Hannah’s hair is long. Really long. Halfway down her back long (and she’s only 2 and a half years old, so it’s been long for pretty much her entire life). Well, it was until the weekend, when I took her to the hairdressers for a trim and they hacked 2+ inches off. And they cut more hair into her fringe, after I SPECIFICALLY told them not to. Why don’t hairdressers ever listen? Anyway, that’s so not the point.
“I DON’T WANT TO HAVE A BATH!!!!!!!!!!” Hannah would scream when it was hair washing time. She used to be fine with me washing her hair. She’d lay down in the tub and I’d use my hand to gently rinse out her tear-free conditioning shampoo. Occasionally it would get in her eyes. But that didn’t matter, it was no more tears. She didn’t care.
As her hair got longer though, conditioning shampoo just didn’t do it for her. It was fine for the shampoo part. But she needed a stand alone conditioner. Something to nourish her hair and help me comb her awful tangles out. 2 year olds get a lot of tangles.
I went in search of a baby/toddler product to use. But I found nothing. Not one stand alone conditioner for babies or toddlers.
So I decided to just use my conditioner on her. It was going great for a while. Her hair was strong, healthy and shiny and non straw-like.
But then one day whilst using my hand as a cup to rinse out that lovely conditioner from her hair, the tiniest little drop of mostly water with a little bit of conditioner in it got in her eye. Worst. Clumsy Moment. Ever. Sigh.
She screamed. The white of her eye went an angry shade of red. Tears flew out of her eyes. Snot descended from her nose. Her mouth emitted way too much drool. And it lasted for ages.
Ever since that day, she has been terrified of getting her hair washed. I had to hold her down in the bottom of the bathtub (which obviously wasn’t filled very high) while she screamed and kicked just so I could wash the days gunk out of her hair. I started forcing her to wear her hair up (she doesn’t particularly like it up) so it wouldn’t get food, glue, paint, playdoh, etc. in it. I only washed it once or twice per week to avoid melt downs.
And then I got a wonderful email. There is now a conditioner for toddlers. A no tears, toddler specific stand alone conditioner. And, they wanted me to try it for free, along with the shampoo, and detangler. YES THANKS!
When they arrived, I told Hannah the package was for her. I told her she would have her very own hair stuff that wouldn’t hurt her eyes. She was very excited.
She still screamed for the next few baths. I got some in her eye accidentally. She screamed for about a bit, but then realised it didn’t actually hurt. Now, she doesn’t scream in the bath at all. Instead, she has fun in there like she used to.
Her hair is so easy to comb out now. When I was using my conditioner on her, it still took a few minutes to comb out the tangles. Now I put the Johnson and Johnson No More Tangles Conditioner in her hair, and it takes about 20 seconds to comb it out in the bath. And the best part? If she doesn’t want to rinse out the conditioner, she doesn’t have to. You can leave it in.
I was skeptical of leaving it in. I thought it would make her hair look greasy and yuck. But it didn’t. It looked and felt exactly the same as when we rinsed it out.
And the detangler? That’s great too. When Hannah wakes up in the morning, head full of tangles from sleeping on it all night, I
just spray it with detangler, and quickly and easily brush it out. Simple. And awesome. I use it on me too for the same reason. Plus it smells nice.
I’ve always used Johnson and Johnson shampoo on her hair, so there’s nothing to compare to with that one.
Hannah’s hair was a tad bit shinier when I was using my conditioner in her hair, but I’d trade a bit of shine for easy to comb and doesn’t make her eyes red any day of the week. Plus, she’s 2, she doesn’t need super shiny hair.
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Mommy Adventures 
I’m stil searching for the right product for my youngest! She’s bi-racial and has the curliest hair. When wet, it’s halfway down her back, but when dry, it doesn’t even touch her shoulders, it’s that curly! I feel so bad trying to comb it, tangles galore! It’s the one area where I find adopting biracial children to be a challenge… When my Hannah was little I could fix her hair a thousand ways, but this hair just has me spinning in circles trying to figure it out!
The Johnson’s no more tangles products are supposed to be good for curly hair too. Doesn’t hurt to try them, they don’t cost much. How old is your youngest?
Hmm, I’ll have to suggest the conditioner to my mom. I have a 5 year old sister with the thickest hair, and she hates having her hair washed and brushed. The spray has been out in the states for awhile, and works but certainly an extra step wont hurt. Heck,will try it with my curly headed two year old boy… Thanks
No worries. I can’t even tell you how excited I was when I found out about it.
I can imagine, if helps with the “looks like mommy didnt brush my hair, even though she did it twice” thing, Ill be very happy…. It drives me nuts, but it seems like the only way to do that is cut his hair entirely off but I am not going to do that, I LOVE his curly hair
Yeah, totally know what you mean! And yes, it does help with that, thank goodness. It did in Hannah’s hair anyway. Hers is stick straight (but tangles really really easily!), so I can’t personally vouch for curly hair, but worth a try, it’s supposed to work with curls too 🙂