Spray or something to make combing DD's hair easier, household ingredients?

[laohaire]

I know I can buy a product I can spray to make combing tangled hair easier, but is there a basic thing I can do with household ingredients? I'm thinking it's probably just diluted conditioner? Is that ok to spray in if we don't wash her hair often, or is conditioner going to make her hair nasty and dirt-attracting?

[sunnysandiegan]

Is her hair curly or straight? Dry or oily or "normal"?

In general, leave-in conditioners do attract dirt and oils and such and are best for those who wash their hair daily or every other day.

Someone else will have to advise you on actual products, but I can help with other techniques to tame the tangles once I know the type of hair (see first two questions).

[Masel]

I have a spray bottle with plain water for detangling my DD's hair. I tried a couple commercial products and varying amounts of diluted conditioner and the water works the best for us. 

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan 

Is her hair curly or straight? Dry or oily or "normal"?

In general, leave-in conditioners do attract dirt and oils and such and are best for those who wash their hair daily or every other day.

Someone else will have to advise you on actual products, but I can help with other techniques to tame the tangles once I know the type of hair (see first two questions).

Straight and very fine. Until a year or so ago, it never even tangled, but now it tangles A LOT when she's sleeping. I assume her hair is "normal" - it sure isn't oily but I don't think it's dry. If it's not normal than it's dry, though - I've been told I have dry hair so it seems normal to me maybe. We wash weekly - after her swim class.

I've not had a lot of luck with plain water to ease the detangling session. When I put conditioner in her hair (in the bath), I brush through it with the conditioner still in there, and then rinse after - MUCH easier. But it's still a pain between washes. Not dirty, not oily, just tangled from tossing back and forth on her pillow at night.

[sunnysandiegan]

When my DD was younger, her hair was just like you are describing! When camping, I would braid it and that solved all kinds of issues.

The good news is her hair has gotten thicker as she has gotten older and the tangling nightmare is just a bit of annoyance at this point. Whew!

I need to go get her now from school, but I will come back to share some other things we did to ease the tangles.

[sunnysandiegan]

I am back. We walk and it is a lovely day here, so we took the long way (via the library).

Anyway... I used to think my DD's hair tangled just from her breathing; it was always tangled -- even right after brushing it! The best solution I found was to keep it up and on the short side. Not too short or it couldn't be pulled up. Headbands, ponytails, pigtails, braids (one, two, regular, French), etc. The only thing we didn't do was barrettes. Those seemed to create a mess of their own and caused too many tears.

What also helped immensely was learning some new brushing techniques. My DH actually helped a lot in this regard and he was just winging it. LOL Trying out different types of brushes may help, too. Friends were forever giving us new brushes as gifts for a few years there. LOL

I used conditioner exactly as you described above. DD still does this now. She showers and washes her hair 2-3 times a week. Using enough conditioner is important and you also cannot use too much. Play with the amount to see what works best.

Something I discovered in an odd way was rubbing one drop of lavender essential oil between my palms and then lightly running my hands all over her hair (following the natural way it grows). I was then putting it up in a ponytail for lice prevention during an outbreak in her K class, but it stayed tangle-free a lot longer than usual. (She never got lice, either, as a side note.)

Best wishes!

[Ornery]

My dd has very long, very fine hair.  We brush it 50 times with a boar's bristle, wooden brush and braid it every night.  The next morning it is easy as pie to brush it and fix it how she likes.  It is the only way we've found.