Natural Hair Mag

Healthy Baby Hair Tips for New Moms

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Photo Credit: Aaron-H

I often get all kinds of emergency calls from friends and family pertaining to hair. More than often it’s my friends that are new Moms who need help with keeping their new babies and toddlers hair healthy and moisturized. The other day I got a text that read “my baby’s hair is breaking off in the back…help!” I’m so used to dealing with adult’s hair that it took me a minute to figure out how to handle the situation. Dealing with a child’s hair is so different from taking care of an adult’s hair. Being new to the journey of mommy hood myself (I am 6 months preggo!) it was a real concern for me. Taking care of our little precious babies hair is so crucial for their journey to healthy hair and I even had to ask myself… Do we really know how to care for our newborn babies hair naturally? After coming up with some suggestions for my friends and family, I have a few tips to share with all you Mama’s.

Be GENTLE
An infants scalp is very sensitive and still in the early phases of development. Their scalps are definitely too sensitive for tension and pulling. Also keep in mind that you don’t want to use the same products that you use on your hair. Many of those products can cause damage by weighing down the hair and compacting undeveloped follicles. Even if all the ingredients are natural or organic, you want to stick to products that are very mild and specially formulated for babies.

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Photo Credit: Cheryl

Styling
Although it’s tempting, you may want to stay away from styling your babies hair as much as you can. Stay away from tight ponytails that can put a lot of stress on the hairline. If you must style your babies hair for pictures or for a special occasion, stay away from barrettes, beads and rubber bands. These accessories can cause breakage in older children and even an adult head of hair so you can imagine what it can do to an infant’s hair. Try and stick to silk or satin-lined headbands.

Cradle Cap and Dryness
Cradle cap is a scalp condition that is very common amongst African American babies. It appears as scabby, dry areas on the scalp. It usually occurs with in the first six months of life. It usually goes away by itself but you may want to check with your health care provider to ensure that all it is. You can use a little coconut oil (which is anti-inflammatory) and or gently clean the area with a warm washcloth. Coconut oils along with other natural oils such as extra virgin olive oil can also be used on the hair in small amounts to prevent dryness.

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Photo Credit: Janine

This is just the beginning of your little angel’s journey. There will be more than enough time to try each and every single style you have in mind (as long as they’re healthy) in the future. But the beginning, much like anything else with a new baby is an important time to nurture and love those new follicles and hair strands.

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  • ann

    When my daughter was born she had really course hair, when she was about 8months her hair had broke off so bad that I was in tears….someone recommend just for me hair products. Even though she was that young it helped her hair grow.

  • rigenstalfred

    Nice

  • Mam224

    olive oil worked really well with helping my daughter’s cradle cap to go away by the time she was one month. she is 19 mos now and I’ve begun washing her hair with Aunt Jackie’s conditioner for girls and just using a bit of the same brand’s curl custard and olive oil to shine and style her curls. I have never had an issue with her hair growing but baby washes did make it dry. it’s very easy to use those b/c you can bathe the child and wash their hair at the same time. That is a huge mistake with curly and afro textured hair. The new regimen has her curls popping and I have always been a fan of cute headbands b/c i’m not much of a hair comber lol.