, or watch a favourite TV programme whilst you do theirs.” This could also be the perfect time to read a bed time story, what better way than one of their favourite books to distract them while you handle their mane!
- Surround yourself with a detangling arsenal you know does the job gently and easily such as Tangle Teezer’s Detangling Kid’s Spray and The Original Mini.
Detangling bath-time routine
Nobody knows your child and their hair like you do – how tangled the hair becomes, the strength of the curls and how much attention they need, but these sure-fail tips will help make detangling any hair type that much quicker:
- Brush out your child’s hair before bath time. Dry tangles that become wet can quickly develop into a larger, more unmanageable knot.
- Stephanie advises to detangle from the ends of the hair up. If you brush from the roots down, you could wind up compacting tangles together, making it even harder to remove them.
- When washing hair in the bath, use a mild shampoo and do not pile hair on top of the head. This will only go to encourage tangles. Gently massage onto the scalp with fingertips and rinse off.
- To easily detangle, spritz Tangle Teezer’s Detangling Spray for Kids onto the hair and brush through with either The Thick & Curly if hair is textured or curly – the teeth are longer, or The Original Mini.
- When drying hair, do not wrap up in a towel and rub vigorously. This can encourage the hair to matt and tangle. Stephanie recommends ditching the towel and using a cotton tee-shirt instead, so hair doesn’t roughen.
Detangling textured hair
Thick, curly and afro hair needs as much time and care on kids as it does adults. Here Stephanie who specialises in afro hair gives her top detangling tips:
- The nature of afro hair means that it can get tangled easily as the curls mesh together. For kids, it will just be rough play leaving their hair out of braids repeatedly.
- Many young girls are most likely to have their hair braided in a style which is kept in for a week or two. This stops having to redo the hair every morning.
- Detangling for kids with afro hair is unlikely to be a nightly routine. A lot of parents won’t do their hair daily, more bi weekly. Therefore, on a "wash” day it is important to detangle the hair thoroughly. When it comes to take down, and then redoing the hair, there are less tears.
- For best results, divide hair into small sections and detangle each section in turn starting from bottom to top.
Rise and hair shine!
Although it’s nurturing to adopt a night-time routine, brushing bed head hair is just as important. Ease the morning chaos, by spritzing your child’s dry hair with Tangle Teezer’s Detangling Spray for Kids and brushing through. This will help ease out any tangles that have developed overnight. Small hacks that can make a big difference
- If it’s a windy day or you’re having a messy play date, braid your child’s hair. This way hair should stay relatively detangled.
- Keep The Original Mini created in colourful and fun designs around the house – like it’s a toy. This way it will encourage them to pick it up and brush their hair naturally.
- Don’t just brush at bath-time. Brush throughout the day whenever you get a quiet few minute together. It will fast become a form of self care between toddler and parent.
- Keep Tangle Teezer’s Detangling Spray for Kids handy. After windy weather or play-time, it can be easily used on dry hair to brush out any tangles that may have developed.
- Our Tangle Teezer’s Detangling Spray for Kids is also ideal for tangled hair after swimming. Hair is left feeling smoother and softer.
- Regular trims will help your child’s tangles and keep the ends healthy.
For further details on Stephanie say click here: https://www.stephaniesey.com/
