Little Girls Hair - Sioux Falls,SD

Perhaps giving her a children's vitamin would help..maybe a keratin spray for hair strengthening would help as well. Try not washing it so often. Maybe every other day just using a conditioner instead of shampoo.

Just wanted to say good question, my 6 year old daughter never had a hair cut yet and her hair just hit her shoulders! I was wondering this too! Thanks for asking!

Poor sweetheart, she sounds like one of my granddaughters :( Her hair is dark blonde and she had the type of hair that broke and split when you looked at it from the time she was a baby sleeping in her crib when it was almost non-existent where she laid on it. I used to try and put it in pigtails when she was a year or so and it was so thin you could see through it to her scalp in the back :-/

We found that the best thing to do was keep it on the shorter side, one length and with bangs, even though it was semi-curly, and regularly trimmed until she was about 7.5. This kept it easier to comb through (wide tooth comb only, brushing is hard on this type of hair so use as few strokes as possible when styling) when it finally began to thicken, lose the curl, and grow.

We always concentrated on cute headbands only in her hair because ponytail holders and barrettes caused too much stress to her hair and it would break. At 10.5 she still can't grow it past her shoulders without it starting to split and begin to look wild, so the constant trimming is essential to keeping it nice-looking, but it has thickened up considerably. She needs to use shampoos and conditioners that add volume, and really can't braid it or wear it up in a ponytail or anything too fancy as it still breaks easily. She more than likely will never have long, gorgeous hair of her own, and she still just wears headbands if anything in her hair but she's happy.

I would suggest a full dietary overhaul. Every day make a different grain. Millet, rice, barley, buckwheat, oats for breakfast. I don't know what your diet is exactly but a diet without prefabricated food will give more nutrition.
Lots of vegetables in a big variety, swiss chard, salads, spinach, carrots, beans...especially black beans and lentils are a big help in building up your health so that hair and nails become stronger and grow faster.
If you eat meat and fish this will help. Especially the fish. Do you give her Omega-3's and other vitamins? Vitamin D is a big help.
Keep her hair short until it shows signs of thickening strands.

S.,

Do you give her any vitamins? It may be a vitamin deficiency thing--I would get her on a good kids vitamin and switch your hair-care products to something with intense moisture/detangling etc. Also, don't let her go to bed with wet hair--that can cause this too. Good luck!

M

Satin Pillowcase or Do Rag

High Protein Diet (hair and nails are almost pure protein. It may just be her hair type, but brittle hair is a sign of protein deficiency)

not sure if you do this or not and depending on how long it is at this point each night after bath and brushing out after it drys braid it in a loose braid. this will keep it from tangling up under her at night.

I would check with your doctor. My mom said she use to trim our hair often as kids so we would grow hair quickly and thick! While I have lots of hair and it grows fast I am not sure the little trims had anything to do with it. My sil from china said that they shave a babies head with a razor to help it grow. My son has tons of thick hair and we had to get it cut before a year old. My daughters hair took forever to grow. She is almost two and we recently trimed her bangs out of her eyes. But her hair isnt growing at all! Same house, father, location and they eat the same foods. So I am not certian its all about nutrition but perhaps just the way she grows.

my mother swears by the frequent trims and just this past month told me to get more vit. c into my girls to help grow their hair. Not sure if it works or not!!

One thing to check is to see if she has any feathery hair around her scalp... my daughter has VERY thin hair but the hairdressers keep saying that b/c she has all this feathery hair around her face (when you lift up her 'long' hair that it means she still hasn't had all of her hair come in yet. She just turned 5 and it is now starting to get a bit thicker.

In addition to the other suggestions, get her a satin pillowcase. That will keep the hair from snagging and breaking. Also, trying drying her hair with a jersey towel or pillowcase. Even a cotton t-shirt will work to reduce breakage. HTH. Best wishes! :)

If your daughter's hair is breaking, she is deficient in a mineral or vitamin or some other nutrient. I suggest putting her on a Vitamin-B Complex (the multi-vitamin is good, but the Vit-B Complex will have all of the Vit Bs as well as in larger concentrations).

My daughter is 11 years old, and she and I both take Mega Food 100% Whole Food Balanced B Complex every day and have been for the past four years (you can buy it at Whole Foods). My daughter used to have really bad fingernail nailbeds, and I used to have my hair fall out in fistfulls. Since we've been taking this supplement, we both have gorgeous nails (our hair dresser always raves about them), and I rarely have any loose hair anymore.

Usually, weak nails and hair is because the body isn't getting enough Biotin. ***Whole Foods also has a supplement specifically for Hair and Nails; I just saw the bottle on the shelf the other day. That would be targeted toward her problem; you might want to give her that for the first few months, until her hair starts to get stronger, and then switch her over to a Balanced B Complex formula.

Another thing to try is to switch her over to organic hair products, both shampoo and conditioner. If you're using regular shampoo/conditioner, there might be something in there that she is allergic to/is stripping her hair shaft. I also noticed that my very fine and falling out hair is a lot better since I switched the entire household over to organic shampoo/conditioner.

My granddaughter is 5 and has beautiful hair that gets those horrible rat's nests in it while sleeping. Her mother has a spray bottle that she sprays her hair down before brushing it in the morning but I found that by putting it in a low braid, it keeps it from getting tangled at all during the night.

agree with Livinglife&LovingIt F. In the meantime, you could snazz up her hair with sparkly hair accessories.

Get her a silk pillow case for sleeping, and if she'll tolerate it, have her sleep in a satin night cap. You can get both of these things from a beauty supply store, like Sally. ( www.sallybeauty.com )

Also look into her overall health. If the thin hair isn't genetic, she may need supplements or dietary changes to help her hair grow. There are vitamins for adults to improve hair, skin and nails. I'm not sure if there is anything for children, but I'd see if the doctor can suggest a nutritionist for you to visit and take it from there.

What about making her a night cap like they used back in the day so that she would have less friction against the pillow? And someone told me that washing (or at least being wet) less frequently strengthens hair so you may want to look into the dry wash shampoo that you put in without using water and spacing out her actual water baths/showers more or using a shower cap. I know for sure that having wet or damp hair and going out in the cold will cause breakage because the water gets in the small cracks of the hair and expands when it crystalizes so make sure her hair is completely dry before going outside in the winter. This last idea is a little strange but I seem to remember someone telling me about a horse shampoo that was gentle enough to use on humans that made hair grow thicker. They used it on show horse's tails. I would assume you could talk to a pet store to find out if it is true. I have never tried it just heard about it. Good Luck!

what about braibing it at night?

I would look at her diet. Brittle hair can be a symptom of diet problems. I would also be very gentle. Do as little as you have to - look at the hair bands you are using and see if you can find a better option - may be a scrunchie vs a band or a barrette vs pulling the sides back with a band. Try a natural boar bristle brush.

As a hair stylist I learned that children do not get their true "adult" hair until 8 yrs of age or so. Just give it time and her hair will strengthen. My daughter had thin hair that never seemed to grow. It so thick and so curly now she wishes for the easier days at times!

Do you comb or brush her hair when it is wet? You should only comb wet hair. Use a wide tooted comb and start at the bottom of the hair and work up. If you hold the hair a section at a time and comb under you hand until smooth then work up toward the top of her head it won't break as easily.
Though I don't really like most Paul Mitchell hair products I do like his leave in conditioner. It is blue in color and for a little girls hair you should only need a few drops, so the amount in your hand is about the size of a pea. Gently rub it through her hair, top and under get it close to the scalp.
Also never rub wet hair with a towel to dry hair. Just wrap the head in a towel or blot the water out. Rubbing causes tangles.

maybe try a hot oil or deep conditioning treatment once a week. or use hair cholesterol.