Curly Hair Education

How to maintain the curls so your child’s style lasts longer:

The longer your child’s style lasts is based on quite a few factors. These include, but are not limited to, how their hair is originally cut or styled, how they slept on it, what the weather conditions and how much they are playing with it. It must be accepted by parents that long-time curl control is based on recognizing day-to-day curl will never be exactly the same, because no curl is ever exactly the same as it is the day before. A good example of this is how one sleeps with their curls. If your child goes to bed with a loose pony tail, their hair will be curly the next day because when they sleep on a loose curl, it flattens out a bit.

Styling with Curl Keeper® Original will help you to achieve definition and control throughout the day, as it reactivates with a bit of water. Days two and three could look even better than day one when you understand how to master, play with, and reactivate your curls to achieve a result that, while long lasting, changes slightly every day.

Removing tangles:

There are several steps to remove tangles effectively and without pain. Firstly, it is important to understand the root cause of tangles. This understanding will help make removing them much easier. Tangles form when the hair cuticle is constantly open. Unfortunately, curly hair naturally has these open hair cuticles. Saturating the hair in low pH balanced conditioners will make the hair cuticle quickly close, locking in moisture and making it easier to comb. Slip Detangler is a light weight conditioner, as it has a pH of 3.5, making it the perfect product to close an open hair cuticle. A closed hair cuticle makes it easier to detangle and enables you to glide a brush or comb through the hair with no difficulty. Create sections in hair and clip in place. Starting with a small section, slowly and firmly begin combing with a gentle brush. Always make sure to start at the ends and work your way up to the hair of the section you’re working on. Eventually you will reach the root area where you can continue the combing down to the ends. When you get a stubborn snag, spray extra Slip and wait for 30 seconds.

It can be helpful to give the child a chance to try comb their own curls and make it fun! You will notice the child is rougher and more aggressive and actually has a high pain tolerance for combing out their hair – complete reversal of when the parent combing their hair. It is important that the child learns that detangling is important and should never be rushed. Teach them to notice the huge benefits of healthy strong and manageable curly hair.

The hair cut:

It’s always about timing and maintaining their attention. To begin make sure the child is well rested and fed. Find them an activity to engage in that does not require too much movement; movies are often a great distraction, especially if it is one of their favorites. Stylists should start off combing their hair several times to calm the child before the scissors come out. Detangle and safely remove ALL loose hair before any cutting happens. Another tip would be to apply Curl Keeper® Original on wet hair, which makes a fantastic cutting and combing lotion for children with tighter curls.