Brushing Your Child's Hair

Hands up (or should that be right-click?) those of you who have chased an almost screaming child across the room, waving a brush in the vain hope that you can prevent them looking like scarecrows? This had become a bit of a theme in my house, until we decided to give up and just let the nursery staff do it when she went in twice a week! She looked lovely when she came home (she let them do it there because all the other girls were getting their hair done) but her hair would be all matted at the back the following morning, and the bathroom would echo to the loud "Noooooooooooooooo!" when we did try and do something about it.

So, I made a concerted effort to see how we could make life easier. And I think I have cracked it...

There are a number of options you can try:

• Prevention - don't let it get that bad in the first place.. An occasional brush during the day will keep lots of the tangles in baby hair away. I think that nursery do her hair after meals. I'm never going to be that committed, but probably twice a day I can manage.
• A spray-in hair detangler. You can get these in supermarkets and the like. I have mixed feelings about these. I did spray some in my hair and found the perfume over-powering. I wouldn't want it in my hair all day. I'm sure they do have an effect, but the one I tried was minimal - I might have been unlucky as other parents I know swear by it.
• Save your money and instead get a spray bottle that you can fill with water. This will have a similar effect to the detangling sprays, without the strong perfume or chemicals.
• My personal favourite. Leave-in conditioner. My daughter is not a hair washing fan (I don't think many children are) and we had tried conditioner, but this needed to be rinsed out - more tantrums. The leave in stuff has worked an absolute charm. It made it easier for us to comb her hair through whilst wet, and was still performing miracles in the morning - bouncy, wavy hair without that "dragged through a hedge backwards" look. Wonderful.

I also heard about the idea of making hair brushing a bit of a game. Children love games, right? So, grab that brush and chase away the Naughty Knots. Remember to hold the hair between the knot and their head if at all possible to stop the pulling, and take just one knot rather than a stack at a time (boyfriend has yet to crack this one - let's just say she prefers me to do it, if you can have a preference about something you hate...)

I am hoping that this situation is just a phase and once we invest in some nice hair clips and grips she will show more of an interest in nice hair. After all, she is the queen of "cream!" - most of my moisturisers get grabbed and smeared eveywhere...