Would it be wrong to put conditioner in unmanageable children's hair?

I don't think you're ever too young to learn healthy hair habits.  I used conditioner when I was very young, and that was long before they made conditioners especially for children.  

I use conditioner on my daughters wavy hair,otherwise it would be hard to detangle after shampooing(even though it´s in a shoulderlength blunt cut,must be the waves in her hair).Although I personally like silicones,I try to keep the shampoo/conditioner for my children silicone-free.

I have a young neighbor girl with classic length hair.  Her mother did not have her using conditioners on her hair and the detangling process took hours after washing.  When I introduced her to conditioners, the detagling process was reduced to 15 minutes and she has much less hair loss.  

I think conditioners should be used when warranted by the hair, not the person's age.

As a person with super curly hair, I wouldn't have had any hair as a kid if it weren't for conditioner - it would have all been cut off when cutting out the knots!

I had *very* short hair to help manage the tangles, but it didn't really solve much of the problem if I didn't use some sort of conditioner on it.  The 2-in-1 stuff never worked all that well for me either.

I know Johnson&Johnson's makes a kid's spray-in detangler (I have a bottle of the generic version for my own use).  Something like that would probably also help.

I use a Herbal Essences spray leave-in conditioner. It is meant to "revive your hair of oils lost due to blow-drying" and I bought it because I used to blow dry my hair. Don't worry I don't do it anymore! But anyway, I hardly used it and when my cousin came to me to have her hair done ( ;D I love doing their long hair! They are 6 and 9, two cute little girls with mid-back length hair!), her hair wouldn't brush! I could comb it only when wet and it dries very quickly, so I used this in her hair and it really helped. (It also says "great for spot detangling," which is very true). Her mother doesn't like me to use things in her hair though, so I guess I'll have to go with just... not doing her hair for a while! She has lovely curls and the older one has slightly wavy hair which brushes a lot easier!

I use a detangler for my son's hair. He is 17 and has been growing his hair out for about a year and a half. It is shoulder blade length and really wavy/curly. He has fabulous hair. Anyway, he uses conditioner and still gets some tangles. I have been useing De-Tangler for Kids by Rainbow Research. I get through my whole-foods co-op but I did a search on google and found it at a lot of places. I like it 'cause it isn't so chemically. Plus it is animal-friendly  :D

Jenna

I use conditioner on my 3-year-old daughter's hair. Spray detanglers don't do the trick for her. Her hair is super straight, but tangles badly because it is so fine. She's also prone to split ends, hence the conditioner.

I also sometimes spray her hair with my aloe spray that I make, if there are stubborn knots.

I have used conditioner on my daughter since she had enough hair to condition, and on my boys. Now my oldest girl is 12 and if she don't have conditioner she will have a fit. She says her hair is "gross" without it. My 8 year old girl also is stuck on conditioner now (step daughter, only been in her life a yr) She has even had her grandma go buy her "the good stuff" as she calls it.

Hi my daughter is 1 and i do a deep treat on her once a week to define her ringlets.

For those of you who condition kids hair, how often do you do it? If I look at my daughter wrong her fine hair tangles and knots. Combing after shower used to take 30 minutes before I found this website and starting using a wide-tooth comb. Also, what kinds of brushes for kids hair? I bought her this cheap one that was supposed to be painless on knots - and it is, because it does absolutely nothing for her knots.

Oh, oh! One other question. I always, always braid my daughter's hair before bed and when she gets up, all the hair at the beginning of her hairline won't stay for long, no matter what kind of braid. Does anyone have any recommendation on whether or not i should use clips and what kind? I was thinking of bobby pins, but i don't know of anything that might be comfortable enough for her to sleep with that would stay AND be gentle to her hair.

Thank you for any advice!

Thalia

Hi Thalia,
I don't have any kids (yet!) but I do have a little sister who has long, fine hair which also tangles, like mine, with the tiniest of movement  ::)
She uses a Mason & Pearson boar bristle hairbrush.  I also got one of these for Christmas (yay!) and I absolutely swear by it!  They come in all sorts of varities for different hair types and my little sis uses the one designed for kids hair.  They are pricey, but def worth the investment.
JL

Conditioner is a MUST, regardless of age. Especially for fine hair which is most prone to tangles.

As for combs, the same rules apply to childrens' hair as to adults: no seams! Wide tooth seamless combs are best for detangling hair, wet or dry.

And Thalia, my dear, if your daughter's hair is fine or thin, please do her a favour and stop braiding it at night. Fine hair breaks very easily and putting anything in it - even something that seems as harmless as a seamless ponytail holder - can cause breakage. And absolutely refrain from putting clips or pins of any sort in her hair while sleeping. This will just make the problem worse.
   The reason for this is that people do not sleep like corpses - they move. And hair can get rolled over on, pulled, etc. If fine hair is in a braid, the pressure of this on certain areas while sleeping can cause hair to break. I myself have fine, thin hair and always wear it loose for sleeping, so my best advice would be to buy her a satin pillowcase. Or even better, satin sheets! Mine have been a lifesaver for my hair.

Anyway, HTH.  ;)

Thank you for the advice! I'll have to shop around for a satin pillowcase for her and stop braiding her hair at night, I didn't think that braiding at night could cause more damage than it could prevent.

Thank you thank you!

Not a prob.  8-)