by Tameeka aka Jaded Tresses

After such a hot and humid season, it’s a good idea to “de-summerize” your child’s hair in preparation for the fall and upcoming school year. The sun, although fun for our little ones, can wreak havoc on their tresses. It’s important that we nurture them in preparation for the drier weather approaching. As adults, we may have catered to our own tresses a little more than we have done to our future manes, which may have been in and out of water/chlorine and salt/sun continuously  without care ;).

So now moms and pops, it’s a must for us to “de-summerize” their treasured locks. What that means is Clarify, Recondition and Re-hydrate  their precious tresses. Because a child’s hair is virgin, vellus and naturally porous, it can sustain the most damage during the hot summer months, leaving the hair parched and dehydrated craving moisture.

Here are few things that I suggest that you do in preparation that  can help aid you through the rough cold weather we are about to embark on during the school year.

Tools and Products

• Hard hat or bonnet dryer: Great for deep treatments, as well as drying tresses once styled.
• Plastic cap
• Duck bill or butterfly clips to help section off tresses
• A wide-tooth comb, double wide-tooth comb or Denman brush to help with detangling
• Shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioner

I will list a few shampoos, conditioners and deep conditioners that may be of some use:

• Non-sulfate: The Organix line has various shampoos, conditioners and masks (find in local beauty supply stores and Target).
• Curlisto Natural Coils line has a cleanser, conditioner, leave-in and mask (find online at Curlisto.com and at the Fifth Ave salon).
• Shea Moisture (Target)
• Carol’s Daughter Monoi line (find at Carol’s Daughter locations and online).
• Ouidad Curl Quencher shampoo, conditioner, moisture lock leave-in and signature deep treatment (find at Sephora, the flagship salon on 57th st or online at Ouidad.com).
• Clarifying: Pantene Nature Fusion has a great shampoo and conditioner (find in local beauty supply stores and Target)
• Deep conditioner: KeraCare Intensive Restorative Masque is a great deep conditioner (find in local beauty supply stores).

Step 1: Clarifying Shampoo
Clarifying shampoos help to  remove product build-up, salt, chlorine and mineral build up from the hair. So, if you have been consistently using a non-sulfate shampoo and/or conditioner on your child’s hair, as well as applying oils because they have been swimming and had a generous amount of sun exposure, then this is definitely your first step.

Directions:

1. Wet the child’s hair thoroughly, rinsing out all of the old product until the water runs as clear as possible.
2. Apply about a quarter-size amount or more of clarifying shampoo to the palms and massage it into your child’s scalp using the ball of your fingertips.
3. Once a lather has been formed, finger through and DOWN the hair in a piano stroking motion. Never ball your child’s tresses on top of their head. That will only create knots and make detangling even more complicated.
4. Rinse slightly and repeat if necessary. If you achieved a rich lather the first time, no need to repeat. Just rinse out thoroughly, allowing the water to run over the hair while you finger through the tresses to remove the soapy suds.
5. Squeeze excess water out of the hair.

Step 2: Reconditioning
It’s wise to do this next part in sections and once each section has been conditioned and detangled, twist or braid it loosely so as to prevent it from tangling up again.

Directions:

1. When applying conditioner, apply to the ends of your child’s tresses first, saturating the ends, smoothing and working your way up towards the scalp. It is not necessary to start at the scalp.
2. Once saturated, using a wide-tooth comb, Denman brush or double tooth comb, hold the section upon which you are working in a ponytail and start detangling from the ends first, working upwards (the tighter you grasp the hair into a ponytail, the less pain the child will feel). Twist or braid each section prior to moving to the next section.
3. Whiling leaving the hair in twists or braids, rinse the conditioner out, leaving a good 10% of the conditioner in the hair. (If you are deep conditioning right after this step, it is also okay to leave the conditioner in and apply the deep treatment directly on top of it.)

Step 3: Re-hydrating/Deep Conditioning
A deep penetrating, hydrating moisturizing mask should be done at least once a month.

Directions:

1. This type of conditioner can be done with or without heat. However, when heat and a plastic cap are applied, it is more intensive. The heat opens the cuticle layers of the hairs shaft allowing the necessary moisture, protein and oils to penetrate deeper and bond to the inner molecular layers of the strands, which helps repair and strengthen the hair.
2. When deep conditioning, be sure to rinse with a slightly cooler water temperature to seal and lock in all the good stuff for our little ones .

Hope that I was of some help to the guardians of our future manes !

Please feel free to inquire about anything. I would love to hear from you and help guide you through you and your child’s natural hair journey!

Many blessings,

Tameeka McNeil-Johnson
#thecurlwhisperer

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