 Our CG-friendly products correspond with the approved products in the Danish Facebook groups CurlyGirl DK and Curly Girl metoden. Join these Facebook groups to read more, and if you have any doubts, please check with your CG-group. |
Natural hair care is becoming today's trend, and we are always searching the market, in order to supply you with the best natural products for curly hair, without harsh ingredients. We select the best hair products for curly hair and have made a special curly-girl-friendly category for product without silicone, sulphate and other harsh ingredients.
If you follow the CG-method, look out for the CG-friendly mark in the product description. We add as many ingredient lists as possible. However, please note that ingredients are subject to sudden changes by the manufacturers, which we are not always able to discover in time.
|
Hair and skin care for children of colour
|
If you are the mother of an adopted child from Africa and need some advice on caring for afro hair, we have put together some tips here: Children with dark skin tend to have dry skin and therefore need extra care. Their skin should be treated daily with a rich cream or an oil-based lotion. Cocoabutter cream is a popular product and available in different consistencies from different manufacturers. If you find such a cream is too greasy, cocoabutter is also available as a lotion. If you don't want to go for the cocoa butter, you can buy a rich cream at the pharmacy. Our experience is that it should be a regular ritual every morning to care for the children's skin - every day, summer and winter, all year round. If you forget it for a while, the skin can quickly dry out and become irritable and begin to itch. |
 |
Help, the hair gets tangled!
Curls are beautiful, but not always fun to comb in the morning. We've spoken with several parents of adopted children from Africa who were quite desperate about the unmanageable curls that were impossible to comb through. But there's help to prevent tears while combing: a detangling spray. We can't guarantee that you'll avoid tears completely, but it helps! It's sprayed on wet or dry hair before combing. An afro-comb with big, wide teeth is a good idea. A good detangling shampoo/conditioner is a minimum, and sometimes not even enough! Just like dark skin gets hair also dries easily and therefore requires the right care in order to retain its strength and shine.
Many kinds of afro hair!
Afro hair can have very different textures, for example our three children have very different hair: The big sister has big soft waves and can let her hair grow quite long without experiencing any problems. The second-born has small curls and thrives best, when her hair is not too long or tied into a ponytail. Their little brother has quite tiny afro curls, which are probably best suited for a short hairstyle. But all three have in common that their hair gets dry and dull very quickly if it's not cared for.
To combat the 'dryness', various moisturising products are available such as oil-based lotions or creams of different consistencies. There is a huge variety of afro hair products for kids, and you might need to experiment until you find the product that is best suited for your needs. The creams have a more firm consistency and are typically called 'hairdress' or conditioner'. Remember to check if the products contain paraffin oil, then children should not get too close to candles. A regular hair conditioner may be recommended to give hair extra moisture. Also remember to massage the scalp when washing and if necessary, find a product that also counteracts dry scalp.
Curls or no curls? If you want to enhance and make curls last longer, you can do this with a curl activator that is applied to the hair after washing. More advanced products like relaxer kits are for those who want to get rid of curls and make the hair smooth. As the name 'relaxer' suggests, it gets the curls to 'relax', leaving the hair smooth. They are available for normal curly hair (regular) or for very curly hair (coarse). Relaxer is available as kits (packs) or as creams. Most manufacturers of relaxer kits for children recommend waiting until the child is 5 years old. Note that these are chemicals that straighten the hair. Some manufacturers advertise, that their product is based on natural ingredients. However, these are 'more natural chemicals', and it should be remembered that nature is also made up of chemical ingredients. Whether natural or not, a relaxer will most often cause hair dry and needs to be 'polished' daily with, for example, a hair polisher. We tried one relaxer on our daughter once, but her appearance was changed so much that she wanted her hair back as it was before. Since then we have not experimented with relaxer kits. However, others have been very happy to have their hair straightened and have good experience using relaxer kits. You probably need a little courage to experiment...
If you want to do hairstyles with attached hair or braids, cornrows etc., it requires that curly or frizzy hair is straightened/relaxed before the hair/braids can be sewn/braided on.
If you need any advice, please send us a message on the "Contact us" page.
Annette & Samuel
