Teaching my 11 year old cousin her how to style/care for her curly hair

kayaelle

Hi all! I'm hoping some of your moms out there can help me. I don't have kids of my own but I have an 11 year old curly cousin and lots of questions!

My cousin, (her dad, she's technically my cousin once removed), has long reddish straight hair - think Axel Rose from Guns N' Roses. He never cuts his hair.. it's thinning towards the bottom of his ponytail. It would be nice and healthly if he kept up on it... he's a single dad and has not the slightest idea on how to take care of even his own hair, nevermind his 11 year old daughter's.

So his daughter, has never cut her hair to my knowledge. She brushes her cute blonde curls out all the time so it has that sort of wave to it. On Christmas, her mom put gel it in but after it was dry so it was kinda stringy looking - but showed her natural curls. I told her how I loved her curls and how I could come over and show her how to do her hair sometime. She seemed interested! YAY. She lives with her dad and sees her mom often, but obviously doesn't have any curly hair direction from her straight-haired parents.

At this point I don't know cowashing or lopooing is necessary.. Any thoughts on cowashing for an 11 year old?

I'm thinking I can show her how to use a inexpensive/readily available conditioner like L'oreal Pro Vive Nutrigloss and LA Looks Sports gel. I would show her how to leave in some conditioner in and scrunching in the gel into wet hair and then blotting it dry with a pillowcase (also pretty available). Hoepfully with those products, my cousin (or his girlfriend, or her mom) can get the productsbat a local drugstore anytime.

I'm just thinking back to when I was in elementary school and jr. high. I had NO idea I had curly hair - I had never thought about it. I wore it in a ponytail everday and the top layer was straight and the bottom layer was curly (due to brushing and blowdrying). I'm 26 and remember the days of the 90's perms and remember WANTING ONE and not knowing my hair was naturally like that. I discovered it was curly in high school. I just want her to see her beautiful hair and know it's there. She's getting to the point where the way she looks matters to her at school... she's a cheerleader and is starting to "do her hair."

What are some thoughts for her age range, lowpooing or cowashing and showing her how to use conditioner and gel? TIA!

mesocurly

What a sweet cousin you are. My daughter is 10 and I'm passing on to her things I'm learning here. She knows about cowashing, moisturizing and sealing. She's not at the point where I trust her to care for her hair totally on her own, but she's a lot better than I was at that age.

She had a bit of trouble with leaving some of the condish in, so I gave her a spray bottle with watered down conditioner concoction that I made. She can spritz that in after cowashing or whenever her hair starts to feel dry.

We have girly days when we do deep treatments together. We're both 4a, and keeping our hair loose is not an option right now.

Anyway yes, I think its quite possible that your cousin can handle this. You might want to also show her dad too.

kayaelle

Thanks so much for your insight. I forget what it's like to be 11, lol. The spritzing with watered down conditioner is a great idea. I think I might go over her mom's house and kinda show her too so we can keep her on track.

Do you let your daughter use gel on her own or do you normally help her?

subbrock

maybe you could buy her the curly girl book?

i think once everyone starts to see how great her curls can look, they'll be begging you for advice or tips.also, when it comes to hair and/or makeup i let the person im trying to help do all the work. i tell them what to do and let them actually do it. i think it helps people realize that they can do it themselves and it wasnt some special trick that only i know how to do. plus it helps them remember what was actually done.

kayaelle

That's a great idea! I did my other cousins' hair (both in their mid-20's) and told them I wasn't a hairdresser and they could do it themselves. I think helping my 11 year old cousin and having her to the work is a great idea. I am going to her mom's house to show her so that should help too.