Hair Care

If you don't know already, my hair is straight. It might get a little wave or two in it on a humid day, but for the most part, it's thin, straight and very easy to run a brush through. Nora's hair is anything but straight and thin. She has gorgeous, thick, curly hair with natural golden highlights. It's beautiful and perfect! However, maintaining these beautiful locks is pretty complicated.

I have never been good at doing my own hair, let alone someone else's. Having a daughter with thick, curly hair of a completely different texture from my own has been quite the learning curve. I feel like every day I am learning a little bit more about how best to care for it and different ways to style it.

Over the last 4 years, we have experimented with all types of hair styles, products, combs, tangle brushes and techniques for keeping Nora's hair moisturized and tangle free.

 We had the big-bow look.                        We had the baby mohawk.
        

                  We had the pigtail poofs, which we still love.
       

The sophisticated pony tail, which is by far the easiest for me to do and has become my default hair style for her.
        

The natural "free curls" as we call them (this is my favorite look of hers).
  

The imposter Anna braids:

   

The salon straightening experience

And, of course the hair extension, which about brings us up to date.


In a perfect world, I would wash Nora's hair 2-3 times per week to keep it from drying out, would comb through it at night and put it into braids for bedtime, then I would come through it and apply leave-in conditioner each morning prior to styling it for her day. But, I have 3 kids ages 4, 2 and 1, so I don't have time for that! So, here's what I do:

I typically have to wash Nora's hair about 4 times per week due to the amount of dirt and mulch she gathers on her scalp. My girl plays hard. I only wash her hair with Beautycounter's Nice Do Kids Shampoo and the only in-the-tub conditioner I use is also by Beautycounter, and that is the Not a Knot Kids Conditioner. The conditioner is AMAZING for Nora's hair. There seriously is not a knot after I've applied this stuff! I usually apply a healthy silver dollar-size amount to may hands and massage it into her hair. Do NOT apply this much to your child's hair unless he/she has thick, curly hair like Nora's; most kids only require a small amount of this conditioner. Sometimes I rinse it, sometimes I just let is seep into her hair.

Once out of the tub, I get to work on combing through her curls with an oil-infused comb while she chills out and watches a show, looks at a book or just chats with me. Next, I apply coconut oil and Mixed Chicks leave-in conditioner. If I have the time and patience to do some braiding, I will. If not, I just let it hang free.

In the mornings, unless I have braided her hair at night, Nora's curls are pretty tangled and unruly. I use a homemade detangle-concoction that helps greatly in the mornings:

Buy a cheap spray bottle (I linked this one that we have because it has been the best at not getting clogged)
Drop into spray bottle 3 tablespoons of organic raw Shea butter
Pour into spray bottle 2 tablespoons of organic fractionated coconut oil.
Add about 1.5 - 2 cups of warm water
Shake it up and spray liberally!

This is what we use every single morning on Nora's hair and I have found it keeps her hair super soft and makes it much easier to comb or brush through. Also, we use the organic versions of Shea butter and fractionated coconut oil, but you do not need to buy them. I just feel better about the quality of what is seeping into her head when I know it's organic :)

Although we have a pretty decent routine going with Nora's hair, I would LOVE any advice you may have to offer in dealing with curly hair, thick hair, biracial hair, or anything in between!