davidbristol23: Our hair tricks ? since you asked!

An online friend recently?asked me for my hair tricks in heinous detail. Well, after writing out my pearls of wisdom (gflaw) I thought I would share them here with you too. I?d love to hear from others if you have other tricks or especially differing opinions on anything!

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?I can only tell you what works for my daughters. They have pretty tight hair, but it is in small ringlets.

The first big bit of advice I can give you is this: Braids.

Having free hair of any kind, like a ponytail, or two paths, is way way way more work than having their hair in braids. You can actually tell whatever I am disorganized or my life is getting out-of-control, when my daughters have free hair. That?s my dirty little secret!

Now, you don?t have to be super awesome at braiding. There are lots of simple braids like box braids and simple French braids that work really well and can last for a short amount of time. The trick is that you want to keep their hair very well moisturized, and in order in braids.

When you have free hair, the ends get tangled and there is a lot of compression. So the hair will get damaged a lot faster and will also take a beating every time that you have to pick it out. One of the many advantages of braids is that you are only picking out their hair and putting those curls in danger from the brush once every few days, week, three weeks? Instead of every day.

My daughter in these pics has half free hair ? so we either have it in a bun, or pick it out right before school EACH DAY in this style.

My daughters? hair goes all the way down past their shoulder blades and so when they do have free hair it must be picked out at least every 24 hours. Now THAT?s a lot of work!

So these are my tips. Again, just my personal opinion and experience.

First, keep your daughters hair in braids. This will save you so much agony and will save her a lot of pain and stress as well.

When we take out braids, we always be sure to take them out gently without breaking any ends. Metal tailed comb to the rescue! I also will trim their hair about every 4 to 8 weeks. Like mentioned, if the hair has any kind of dry ends, it will tangle so much faster.

Then I make sure that we pick it out with wet conditioner on it. I never pick out my daughters? hair unless it is wet and covered in some kind of lotion. I personally love that conditioner from Lush, called American Cream. We also use for super tangles and for the occasional free hair day ?Be Curly? cream from Aveda which works very well. Super luscious care as a leave-in for those occasional free hair days too!

If we are just taking out braids then I always shampoo their hair very well. Often I will use two passes with the shampoo. My favorite is Lush?s beer shampoo: Cynthia Sylvia Stout. It seems to strip out lots of the yuckies that get in their hair and stay over time. Then conditioner. Pick out. Then rinse.

After you have picked out the hair then if it is going into simple French braids or four big braids, I usually just braid it right in the bath. But if it is not going into simple braids I will take them out with hair wet and sit in front of the TV. Since they don?t usually watch TV, a movie is like a morphine drip.

Then when we get to the braiding I make sure I put lots of the magic elixir in. For those of you that don?t know what this is??Here?s the recipe.

When I do the braids I make sure that there is some oily Magic elixir throughout their hair. I have arthritis, and it helps me grip their hair too. But it also means that we can pull the hair a lot tighter and smoother into the braids.

So I part their hair, braid it up, and that?s it.

Of course it?s not easy as that. But you can see lots of YouTube videos online on how to braid different styles.

I should mention that if their hair (pre-braiding) is looking very dry and crusty, I will first of trim the ends or just as often put (sweet almond or olive) oil all through their hair. Then I put it up in a bun under a sleep cap let them sleep on it for the night. Of course the oil soaks through the sleep cap, so I put a towel on their pillow at night. But I can tell you it doesn?t matter how much oil I put in their hair? In the morning it is also wicked up. This occasional oil bath really seems to help with scalp and hair condition. We probably do it once every month or two.

Once it is in braids, I will usually spray it once every day or two with a leave in conditioner. We love Biolage. We don?t usually wash their hair at all until the braids come out two or three weeks later.

Sometimes though, my husband complains that they are starting to smell like an old dusty lady, so then we will just simply rinse their hair under the shower spray. But usually they go for two weeks without washing their hair quite easily. It never gets greasy. But sometimes it does get dirty and dusty. Active children.

Well hopefully that is helpful!

Really, the key is to keep your kids? hair in braids. When I drive around rural Ethiopia we are in the middle of nowhere and they don?t have any lush conditioner, hot water or fancy lotions. But there is a reason that every little girls has her hair in braids. It?s because it?s the easiest way to care for their hair. And it is expressive and shows care as well.

And of course, don?t forget to save the braids in a sleep cap!

Lots of luck!