Haircare for Kids

Salon visits can be scary experiences for small children: They are boring, full of strangers and strange smelling products, you are being ordered to sit still for ages, whilst some idiot is doing terrible things to your hair which you didn't want to happen in the first place. Life is sooo unfair!

So how do you as a parent, avoid, annoying the stylist, upsetting your child and getting yourself stressed? Well this is where your best child psychology skills come into play! Sometimes your child will have unwarranted fears and you have to help to overcome them. Creating trust by taking their concerns seriously is the first and most important step. Promising a treat can also help. Best of all is to check in your local area to see if there is one of the growing number of new specialized children's salons available. Salon chains like Cartoon Cuts are designed to make the hair cut experience more positive and entertaining for small children: toys, video games, specially shaped chairs and specially-trained stylists, all help to ensue the experience is more like going to a theme park rather than a visit to the doctor.

Home Sweet Home

However, if your child is afraid of the hairdresser's, then try to cut their hair at home. They will feel safe and comfortable and you will save time and money. You can do it yourself if you have the skills - or the bravery. Cutting hair for a child is basically the same for an adult, except that a child's hair is usually thin and baby soft. Keep the bangs approx. 1/2" from the eyebrows. If the child's hair is thin, avoid short cuts for now until their hair comes in thicker. Shape around the face if you're trying to grow it long. If you don't have any haircutting experience, you might want to seek out a step by step guide on children's hair cutting, or get someone to do it for you.

Putting on the Style

Whatever you do, remember that today's media-savvy, celebrity-crazy kids want to look good. Children start to take an interest in their own hair style from an early age; even the kindergarten set want to be in-style. They want their hair to be like their best friend or even a television character. Boys that used to be seen only in ball caps are now having their hair bleached and highlighted.

Finding the right hair style for a child is usually about finding a cool, fun, and easy-to-manage child hair style that suits your youngster's active lifestyle. But you may experience resistance - as children get older they start to have very definite opinions of how they want to wear their hair. This hairstyle preference will surface in early childhood and continue throughout the teen years and into adulthood. Many a growing child will argue with their parents over how they want to wear their hair to school. At this stage of development the hair becomes a major identity factor.

Hair Care 101

The key is to be encouraging; as children start to take an interest in their own hair and how they style it, this is the time to encourage them to follow an entire regime of good hair hygiene practices. It is important to show a child (when they are willing), how to properly shampoo and rinse their own hair. You can also teach them about towel blotting, detangling, combing and brushing their hair. Help them build a good hair hygiene schedule so that they learn the importance of keeping their hair clean and neat. Try also to get them to develop good eating habits because healthy hair is very dependent on high quality carbohydrates and plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Good nutrition will promote shine and condition at any age.

Tips for Tip-Top Hair

Washing - use a mild shampoo, preferably in the child's favorite color or scent. Sometimes children are more willing to wash their hair with a fun shampoo, especially if it doesn't sting their eyes.

Combing/brushing - try to create trust and reassurance by allowing them to comb and brush their own hair on their own terms. Do not brush your child's hair 100 strokes before bedtime in the traditional manner - this will over stimulate the sebaceous glands and make the hair greasy and heavy. Doing a quick brush to get the tangles out should be sufficient. Combing the hair will promote shine and condition. Remember to use a comb on wet hair rather than a brush or you risk creating static electricity, which leads to breakage.

Accessories - give your child high quality combs and brushes and teach them the proper way to care for their hair to instill good grooming habits that will last a lifetime. Purchase some "hair friendly" clips and hair ties to help a child keep their hair off their face, and reduce the chance of tangling or matting. Stay away from any hairclips with sharp teeth, because they can cut into the hair and cause potential hair damage.

Tangles - all parents know that dealing with tangles is a nightmare for both parent and child. Here's how to reduce the trauma of removing tangles:

1. Hold the section of hair you're trying to comb out.

2. Hold it taut so the child won't feel you ripping through the ends. 3. Spray a good leave-in detangler on the knot.

4. You can also comb conditioner in while the child's hair is still wet. Children need conditioner too (avoid heavy types and stick with conditioners that are specifically called "light" conditioners).

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Article courtesy of Michal Berrows

Curly Hair tips

Embrace your curls! You are so lucky to have natural curls. The trick is getting them to behave, and it's easier than you think. Curls are sexy and romantic, and men love them. Once you have your curls looking their best, you'll be amazed at all the compliments you'll get. When you feel like the odd girl out, surrounded by straight strands, just picture these curly beauties and let them be your muses: Sarah Jessica-Parker, Keri Russell, Julianna Margulies, Halle Berry (love her new long curls!), Nicole Kidman (who looked better with her natural curls), Beyonce, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Beals, Brittany Murphy, Debra Messing, Brooke Burke, Ashanti, and more...

Cleaning
Throw away your shampoo. That's no joke. This goes even for non-curly girls. Shampoo is detergent, and your hair does NOT need detergent. You will have perfectly clean hair using just conditioner and water. This is one of the most important steps you can take. It sounds weird, but just trust me.

Once a week, cleanse your hair with just conditioner. Select a conditioner high in humectants like Panthenol, vegetable glycerine, and sorbitol. First put some conditioner on your fingertips and massage your scalp to loosen dirt. Next rinse thoroughly. (On the other days of the week, just wet your hair thoroughly, and go to step 4.)

Next, rub a quarter-size blob of conditioner between your hands and smooth it over the outer layer of your hair. Then work another quarter-size amount to the underlayer of hair at the nape of the neck (where it's prone to knots). Be gentle so as not to break hair. Use your fingers as a comb and comb through your hair from underneath.

Now, spread another quarter-size amount of conditioner through the hair on each side of your head, using your fingers as a comb. What you're doing is distributing conditioner evenly through your curls so that they separate instead fusing together.

At this point your hair should feel smooth and silky. You will want to experiment with how much conditioner to rinse out. The first time, try not rinsing at all, or just giving your head a very quick rinse to help evenly distribute the conditioner.

Styling
Bend forward and cup your wet hair loosely in a towel. Now scrunch it upward toward the scalp to blot up the moisture. Never rub or wring your hair dry. Gently continue scrunching and squeezing your hair in sections, going with the natural waves and not disturbing the hair too much, until it's no longer soaking wet.

Next, rub a tablespoon of clear styling gel (one that doesn't contain alcohol and has little or no fragrance--do look for PVP and PVP/VA in the ingredients) between your palms. Bend over at the waist, and starting at the ends, scrunch the gel in toward the scalp. Picture yourself squeezing an accordian in order to get the right motion. Work from the nape of your neck and work around your head, scrunching the top layer last.

Now you can begin shaping. Look in the mirror and scrunch section of curls with your palms, pushing up and squeezing gently into place. For shorter curls or curls that are too loose, twist the hair with a finger and a clip. Shape your hair using this scrunching, twisting and clipping, until it's in the form you want it to take when dry. Now, rub another half teaspoon of gel between your palms and very gently graze your hands over the top layer of hair to minimize frizz.

TIP: to get the curls on the top of your head to stand a little taller, lift and clip the hair at the roots. Just take a section of hair at the crown and hold it tight about 1/2 inch away from the scalp. Then place a hairclip or two (the old fashioned metal kind is fine) close the scalp to hold the hair up away from the scalp (you really need to get the book to see how to do this -- she includes great photos). It should take about six clips (if you use 2 per section) to lift the top of your hair. This can be good for getting the front section out of your eyes.

Let your hair dry. Please don't blow dry. Maybe in a few weeks you can return to occasional blow-drying, but for now don't do it. Your hair needs a chance to normalize and rest. When your hair is completely dry, remove any clips gently. Bend over and give your hair a little shakeout. Now, with your fingers, very gently fluff your hair from underneath. Don't touch the top layer.

That's it! You don't have to rinse with conditioner every day. But you may find that you'll want to give your hair a light spritzing of water from a spray bottle, on the non-rinse days, followed by a little scrunching. Some curly girls find that their hair looks better each day that they don't rinse!

My final word is this: please fall in love with your curls! They are so cool and so unique. Why look like a copy of everybody else? Your curls will become your trademark if you embrace them, and the easy care routine above will free you from the tyranny of the straightening iron and chemical straighteners.

We also recommend using a Virtual Hairstyling program to see different curly styles you can try
without spending time and money at the salon, only to find out it's not the style you wanted.
Check out a real neat Virtual Hairstyling system at Javon.us.
They also have some nice cheap places to buy hair products on their beauty shop link.
Click HERE to visit now! Happy styling :-)