It’s not always easy to care for your child’s natural hair. You probably still remember what it was like when you were that age, but detangling and styling are often the least favorite activity in parenting. The good news is that we’ve got tips to help you get through it, and we start by reminding you that you don’t have to handle daily haircare as your mom did. 

Natural hair care with your kids is a learning process. So, start with the basics of detangling, and go from there. We recommend you use a good brush and that you keep those ends trimmed, but we also encourage you to make it fun. Put on some music, tell stories, and make your hair time a time of learning and sharing. It gets so busy that it’s not always easy to put the time into taking care of your kids’ natural hair. Take it one day at a time, and check out our kids’ hair care products for all the support you need.

What Should You Know About Your Child and Their Natural Hair?  

In most cases, we learn from our mothers how to take care of our natural hair, which can be good or bad, depending on our experience growing up. By the time you've had children, you may have also developed more healthy ways to care for your naturally curly hair. And those are the strategies you'll pass on to your kids.  

Either way, you and your child are still learning and growing together. You don't have to do it the way your mom did if it damaged your hair and traumatized you. Here are some tips that are helpful starting points for self-care and grooming for your kids, but they're also important reminders for all of us.  

Begin your detangling when the conditioner is still on your hair.  

Conditioner is essential to the health and vitality of your hair, but it's also crucial to daily hair care and detangling. If you wash all your conditioner out of your child's hair before you start the detangling process, you're washing away an essential ally in your battle against tangles.  

Always detangle from ends to root. 

It sounds too basic, but it does make a difference. You should start detangling your child's hair at the ends of their hair and work your way up to the roots. Not only is it much less painful and traumatizing, but it also causes less breakage and provides a better overall experience.  

Use a good brush or wide-tooth comb for detangling 

A fine-tooth comb just gets stuck in your child's hair, particularly when it's already tangled and out of control. With an excellent detangling brush or a wide-tooth comb, you can more easily work it through your child's hair without the same level of damage or discomfort.  

Keep ends trimmed 

A hair cut is often reserved for the severely chopped-off hairstyle with damaged, mistreated, and unhealthy hair.  

When you were growing up, it may never have felt like a positive thing. But hair trims should be a good thing! It should be a way to cut off the dry and split ends to leave healthy hair. If you maintain a regular schedule for trimming your child's hair, it should continue to be a fun and healthy experience, not something to be dreaded.  

Make weekend hair time fun time 

It's easy to get so caught up in the health of your child's hair that your entire focus is just on doing what is required instead of thinking about how the routine is affecting your kids. Nobody ever said that hair care had to be painful and tedious, but it often is. Put on some music, tell stories, and make your weekend hair time into a fun day. Instead of it being torture, you might just be making some of your favorite memories.  

How Many Times a Week – Hair Care for Nature Hair?  

While hair care doesn't have to be an obsession, you should be tracking when and what type of treatment and care you're giving to your child's hair. With our busy lives, days have a way of getting away from us, and then it's hard even to remember when you last detangled or moisturized. So, here's a quick overview of what to do.  

Moisturize Daily 

Since your child's natural hair is prone to dryness and breakage, it's essential to support and protect their hair with a daily moisturizing routine.  

Detangle after shampooing 

While moisturizing is the top priority, you should also be detangling your child’s hair after every shampooing. If you keep up with this regular detangling, it tends to be easier and more manageable.  

Refresh curls two times a week 

You don’t have to refresh those curls every day, but doing it about two times a week will keep your child’s hair more healthy.  

Which Products Are Best For Your Child’s Everyday Use? 

It's not easy to care for your child's natural hair, but  Luster’s products do make it as streamlined as possible. We're here to help you understand the best (and easiest) ways to wash gently, condition, and detangle your child's hair.  

Even when it’s a challenge, gentle care is the key to helping your child understand the best ways to support their natural hair, with gentle shampoo and conditioner as well as detangling spay or easy-comb detangler to help with the tangle challenge. 

Pink Kids Detangling Spray 

Your child also needs a gentle detangling solution that moisturizes fine, curly, and medium hair types. With the benefits of Provitamin B5, the Pink® Kids Detangling Spray is silicone-free; this helps detangle your child's hair with a leave-in conditioner that offers lasting moisture.  

Easy Comb Detangler 

Here is another "miracle" solution, but this hair care product offers to detangle with superior ease and comfort for your child's hair no matter what the type. The Pink® Kids Easy Comb Detangler Is a tear-free experience, with a leave-in conditioner that includes coconut oil, castor oil, and shea butter.  

Pink Kids Curling Crème 

This curling solution is infused with shea butter and argan oil to strengthen, define, and soften your child’s hair. Combined with the Pink® Kids Detangling Spray for extra moisture, the Pink® Kids Frizz Free Curling Crème supports long-lasting styles. 

Pink Kids Custard 

This hair care product is perfect for frizz-free coily or curly hair, with long-lasting styles like twists and braids. The Pink® Kids Curl Creation Custard for Twists & Braids features moisturization, superior hold, and even detangling with shea butter, coconut oil, and olive oil.  

How Can You Teach Responsibility With Natural Hair Care?  

Natural hair care can sometimes seem challenging to manage. It is important that your child is aware of the condition of their hair and learns how to best care for and protect it. While your kids may think it is a lot to deal with, the experience is part of growing up, and your kids are learning how to take responsibility for themselves, their bodies, and their own hair care needs.

And many kids start exploring self-care and grooming at a relatively early age when they practice on their dolls, friends, or even siblings. When your kids show interest in hair care, styles, and treatments, you can gently nudge them in the right direction to encourage them to continue exploring and learning about healthy self-care and grooming practices.  

What Age Should Kids Start Caring for Their Own Natural Hair? 

You may find that the age of self-hair care may vary for each of your children. It might depend on whether they are ready to take care of their hair, but it can also vary depending on the condition of their hair, if their hair has been treated, and whether they are ready to take on the responsibility of daily hair care. 

In most cases, your child may be ready for self-grooming at 10 or 12 years of age. But if your child shows no interest in self-care and grooming, you may need to encourage, set milestones, and even oversee your child's hair care. If your child's hair is not maintained correctly, it will just lead to damage and a long road back to healthy natural hair.  

How Do You Teach Them About Products and What Works?  

Kids often learn by example, so they'll see that you already love Luster Products. They also love to use products that make them look and feel good about themselves. That's why we've been so careful in developing and testing our kids' product line. We want to make sure they are the right products for kids to support healthy natural hair and make them feel great! 

What’s The Most Difficult Part of Wash Day? 

For many kids, the entire wash day can be stressful, from the sectioning, the detangling, the conditioning, the time it takes, the styling, and beyond. While it's not typically a fun experience for kids, you can make it easier by taking your time, combing it out from the ends to the roots (NOT the other way around), by using lots of conditioners. An important tip that helps parents detangle their child's hair is shampooing in sections to help reduce tangling or applying conditioner before shampooing.