I want to show you how we manage to detangle my daughters matted, knotty curly hair painlessly! She has an extremely sensitive scalp. Finding a solution that has worked for us has been a challenge in itself. Even though she really only lets me do this method once a week, I'm just glad it works. Now, I have no more melt downs from her at just the thought of me brushing her hair.
Steps To Detangling Hair
Firstly, wash hair in the shower not a bath as you need the continual dripping water to wash it out well. Start by rinsing out the hair. Then, add some shampoo to the hair. I like to use the dōTERRA shampoo but you can use any that work for you. I only wash it once as I find a double wash dries it out too much. Again, rinse it out well.
Next, add a heap of conditioner. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes. I let the child play while I have a quick 5 minute shower too, so win win. Then before you rinse it all out, do the dreaded brushing. I like to use a tangle brush as it makes it so much easier to get the knots out. It's also really helpful if you brush the hair under the running water. Start from the bottom and work your way up depending how bad the knots are. This may take a bit of time but its much better than waiting until you're out of the shower to do it.
If you can’t get all the knots out and your child is complaining like mine, just add more conditioner. Let it sit for another 5 minutes as well. Then brush until all knots are out than rinse the remaining conditioner out.
Once out of the shower, dry the hair with a towel. I add some dōTERRA serum to the ends of the hair. This adds moisture and protection to the hair. Do not add it if your hair is oily.
Then use this leave in conditioner to protect the hair. It’s great for frizzy hair, getting knots out, tangles and protecting the hair from any little creatures that may find hair interesting. Especially useful if your child goes to kindy or school. It helps adds an extra layer of protection to their hair. I spray it daily to protect her hair as much as I can.
Finally, brush the hair one last time and you should have a knot free head of hair. I like to plait it if the child allows me too. This means it will get less knotty and thus reducing the number of hair washing occurrences.
Tips For Very Sensitive Child
For anyone with a really sensitive child like mine, I wanted to add another tip. Try getting their hair braided with strong wax. This will help reduce the amount of times needed to brush their sensitive scalp. My girl loves getting hers done with hair pieces through it and it lasts for weeks like this. Unfortunately, I've only found one place that does this and its not too close to me. So if you know anywhere in Brisbane that does it I'd love to know!
Please note that I have an extremely sensory, ASD child, so this is the only method that works for me. The amount of knots might be reduced if she let me put her hair up. Or if I could continually get it braided like these awesome ones from the coast! If only. Unfortunately she doesn’t let me wash it too often or put it up to reduce the knots. This is what works best for us. I know there are a heap of others with sensory children that I thought this might help also.
Of course, I do always love to hear what your tips are for curly crazy hair too! So don't forget to leave me a comment on your tips or what you thought of mine.
