Toddler hair--simple braids

Rainbow's hair is hard to figure out what to do with.  She's never had a haircut and has strange lengths all over her head--from ear to past shoulder and some hairline fuzz.  But her hair is so thin that it is actually easier to do some hairstyles on her than it might be for someone with thicker hair.  So two English braids are nothing new but here's some tips to make it work on fine and thin-haired toddlers. 

Make a part right down the middle with a comb.  You can use your fingers too, but it won't be as crisp a part.  But on a wiggly toddler, I'm lucky to get a straight one.  In fact, I didn't  :)

Comb the side to smooth for first braid.

Gather hair close to the ear.  I find just above and slightly behind the ear to work best as most of the hair makes it into the braid.

Split into three sections.  I use two fingers evenly spaced on my left hand and come up from below.  Then I use my right to fully separate the sections.

Braid.  For those who don't know how, I may do a simple tutorial later.  But basically, take one side section and cross over the middle section.  The side section is now the middle and the middle is now a side section.  Repeat on the other side.  Repeat until braid is as long as wanted.

Tie off with an elastic.  I use the small silicone ones on Rainbow. 

Repeat on other side.

This is how she looks when done She kept moving her head all around, so the part isn't straight, but she's still cute.  :)

 I think she looks like Penny from the Rescuers.  :)

This is her best friend who will make guest appearances. We'll call her Sky.  She suffered from the same head moving problem. :) Exact same hairstyle, but different type of hair.  Sky's is much thicker and longer than Rainbow's and is mostly one length with a few shorter sections in the front.  Quite the difference between two toddlers, huh?

Best friends proud of their matching braids!

Wurly Haircare

Wavy+Curly=Wurly. Snowflake has wurly hair. Rainbow looks to be heading in that direction as well. Snowflake naturally has full-fledged, huge, spiral ringlets around her face, and looser waves in the back. Some of those waves end in a curl. And, let's face it, she frizzes. What to do with such hair?
Wurly haircare is similar to curly haircare. There are several wonderful websites dedicated to curly hair. Naturallycurly is one--but be prepared to sift through tons of ads and irrelevant information. LiveCurlyLiveFree is another which even has an e-book and a hair analysis service to tell you what type of hair you have. I also like Curly Q, a mom blog about her daughter's curly hair. 
But even though there are similarities, haircare for wurly and wavy hair really isn't the same as for curly. And it isn't the same as straight either. Many techniques that work for curlies and straighties just don't work on waves and wurls.

Detangling-- Best to do while washing and with fingers. Brushing will often result in poofyness and frizz--(but not on the scale of a true curly LOL.) Occasionally brushing will give volume and gentle waves, but this usually only works in low humidity. Wide-toothed combs can also work well.

Washing-- Best tip is no shampoo! Or at least one with no sulfates as that ruffles the cuticles and encourages frizz. We wash Snowflake’s and Rainbow’s hair with a technique called Conditioner-Only washing, or CO. Best to use a silicone-free conditioner as it will buildup and need a sulfate shampoo to clarify once in a while (although if you don’t mind that occasionally it won’t be a problem.) We use various Suave and V05 conditioners in the natural line--which are surprisingly ideal for CO.
First, the washing step. We use a lighter conditioner for washing--like Suave Clarifying. Wet hair. Then pour a generous amount of conditioner onto hands and cover hair. Work it into scalp with the pads of the fingers, starting at the sides, working to the crown, and finishing at the nape. If it gets hard to spread and rub in, splash a little extra water on the hair to dilute the conditioner (or start with diluted conditioner.) Detangle the hair with your fingers--starting from the bottom and work up. Rinse hair thoroughly, concentrating on getting ALL the conditioner off the scalp.
Next the conditioning step. (With Rainbow’s short hair I usually skip this part.) Use a generous amount of a second conditioner (it can be the same as the first, or a heavier one, like Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition.) We only add it to the ear level down, scrunching it into the hair. Scrunching means you cup the hair from the bottom and push it up and “squish” it with the hair. It’ll make a fun squishy sound if you’ve used enough. Rinse, but not quite completely. Scrunch as you rinse.

Drying & Styling-- For Rainbow we just blot with a T-shirt, if that, and let it airdry. For Snowflake we get a gel (so far we’ve used 100% Aloe Vera Gel, and LA Works wet look gel) and pour a generous amount into my hands. Then I scrunch it in. We don’t use terrycloth towels on hair as that creates frizz and disrupts waves and wurls. T-shirts and other smoother fabric is better. We use a large T-shirt in a technique called “plopping.” J I lay out the T-shirt and she flips over her hair upside-down. She puts her head directly upside-down on the T-shirt--this allows the hair to stay in it’s coils while it dries. I envelop the rest of her head in the T-shirt and wrap the sides around the back of her head and tie them together. If it is nighttime, I’ll tie it around her forehead and send her to bed. It usually comes off by morning but the wurls definitely look best this way. If it is daytime, she’ll wear the T-shirt for at least 20 min and then we’ll take it off and let it airdry.

The girls being little, they will of course end up rubbing their head all over something at some point and make it messy. Not to worry--I wet my hands and run it over the top of the messy hair and lightly finger-comb. Looks good again! This is also what I do in the morning with the bed-head.

And here they are a few hours after washing and drying!  Snowflake insisted on wearing her mask, sorry! :)

Welcome and Intro

Three little girls who love hair and hairdoing.  We are doing this together for fun and it's our hobby.  We also like long hair at our house, no particular reason--we just like it.  Star is 10 and thought about cutting hers a year ago when most of her friends were, but has since changed her mind and wants to be the girl with the longest hair possible.  She still likes "little girl 'dos" but also wants more "grownup" looks.  Snowflake, 5, idolizes Rapunzel and so wants her hair as long as it can get.  She sometimes wants it blonde and straight too, but she'll have to live with brown and wurly.  Rainbow is 2 and just loves "pretty" hair.  She is finally willing to let her hair be styled--although with her baby-short hair her styles are fairly limited.  I also had waist-length hair until January this year when I chopped it to my shoulders.  I immediately missed my long hair and am growing it back out. 

With these girls (and myself) wanting long hair, and especially with their hair being fine, breaking from damage is a concern.  So we will practice more natural haircare to keep from styling damage, particularly heat damage.  That means I will not be using curling irons or flat irons and rarely even blowdryers on them.  We'll use combs and special brushes, and if we want more or less curl--we will do it heatless.  There will be no hair teasing.  Hair accessories will be as hair-friendly as possible and styles will still be fun, but we'll try to avoid mechanical damage.

Tools and accessories we'll use:

Seamless combs--plastic, wood , or horn, wide or fine-toothed.  As long as the surface is very smooth and won't snag or tear hair.  Plastic combs with seams can be sanded off with sandpaper.  For detangling and smoothing.

Boar Bristle Brush--brush made from coarse, stiff hair of a boar.  Smoothes the cuticle of the hair, increases shine, and distributes natural oils.  Not very good for detangling, better for smoothing.  Ours is round.

Hair pins--for securing hair in updos, mainly when hair is moved in ways differently than the underlying hair. 

Bobby pins--for securing wisps of hair.  Mainly for hair that is lying in the same direction as the underneath hair.

Hair elastics--"fabric" covered (no metal) or polyurethane.  Polyurethane ones can be soaked in coconut oil prior to use to minimize damage, and as they are cheap, cut out later with small scissors or sewing ripper (just don't cut the hair!)  Probably will keep these down to a minimum as the girls hate them and they pull on the hair alot.

Hair clips, barrettes, bows, flexis, etc--pretty and fun of course!  But we'll mostly avoid those with clasps that may snag in the hair.

Hair sticks or forks--to secure updos and be pretty!

We'll do braids, buns, ponytails, etc. some simple, some elaborate.  If I get an idea from somewhere else, I will try to make sure to give credit and include a link.  If I talk like you don't know anything about hair--well I try to assume there is someone out there who doesn't.  Because once upon a time, I didn't either.