How to Properly Manage Children's Hair...No Matter What the Texture

Okay everyone! I’m back for Round Two of MANY more blog entries to come! This week, I’m going to discuss how to manage our children’s hair so that it can grow strong and beautiful while they are in their crucial developmental years. As some of you may know, I have formulated a new hair care line, called Kinky, Wavy, Naturalä, especially designed for our children’s ever-changing hair. In this article, you’ll find information about how to properly shampoo, comb-out and moisturize their hair for the most healthiest and long-lasting results.

Like most of you, I am a mother myself and I understand the frustrations that sometimes come about when dealing with African-American hair. Whether it’s kinky, curly, wavy or a mix of them all, it can be a big task if you do not have the proper products and styling tools to care for your children’s hair. Often times, those frustrations combined with the lack of the right utensils, tend to entice parents to lean towards the easy way out….what I call the relaxer. I mean, if you have used a relaxer/texturizer in your child’s hair, it can’t be automatically reversed BUT don’t worry, it can be nurtured back to health! This is one of the many reasons why I created the Kinky, Wavy, Naturalä product line. My Kinky, Wavy, Natural children’s line was created based on my experience with managing my clients’ hair as well as my own childrens’ hair.

The secret to shampooing curly, kinky, natural hair

Tools needed: Kinky Wavy Natural Berry Clean 3-n-1 Shampooä, patience and the following steps

Instructions: Once your child is comfortable and hopefully in a good mood, brush and comb out the hair until tangle-free before adding water.

1.   Thoroughly wet the hair.   Use your fingers to separate the hair while wetting.  For best lather, make sure the water is reaching the scalp as well as the hair.

2.  Pour a small amount of shampoo into your palms. Rub palms together, separate the wet hair and apply the shampoo as close to the scalp as possible. Repeat at least four times until shampoo has been applied throughout the hair close to the scalp.

3. Begin to shampoo/massage the scalp and work the lather to the ends of the hair.  By now you should have a good lather. 

4. Thoroughly rinse the hair and repeat steps 1-4

There is no need to apply an after shampoo conditioner because Curly, Kinky, Clean is a conditioning shampoo.  Towel dry the hair and use Kinky Wavy Natural Easy Herbal Comb Outä for extra conditioning, softness and manageable.

For comb out and daily moisturizing

Tools Needed: Kinky, Wavy Natural Easy Herbal Comb Outä, an afro comb and more patience

Instructions:

1. Towel dry the hair. 

2a. For short hair, pour a liberal amount of the Easy Herbal Comb Out into your hands, rub together and apply throughout the hair using your fingers to distribute the product to the hair.

3a. Use an Afro comb to comb through the hair. 

2b. For 3 inches or more hair, section the hair into 5 or more large sections and twist, plait or hold it using a clip. 

3b. Undo one section and apply the product to the hair using your fingers to distribute the product from scalp to the ends. Use the Afro comb and comb that section out. 

4b. Clip and move on to the next section.  Repeat throughout the entire head until all hair is manageable.

**Can be used on wet or damp hair.**

Curly Hair Needs Moisture! The curlier the hair, the more moisture is needed. I have put together best product on the market to address the needs of children’s chemical-free curly, kinky and natural hair. 

My daughter’s hair…is very think, medium kinky hair that ranged from 6 to 10 inches in length once blown out. When water hit it, that hair could shrink up to look about 4 inches long! Her curl pattern is not very tight or very loose. Her hair strands are course and dense. I used to conjure up my homemade formulas that were a mixture of conditioners, hair grease water and oils and anything I thought would add moisture. At that time, there was nothing on the market that addressed the needs of my daughter’s kinky hair type.  Eventually, I formulated the Taliah Waajid Black Earth Product line and started to use it on my daughter’s hair. Of course it works great, but I wanted to formulate a line for children’s hair that would address the needs of their developing hair types and would be gentle on their scalp as well. I wanted a product to naturally soften and help relax her curl pattern, that made it easier to comb, style and manage her hair. My daughter’s hair was natural until she turned 15. The perm she put in damaged her edges so badly and she ended up growing it out within the same year. My daughter’s hair is now healthy and strong again. I believe it is because I kept it chemical-free for so many of her important growing years while her body and hair were developing, that it was able to be so resilient and bounce back.

My son’s hair…is medium curly. His curl pattern is loose and his hair strands are fine. When the time came to do his hair, I got a little lucky because it was easier to manage but with him being a boy, I did find myself constantly maintaining it. So, despite the texture, our children’s hair (for one reason or another), needs to be taken care of with products that will not damage their hair for a lifetime.

My daughter and her husband now use the Kinky Wavy Natural line on my granddaughter, Royalti (yes I am a grandma!) and her hair has grown substantially for a child of her age. They also plan to use it for the newest addition to the family: Queen Ani’ah, born January 10, 2010. J I hope all you readers don’t think that I’m getting too personal, but I wanted to share what I experienced with other parents and help make hair combing/styling time easier for all hair textures.    

FACT: Did you know that curly hair is most manageable when it is wet?  Water weighs the curl pattern down which straightens it a bit but will not retain the needed moisture to comb and manage curly/kinky hair once it is dry. Applying water to the hair daily without adding moisturizers and softeners can result in sever hair breakage/damage; the curlier the hair the more damage will be caused.

Tune in next week for my next blog: Transitioning from Chemically Processed to Natural Hair

Forever Natural,

Taliah Waajid

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