Anyone who has followed my blog or Instagram for a while will have noticed that Amelia’s hair has changed lately, it’s finally long enough on top for us to tie it and give her little bobbles (or bunches) and they look so cute but they actually serve a really useful purpose as well.
If you have curly hair or if your children do you will know the struggle of keeping it tidy and stopping it from getting knotted and matted. It was becoming a daily struggle and we would have to wet, oil and comb her hair twice a day just to prevent it from becoming unbearably tangled and painful.
As she has gotten older she has become more and more unwilling to let me comb her hair and it was becoming more of a battle than a nice part of getting dressed in the morning. She would scream, cry, hit out, throw things, shake her head violent to prevent me from getting the comb in and it was just exhausting.
Enter the bobbles…as soon as we tried putting her hair into bobbles everything changed. No longer was her hair getting knotted or tangled, it wasn’t being rubbed by her tossing and turning in her sleep and when the hair bands were removed, the comb would glide through her hair like a knife in warm butter. That might sound a bit dramatic but the difference it has made to our mornings and evenings is like night and day.
I still wet and comb her hair twice a day but it’s so much easier to do now, I comb and oil it in the morning and in the evening giving her fresh bunches for the day and for bed to stop it from being matted in her sleep.
I do have some helping hands though from a few hair products that I absolutely swear by to keep her curls tidy and easy to comb and I get a lot of questions about her hair so I thought I would share them:
Kokoso Baby coconut oil – we’ve been using this for over a year now (thanks Timehop for reminding me) and we love it, it’s natural, smells amazing and it keeps her curls tidy and glossy all day long. It’s also great on her skin too so sometimes we use it all over.
Johnson’s Baby no more tangles conditioning spray – this was recommended to me by a mama on Instagram and I’m so grateful. You just spray it on wet or dry hair and it makes the knots disappear, just like that. It smells good too and I love that you can use it on dry hair so if we didn’t have time to wet her hair in the morning for some reason I can still comb it and make her look presentable for the day.
Tommee Tippee baby comb – I just use the basic baby comb that came in a newborn health kit we bought before Amelia was born. It’s perfectly fine and does a good job of getting through her very thick hair.
Thin hair elastics – I searched everywhere for hair bands suitable for her. Any I had for myself were way too big and would need to tie around about 20 times but I eventually found a pack in Asda by a company called Dee Dee. They’re really thin and small, perfect for toddler hair and would be great at the end of braids too. Cute colours and in a pack of 24 I can afford to lose loads down the back of the changing table before I need to worry. Also, they’re less than £2!
Loads of people have commented about how cute her bunches look and I agree, I think she looks adorable with them and they help to keep her hair off her face but they’re more than that to a tired mama with no energy to fight every morning and evening when it comes to bath time.
Here’s a little before and after bunches comparison:
It’s funny how quickly you get used to something, I’m so used to seeing her with bunches now that she looks like a different child when I see photos of her with her hair loose. I think she looks older with her up too, like she’s gone from being a baby to a toddler, why do they grow up so fast…
Anyway, I hope this helps any parent who’s child has curl hair and you despair at the tangles and crying when it’s time to comb it. Or if you just can’t face it and don’t comb it at all because it’s too traumatic, I hope some of these products might help you.
Rachel xx
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