Sad times with hair - Page 2

[nikag]

Make sure her hair is good and damp before you run ANYTHING through it. Adding condition will help too.

The process is thus:

Use a WIDE toothed comb - not a brush and never a fine toothed comb.

Take a small section of hair and start at the bottom (the ends). Hold the hair above where you're working tightly in your hand and leave some slack between your hand and her scalp - so if you have to yank a knot out, the force won't travel up the hair follicles and pull at her scalp (if that makes sense). You want your hand to be the anchor for tugging out those tangles, not her head. Once the ends are combed out, work your way up in the same fashion until you get to her scalp - only then do you run the comb the entire length of the hear (from root to tip). Continue with another section of hair. Make sure to keep a mental record of which parts have already been combed out and which parts haven't.

Good luck.

[karin95]

With our foster daughter and now with our son, we made a point of warning when we were going to spritz their hair. We say "eep! eep!" (don't know where we came up with it!) Now our son knows what the "eep eep" is and likes it. We just use water mixed with olive oil and spray down his head really well and then comb it with a wide-toothed comb. I'm sure you're being careful, but you can always try and be super-careful and hold the hair down near the base and kinda push it towards her head while you're combing it out, so you don't catch any tangles and pull it accidentally.

She's probably sensitive to any slight pain and is paranoid. With out foster daughter (whose hair was long and kinky enough to braid and play with), we'd set her in the booster seat with a ton of Cheerios and we put on a video that she loved (it was the only time she got to watch TV at all) and we'd have at least 30 mins to do her hair. Our son's hair isn't the right texture to braid (my partner wishes it was, cuz she loves to do hair!) so it just takes us a minute or 2 to "eep! eep!" and comb it out. (And he's almost 14 months old.)

Oh, and I second the idea of getting a book or 2 for her. Our FD loved Happy to be Nappy.

Good luck!

[amathyst]

I have to say - my daughter's hair is so crazy that even with all the suggestions I just can't comb her hair and that's ok! I try to finger comb it once in awhile - we wash/condition it about once a week (we use the Curly Q products, too!) but she just sports a super curly fro all the time.

It does make me sad that I can't comb it out at least some of the time...but the more she grows, the more curly it gets! I'm hoping she will let me as time goes on and she understands (I used to be able to!), it doesn't bother me and everyone loves her hair...so it's more my problem than anything.

Edited to add: my dd has a great combination of both of our hair - we both have very thick hair (mine is fine, very thick, and straight! my partner's is dry, coarse, kinky and very thick!) - dd has fine (but not dry unless it's been layed on/not washed in awhile), very thick, super curly hair.

[Jaimee]

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[Bunnybee]

Amanda- I love that photo of you and DD in mirror. What a cutie! Her hair looks just like my DD's except your DD has more of it! Oh, and your DD is exactly one year older than my DS!

[theretohere]

Originally Posted by amathyst

I have to say - my daughter's hair is so crazy that even with all the suggestions I just can't comb her hair and that's ok! I try to finger comb it once in awhile - we wash/condition it about once a week (we use the Curly Q products, too!) but she just sports a super curly fro all the time.

It does make me sad that I can't comb it out at least some of the time...but the more she grows, the more curly it gets! I'm hoping she will let me as time goes on and she understands (I used to be able to!), it doesn't bother me and everyone loves her hair...so it's more my problem than anything.

Edited to add: my dd has a great combination of both of our hair - we both have very thick hair (mine is fine, very thick, and straight! my partner's is dry, coarse, kinky and very thick!) - dd has fine (but not dry unless it's been layed on/not washed in awhile), very thick, super curly hair.

Oooh, leaving it in a fro is another great suggestion!

[powercourt]

Update

Updating:

I've taken many suggestions and here's what's worked the best...

Getting the Curly Q stuff (already had it, but needed more detangler) and combing her hair daily. I've bitten the bullet and sit her down in the highchair in front of the TV with food, toys and books. There we proceed to detangle with the detangler spray and water using a WIDE tooth comb. Seriously wide. It's crazy. She sits through most of her hair but I stop when she gets upset. Everyday it's a little bit longer. Yeah!! I've also started putting in a couple of ponytails and am getting braver to work up to plaits.

I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the advice!

[mom2tatum]

that's great! keep it up, you're on your way!

[Bad Mama Jama]

That makes me happy that you found something that works well because it is not pretty when you have to do battle over grooming, especially with a babe who's rationale is "because I don't like it!"