When I took Mary Virginia to get her hair cut a few weeks ago, she sidled up to me and asked, “Mommy? Can you ask him to make my hair yellow and flat?”
YELLOW AND FLAT?? Of course, two-year old daughter! That’s what I was going to ask for anyway! But we have to hurry because we don’t want to be late for your rhinoplasty appointment!
Mary Virginia’s hair is the opposite of yellow and flat. It’s brown and curly and amazing. Strangers comment on it all the time. “Those curls!” They say, and she instinctively puts her hand on her head, smoothing it down.
For the record, this is all Cinderella’s fault.
Her hair is so lovely. I often joke that I married Tom so that, one day, I would have a curly-haired little girl.
Mary Virginia doesn’t have much hair — it’s still very fine and I’ve trimmed it a few times because the back was growing faster than the front — but I can already tell that caring for little girl curly hair is different than caring for little girl straight hair. (And also very different than caring for adult curly hair.)
Her hair can look so different from one day to the next. She has great hair days (usually when it’s really humid) and she also has bad hair days. See below.
I want advice. What tips and tricks should I know to keep her hair looking its best? Is there a curly hair guide book I need to know about or cuts that work well for curly hair?
We’ve tried a few things — Moroccan oil, coconut oil, a water spray bottle — and I haven’t really found a groove. I’ve also tried telling her that one should never ever brush curly hair, but she doesn’t listen to me about anything so why start now?
What has worked? What hasn’t worked? Let me know. Maybe if I can minimize the bad hair days, she’ll cut out this “flat” and “yellow” nonsense.
Plus, everyone knows Cinderella dyes and straightens her hair. No way those highlights are natural.
She probably needs a very light weight mousse. With her hair being fine, gel probably wouldn’t work that well. I would wash or wet her hair and then put some mousse in. Without some sort of styler my hair gets super frizzy and can lose some of it’s curl. When she is older, mousse and then hairspray to lock in the product works really well to keep my curls tight and somewhat frizz free.
Finding a hairstylist that has curly hair will also help! Stylist with straight hair just don’t know our struggles!
Yes, not brushing is also key. I had to teach that to my mother in law, she would make a mess of the kids hair when it was super curly. My two older kids had curly hair until about 2 and both straightened out unfortunately. I agree with the light mousse. What you could prob do to keep it from getting weighted is let it dry natural and curly the 1st day right out of the bath and then the next day do the water bottle and mousse. For my hair, which is curly, but obviously going to be much thicker than hers, if I want it to be curly and look nice I have to wash it early in the day and let it dry, if I shower and go to bed with it wet, oh goodness, it is bad and so is my kids hair when curly.
Have you read Tina Fey’s deal with trying to convience her daughter brown headed princesses are better? Super funny!
I also agree with the curly haired hairstylist! Every time it go to someone with flat locks they poof me up like a crazy lady, they cut horribly located layers and make a mess.
It looks like our girls have similar hair- so hopefully what I’ve learned can help you out too!
In the morning, I spritz her hair with a water spray bottle… Probably until it’s about 80% saturated. Then, I use this amazing lightweight leave-in conditioner ( http://www.sallybeauty.com/Hawaiian-Silky-Miracle-Worker/SBS-615082,default,pd.html ). I use only about 4 pumps of this stuff… You don’t need a whole lot, but you do want to coat all the hair. I run it through her hair with my fingers, and then I use a wide-tooth comb to get any knots out. Once she’s knot-free, I scrunch her hair from the bottom up with my fingers. The ringlets start to form and get curlier as they dry. I do use a soft brush just on the top of her head to make a part/smooth down any messy pieces, but don’t touch the curls with this, unless you just want frizzy waves. I’m a curly girl too, and I need more product to hold my hair in place, but my little girl only needs this conditioner and nothing else, probably since her hair is so fine and short. Hope this helps!
My only advice is to let her grow her hair out long enough for a ponytail, because there are just some days when nothing will do but a ponytail.
I just love this post, and love this little girl.