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When you first bring your baby home from the hospital, there is so much to do and remember regarding care. How often am I supposed to feed her? How many wet diapers is she supposed to make in a day? When is her umbilical stump supposed to fall off? With so many pressing issues on top of being completely sleep deprived, it’s easy for something like hair care to fall by the wayside. However, if you want to give your infant’s hair the healthiest start possible, it’s best that you begin implementing a routine early. Not to worry, we’ve got you covered with simple but effective hair care routines to carry you through the first year of your baby’s life.
0-3 Months
The Essentials:
- Head-to-toe baby wash
- Oil of your choosing
- Soft bristle baby brush and comb
During the first few months of your baby’s life, all she really needs is gentle cleansing agent and a light oil. At this age, a baby-friendly head-to-toe wash should do the trick for cleansing baby’s hair. Shea Moisture has an amazing infant care line with scents so lovely they will have you sniffing your little one’s hair day and night. Burt’s Bees tear-free head-to-toe wash and California Baby’s head-to-toe wash are also popular options among mommy circles. In addition, a light oil to lock the moisture into baby’s hair after a wash is ideal. I opted to use Jamaican Black Castor Oil on my newborn after noticing that olive oil didn’t have much of an impact on her curly ‘fro. Whichever oil you choose, it’s best to only test out one at a time as your little one’s allergies are likely unclear at this early stage. In addition, a soft baby brush is needed to gently brush the tangles out of her hair.
The Routine:
Washing baby’s hair anywhere from once a week to every two weeks should suffice. It’s easiest to do this during bath time. After washing and towel blotting her air, gently massage the oil into your little one’s hair. For this age, adding oil once per week immediately following a wash should suffice; however, if you see that your newborn’s hair is noticeably dry, you can go ahead and apply more as needed.
3-6 months
The Essentials:
- Head-to-toe baby wash
- Oil of your choosing
- Soft bristle baby brush
- Baby bonnet
- Comb
Depending on the texture and thickness of your infant’s hair, somewhere around 3 months, you may find that baby wash and oil is no longer cutting it. Due to the thickness of my daughter’s hair, I was not able to run a comb through it while dry and had to begin adding more products to her regimen. While looking for products to help moisturize her hair, I quickly realized that there aren’t too many hair moisturizers for infants. So I added a wash out conditioner and curling cream moisturizer from the Shea Moisture Kids line. It was also at this point that I introduced a baby bonnet to protect her hair while she sleeps at night. We found ours on Amazon, but there are adorable little baby bonnets all over the web.
The Routine:
Wash your baby’s hair every one to two weeks with a head-to-toe wash of your choosing. When needed, incorporate a gentle, kid-friendly conditioner that you apply to her hair after washing. Gently comb through her hair with the conditioner in for easy and painless detangling, then wash it out. From there, you can proceed to add the moisturizer and oil of your choosing. I personally find that I only need to moisturize my daughter’s hair once during the week before our next wash, but you’ll have to pay close attention to your little one’s tresses to see what her needs are. To prevent moisture loss and breakage, try adding a baby bonnet to her nighttime ensemble.
6-12 months
The Essentials:
- Head-to-toe baby wash or kid-friendly shampoo/co-wash
- Moisturizer
- Conditioner
- Oil of your choosing
- Brush
- Baby bonnet
- Wide-tooth comb
- Detangling spray
When it comes to the essentials, not much changes except perhaps the types of styling tools you use and the products. By the time you darling is a year old, you’ll likely notice that her hair has undergone quite the transformation and is much thicker than when she was first born. To keep up with the changing needs of her natural locs, you may want to begin using wider toothed combs and a harder brush. Around this time, you may also need to upgrade your little one’s product rotation. For most, kid-friendly sulfate-free shampoos, conditioners, and moisturizers should suffice; however some parents have found that their kids’ hair textures actually require more grown-up products.
The Routine:
Continue to cleanse baby’s hair every one to two weeks. Always follow up with conditioner and perhaps even a deep conditioner. As her hair continues to grow, you may notice that you need to moisturize and seal her hair more frequently. A good schedule to follow is every two days. If you find that you’re struggling to remember to moisturize throughout the week, try adding it to an already existing routine such as bath time.
