Hair Washing Tips For Biracially Curlee Hair & Diva R's Regime from Day 1-Present :)

The following are tried and proven tips as well as advice that i am giving on behalf of experiences, as well as from professionals i have met along the way. *What works for some may not EXACTLY work for another, but tweeking ones styles and making your own from them or a combination of different ones ensures that you will be able to find what works for you* It may take time but there is a product for everyone now adays. Literally.

Diva R's hair washing regime in the beginning consisted of Johnson and Johnsons baby shampoo no conditioner. Her hair was super fine and straight as a board.  It didn't require any moisturizer or any special type of care for about 2 1/2 years and then i noticed her hair begin to slightly change color and texture.  It went from being jet black and straight to being jet black and puffy with wavy curls stickin up everywhere to changing to deep cocoa brown with a tint of red ( She gets the red hint from her MaMa ^_^) and then  began to grow into ringlet curls with a definite S pattern and was filling out more downwards than up :P.

After she was 2 1/2 i began to use different products on her hair and noticed that as her hair changed it required MORE than what it did previously. So i stopped washing her hair with the Johnsons products as i found they began to dry her hair out. (Johnson and Johnsons products are not good for Biracial Hair) I moved on to Kids organic wash because it was the closest to natural i could find at the time and we liked it.

I would just fill up her bath with bubbles an wash her hair with the Kids Organics Shampoo and just spray a leave in conditioner in after i washed out her shamp. The leave ins that we used to use were by Kids Organics, Hi-Image, Olive Oil Sprays and such like that, they also were detanglers. I NEVER detangle her hair if it is not wet i have learned that is a good rule to live by. These products weren't too bad as detanglers but they didn't keep her hair moisturized at all.

I began investigating good hair moisturizers on the store shelves. I figured any product that had natural ingredients in them would be ok to use. So i started with the Dark and Lovely for Kids, Carson and Soft sheen, Kids Organics, and so on. Her hair began to grow like crazy at this period (growth spurt) and then just stopped growing for some time... Or at least growing very slowly.

Her hair is still her natural deep cocoa brown w/ red tint and hasn't changed so i think it will stay this color and her curls are S shape and medium in size. Diva's curl pattern throughout her hair stays the same but in some random spots she will have curls that i have to finger twirl the opposite way for them to be uniform with the others. Diva R has thinner hair on the top front and sides of her head, and her mids/ends are much fuller than scalp areas it is naturally fluffy and wavy/curly.

CURRENTLY
Diva R's washing regime is as follows

Now i am Using the Bee Mine washing system on Diva Rs hair it consists of the Bee Mine Botanical Shampoo and The Bee Mine Avacado Conditioner/Bee Lovely Conditioner. We Love this over all products we have tried thus far It really provides her hair with wonderful results. The shampoo goes a long way with just a little amount each use. Since her hair requires alot of extra moisturizers and detangling i find that the natural products are best on her hair type. The conditioners really do make her hair cloud soft! and fluffy with great manageability and a heavenly scent. After i condition her hair i leave it in for 10 minutes and wash it out. I then squeeze dry her hair slightly and put in our moisturizer of choice be it the Juicy Spritz or Luscious Balanced Moisturizer or both and air dry her hair the rest of the way. Nothing more, nothing less.

Here are some washing tips that may help you build your own washing regime that works for you.

1. If you would like to take down your child's hair a good idea would be to do it while your child is in the bath and consistently run water through it with the aid of your choice shampoo and you will see how easy it is to get braids/twists out and rubber bands off the ends so gently they slid off gently. (Quicker than cutting them out and more preserving on the hair than pulling or untwisting them out)

2. NEVER unwrap rubber bands out of or off of the hair that will break, rip out, pull and dry and damage your hair beyond belief I suggest that you make sure the hair is wet before taking them out to lessen your chances of stressing the hair while removing them.

3. Make sure your wash water is warm and fresh, a great compliment to warm and fresh water is a filter over your shower head helping to remove some/most of the impurities in the water before they hit your hair.

4. Try steaming up the bathroom while your washing your hair so that when your done washing and conditioning as desired you can have the steaminess of the bathroom opening your pores and follicles and in return allowing deeper penetration of your moisturizer if you apply it following.

5. Apply the moisturizer and/or deep conditioner right after you dry the hair partly in what ever fashion works for you, after you/your child gets out of the bath/shower and for optimum sinking in of the treatment just applied try leaving a warm towel wrapped around the hair and let it condition deeply and then remove the towel as desired.

6. You could also try a plastic cap, saran wrap, a cloth, a shirt or what ever you'd like to wrap your hair with to give it that seal of moisture after the wash if a towel isn't preferred.

7. Make sure you get to know your product ingredients! I cant stress this enough! Google hair product ingredients  or harmful hair product ingredients and switch up the words you use and you'd be surprised the information that is out there on these harmful hair strippers that we didn't even know existed and they are right in our bathrooms! Click on one of these links to learn more about these harmful everyday chemicals that are hindering beautiful hair!
http://www.healthycommunications.com/harmfulingredients1.html ,
http://www.healthfoodemporium.com/index_dangerous-ingredients.php

8. WASH your hair/child's hair frequently, if its once a week that works best for you than DO IT! I wash Divas hair 2-3 times a week on average. I don't recommend not washing the hair for months, we all know that is funky... It needs to be washed or at least co washed regularly.

Check out these links for more Biracial Hair Care Tips :)
http://www.naturallycurly.com/topics/view/biracial-kids This one has alot of reviews on products specified by hair type, and if you don't know your hair type this is the BEST site for learning what type your hair is!, I learned that Diva R is type 2a fine and type 3b

http://www.mixtkids.com/?p=4

http://adoption.about.com/od/africanamericanhaircare/ss/blackhaircare.htm * This one has ALOT of information :)

Hope this helps someone :)
God Bless.

Diva R's Mommy-Kim
loveyourgirlsbiracialcurls