Products I use on my little angel's hair

My 17 month old has fine, soft, curly hair. It means that some of the products I use on my hair, particularly the heavy butters and creams, or anything too oily, don't work on her. They weigh down her hair, leaving it limp and greasy. 

I also choose to use different products on my LO than I do on myself as I want her products to be as natural as possible. This means avoiding products with tons of ingredients and looking for naturally derived and organic ingredients. 

The trouble is that these products are comparatively expensive, considering the bottle sizes, and I would need to use too much on my hair to make it financially viable. The only product we share is a shampoo, because we both use so little of it. 

Co-washing

Faith in Nature Chocolate Conditioner

Price: 695/- for a 250ml bottle at Healthy U

Ingredients: 

• Aqua (water from the Lake District)
• Cetyl stearyl alcohol*
• Brassica oleifera*
• Theobroma cacao** (cocoa)
• Melaleuca alternifolia*
• Salvia officinalis** (sage)
• Cetrimonium chloride*

* vegetable origin

** certified organic

I co-wash her hair and detangle with a wide tooth comb every day at bath time using Faith in Nature's Chocolate conditioner for dark hair. I love FiN conditioners. They have a wide variety, with seaweed for dry hair, with pomegranates for anti-oxidants etc. I tried quite a few on her before I settled on this one. It is quite light, which suits her fine hair, but still has great slip for detangling. And it smells gorgeous! 

Leave-in conditioner

I mix her a leave-in in her own spritz bottle which contains:

Kinky Curly Knot Today

Price: 1900/- for an 8oz/236ml bottle from local importer, Elisheba Muturi email: aunaturelleconcepts@gmail.com

Ingredients: 

• Organic mango fruit extract
• Organic slippery elm
• Organic marshmallow root
• Organic lemongrass
• Cetyl alcohol
• Behentrimonium methosulfate
• Citric acid
• Phenoxyethanol
• Natural fragrance

This product is a leave-in conditioner/detangler and has great reviews online. It also makes lofty claims on the bottle so, although I was eager to try it, I was a little skeptical about how well it would really work. I was wrong. It is awesome. The slip it provides is quite spectacular. Left to its own devices, my daughter's hair is very dry and tangles easily. It is tempting to pile products on to counter this but, as I mentioned earlier, it is also so fine that it gets weighed down easily. This product goes on too thick for her hair on its own; I find it works better when diluted. Which is great because it means the bottle lasts much longer. A little goes a long way; I find that if I go a few days without co-washing, it builds up on her hair quite easily. In this case, simply spritzing her hair with water seems to reactivate the product and I can get a few more days out of her wash and go. This is definitely a staple as far as I am concerned. 

Dr Adorable Inc Jojoba Oil

Price: Purchased online at amazon.com 12oz for $14.99

Locally available at Healthy U for 2800/- for 110ml/- 

Ingredients: Pure Cold Pressed Organic Jojoba Oil

Distilled water

Price: 500/- for a 5 litre jerrycan from MimosaPharmacy 

I mix about 1 part KCKT to 2 parts of distilled water and add a few drops of jojoba oil for extra shine and sealing. I spray this mix on her hair after co-washing and rake through with my fingers. It also works great for detangling her hair if we are out and about and have no time for a co-wash. I spray her hair, let it sit for a few minutes to absorb, then detangle with a wide tooth comb. 

Shampoo

Tints of Nature Sulfate-free shampoo

Price: 895 for a 250ml/- bottle at Healthy U

Ingredients: 

• Aqua/Water/Eau
• **Cocamidopropyl Betaine 
• **Lauryl Glucoside 
• Coco-glucoside 
• Polysorbate 20
• **Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein 
• **Glyceryl Laurate 
• PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate
• **Hydrolyzed Wheat Gluten 
• Panthenol
• Glucose Oxidase
• Lactoperoxidase
• Parfum
• Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate
• *Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe) Leaf Juice 
• *Anthemis Nobilis (Chamomile) Flower Extract 
• Polyquatermium-10
• Citric Acid
• Glucose
• Limonene
• Linalool

* Soil Association Organic Standard

** ECOCERT

If you follow this link, they even provide a breakdown of all the ingredients, where they are derived from and their functions. Two thumbs up from me!

I like this shampoo a lot. It isn't drying at all and doesn't give you that squeaky clean feeling. I haven't bothered trying another sulfate-free shampoo for comparison because I'm super happy with this one. 

I only wash mine and LO's hair with it one a month so it lasts a long time. I've had one bottle over a year now, but I have a back-up bottle already purchased so I don't get caught short. 

And there you have it. As minimalist as possible. She doesn't like her hair fussed with and it's quite short right now anyway so, apart from bath time, we generally just leave her hair be a wild, curly fro. I wouldn't have it any other way.