This Quick Trick is a little bit funny to me.
It’s not about how to make the school year a success. It’s not about how to teach kids to tie their shoes. And it’s not about how to use magnetic letters or how to keep kids busy in line or how we force game-playing manners upon our troops.
I honestly thought I’d never write anything like this.
I never thought I’d need little-girl tangley long-hair trick–my girls always had cute short cuts, easy to style and easy to brush.
But times are a-changin’, so here it is.
I totally stole this one from one of my incredibly smart pals, tweaked it a little, and made it my own.
Here’s the silky-smooth skinny:
- The Fancy Brush–Avoiding Tangled Hair and Tearful Mornings: My girls finally have hair that touches their shoulders, looooong, luxurious hair that blows when they walk and that bounces in their ponytails. Long hair that they love and have begged me to never cut.
Personally, I’m a fan of cute bobs in little girls, short hair that can be washed and dries quickly, hair that doesn’t require a swim cap in the summer or no-more-tangle spray after showers.
My thought is that if we can avoid a bump in the road (knots in long hair), then let’s take try a different route (short hair). But for my two sweets, short hair is not their current choice. So I’m trying to step back a bit, let them make more choices, and let them learn a little along the way.
How much more fancy can a brush get, really?
I can’t stand the knotty hair battle. It seems to happen every morning, when the girls come running to me with a hairbrush and ponytail holder, asking for piggies or a pony or a braid.
So when my pal was telling me that she, too couldn’t stand the knotty hair battle so she made a deal with her girls: they brushed first, and they brushed out the knots; whatever was left was for Mom to handle, no complaints, no tears, or no ponytail.
I liked it.
But I knew Maddy and Cora wouldn’t buy it without a little sugar, so when I saw fancy brushes on sale a few weeks ago, I let them each pick one out.
You may each choose a fancy brush, I said. But there’s one condition: you use this fancy brush to take out all of the knots in your hair every single day. You brush first, and then I brush your hair and style it. And the minute there are tears from me brushing your hair too hard or hurting you by brushing through knots, I take the brush and we cut your hair. Comprende?
I will not put ponies in your hair if you are going to be crying each morning. I won’t do it. It’s not fair to me, to Owen, or to Brady to listen to this first thing in the morning. So from this point forward, if you want long hair, you handle the knots like big girls.
And that’s it. Only a few days in, but we’ve been tangle-free each morning. Woot! Huuuuuge thanks to my pal Sandy for the inspiration!
How much more fancy can a brush get, really?
Just a little, silly Quick Trick for handling tangley hair. Here’s to hoping we’re over the worst of our knots. . .
May I recommend Biosilk? It’s expensive for a tiny little bottle, but a little goes a REALLY long way, and it works like MAGIC to get the tangles out. You just kind of rub it on your hands and then run your hands through their hair and the knots are GONE. Seriously. (I swear I’m not paid to endorse this product. I don’t even own any; my sister let me borrow some of hers and HOLY COW.)
Erin! I will look for it! My sister works in a salon, so maybe she could work me a deal. . . Thank you!! (I’ll let you know if she knows of a place to find it inexpensively!)
The best way I’ve found to avoid tearful tangledy mornings is to wash hair with conditioner and comb it through while in the bath, then BRAID it ASAP. It stays sleek and dries while she sleeps, and in the morning – no tangles. Plus, it’s all ripply, which she loves. So, we can either leave it down and ripply, or put it up, but either way there are so many fewer tangles. What a relief!
LOVE the idea of a braid–but I am not sure my girls’ hair is quite that long. . . I will keep it in the back of my mind, though, and certainly try it! Thank you! And the conditioner idea is super–I can probably do that and let it dry from there. . .
Here’s a tip for combing and brushing out knots…start at the bottom of the knot instead of the top of it. If you try to just pull right through the knot, it just gets worse and it hurts. If you start at the bottom, it works a lot better.
April! Great advice!! I’ll pass it on to my two little de-tanglers tomorrow morning!!
This sounds like a good idea. I love long hair on girls, but unfortunatley my daughter’s hair curls up & looks short. It’s always tangled, so I might try this. Some days she won’t let me comb it & will only sometimes let me put a barrett in.
Let me know how it goes for you! The friend who I took the idea from has two daughters, and one has exactly the hair you’re describing (sounds like my own!) Good luck!
Amy — I also love “It’s a Ten” product. One tiny squirt works as a WONDERFUL detangler, I use it on my own hair. It’s another salon only product but fabulous. Saves us a lot of tears around here. Expensive but lasts forever.
Also a “tangle tamer” comb to use at bath time (trick from my hair stylist mother in law)
And…finally, I use kid shampoo (burts bees or california baby) on both of my girls but momma’s grown up conditioner (pantene or l’oreal) and it actually detangles wonderfully— kid conditioners just don’t cut it.
Love that fancy brush, I have a little princess girly who would love it too! ; )
xoxo MaryLea
MaryLea!! Thank you sooo much for jumping in and sharing your ‘detangler’ advice. I’ll take it! (And we’re putting a date on the calendar soon for a get together!!) xoxo
Super cute!!
thanks, soooo much, Kelli!
Where did you find that brush? So cute!
Laura–I *think* it was CVS. . . or Target. Pretty sure it was Target–it was early summer, which at this point seems like a lifetime ago. Sorry!
I think I will need this trick very very soon. My newly two daughter loves her long hair!
Becki–please let me know how it goes for you–and do share a picture of your ‘fancy brush’ if you find a cool one!!
if only! b is also in the long hair stage, but refuses! to put it into any sort of style other than what i affectionately call “the wild woman” look! no ponytails, piggies or headbands in this house–even though we have a drawer full! i’ve tried every trick in the book for her hair and nothing works! she’s got this hair that’s not quite straight and not curly, it just knots up like crazy! oh well! at least her clothes are matching of late! 🙂
good. luck. so hard, right?? I was thinking of you with my attempts at Spanish in my latest post. Luckily my pal Sandie caught that I wrote ‘esposa’ instead of ‘esposo’ at the end. . . how funny!?? Hope you are well. . . can we *finally* make a HoCo library date this fall? Or coffee?
I’m struggling with this right now with my 4 1/2 year old. GREAT idea. I may just pick up a fancy brush on the way home….although, maybe not, since picking out her own would probably be more incentive. Our other problem is that she doesn’t like to have hairstyles, so its just flying in her face ALL THE TIME. Can you solve that issue for me?
Roya. . . my youngest refused hair accessories, so she had a bob with bangs for the first 3 years of her life. I’m sure I totally screwed her up, so I bet she’ll have long hair until she’s 100. . .
Have you tried the tangle teezer brush? We got one a couple months ago and there is very little complaining now when brushing my daughter’s hair.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003GDK6F2/ref=oh_o04_s01_i02_details
Have to check it out, Jennifer!! Thank you!!
Amy, great post-there is something to be learned everywhere, right?! Juliana and I also came up with another little trick-as soon as she starts wincing in the slightest bit, I say “time to sing your song!” And she’ll start singing the ABC’s or Mary Had a Little Lamb, or whatever else she wants-it’s a great distraction for her and before we know it we’re done!
Kate!! LOVE that–I need to start that with mine. Or is almost-5 too old for ‘the song’? 🙂