Hair Battles

Sky's hair has always been a bit of a touchy subject between she and I.  When we met her for the first time, her hair was short and pulled into tiny little pony tails.  I was excited to have a daughter and to do her hair but she wouldn't have anything to do with me touching her hair for the first few months.  It wasn't until we returned to Kwajalein and then took a short trip to Roi that we discovered the secret to doing Sky's hair : distraction.

My first time putting ponytails in Sky's hair

  While we started with Doritos, we moved on to doing her hair during a TV show before school.  That worked for a long time until we were on a trip to the States for the holidays.  A combination of dry air and car seats made a mess of her hair and we decided to avoid the issue all together by getting her hair cut.  

We kept the adorable page-boy style for about two years until Sky decided that she wanted hair like Rapunzel.  Unfortunately for both she and I, Sky is naturally tender-headed and doesn't forgive the pain of hair brushing easily.  I wanted to let her express herself and have the long hair she wanted but we had a lot of fights in the mornings about taking care of it.  We ended up making a deal: she could have her long hair but she had to let me brush it and put it up every day.

Which brings us to now.  Our deal has fallen apart and she and I have been having some knock-down drag-out fights over her hair in the mornings.  Is it her sensory issues?  Is it her (understandable) desire for control?  I don't know but fighting with her about this has had a really crushing effect on my attitude, so much so that my whole day feels ruined before she even catches the bus.  I can't keep feeling that way so we've made a new deal.  Sky can keep her long hair and I will simply redo the same hair style every day:
 So far, this new deal is working and while I miss being able to style her hair in a different way each day, I don't miss the fights and tears.

Do you have a child with long hair?  How do you handle taking care of it?

See where I'm linking up here

Comments

  1. She is so beautiful! Detangler is a good place to start with little girl's hair, and a wet brush after washing and conditioning. Let her learn to start styling on her own to get some of the tangles out and you finish it up. Those are just some ideas from my own experience with daughters and granddaughters. But don't feel alone, it is an eternal struggle for most mom's and daughters with long hair.

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    1. Oooh, detangling spray! I forgot all about that. My mom used to use No-More-Tears on my hair when I was little. I'll get something like that and we'll give it try. Thanks for the tip!

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  2. I recently found the con air tangle blaster brush at our local store, and it has made a huge difference with my daughter age 7 who has a very sensitive scalp. Hairbrushing is much better now! I even got one for myself, since I have waist length hair, and I really like it. I saw it's available on Amazon. This has truly been a lifesaver for us. Blessings! Erica

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    1. Hi Erica, thanks for the brush recommendation. We could actually use one because the brush that Sky and I use is the same one that I've been using since I was her age- a wide head bristle brush from Avon. I'll look for the con-air one since we're definitely going to need a replacement soon.

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