Try This “No Fail” Method For Perfect Biracial Curls

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Are you the mama (or dad) of kiddos with beautiful biracial curls?  Do your sweet babies scream and cry when you are doing their hair?  Do they [or you] dread bath time? Is your current method working fine, but you’re looking for something better?

You are not alone!  As a mama of two biracial little ones, I feel your pain.  I have been there!

I’m glad you’re here and I hope that I can make life a little bit easier for you!  Before I get into all of that, let me tell you just a tiny bit about me/us!

I have two beautiful boys, so beautiful, in fact, that they are often mistaken for girls.  [Don’t tell them I told you that!]

And we have chosen to grow their hair out because they’ve been blessed with gorgeous locks.  The little one is only two, so it’s not very long yet, but his curls appear to be headed in the direction of Curly 3B.  But our eldest is eight and has very long hair which is definitely classic Curly 3C.  You can view these hair types HERE.

I am sharing this method with you today because we are asked, almost daily, how we do his hair to get it to look the way it does.

Below are the very steps that we take to avoid tears and get perfect biracial curls every time:

MAINTENANCE FOR BIRACIAL CURLS

[Pardon my terrible photography!]

• Haircuts –
  • Find a salon that specializes in your child’s hair type.  We LOVE Vasuda Salon here in Seattle!
  • Keep to a trimming/shaping cut schedule of at least 2-4 times per year to keep hair healthy

• Washing
  • This can be a touchy subject I know.
  • For GQ’s curls, I prefer to wash 2X per week.  That way they don’t get too dry, but is frequent enough to prevent too many knots.
  • Your kiddos may need more or less, use trial and error to find the best frequency.
• Products
  • The hyperlinks throughout this tutorial will show you exactly what products we use and LOVE!
  • Some of these products may be interchangeable, but some of them are life-changing.
    • First, I recommend using a 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner combo as your shampoo.
    • And most importantly, I will mention two of these products specifically because we literally cannot live without them:
      • CONDITIONER: Ouidad Curl Quencher Conditioner (Note: this is the adult version, not the one for kids. My youngest can get by with the kid’s version, but it doesn’t work at all for GQ’s hair.)
      • DETANGLING SPRAY: Kerastase Discipline Fluidissime Complete Anti-Frizz Care Spray (Note: I’m not gonna lie, this is crazy expensive, but it is oh-so worth it!!)

WASH ROUTINE

1. Wet hair – make sure it’s totally drenched
2. Shampoo – Use just enough to get a good lather going
3. Rinse – Rinse right away until hair is free of shampoo bubbles
4. Condition – Use a TON of conditioner.  I spread on my hands and start with extra along the nape, hairline, and ends. Then evenly spread through hair until thoroughly coated. Don’t be afraid to use too much.
5. Rest – Leave conditioner in hair while you continue your child’s bath.
6. Rinse – Once the bath is complete, then pour a cup of water over your child’s hair to rinse off about 50-75% of the conditioner.
7. Detangle – With at least a quarter of the conditioner left in hair use a wide-toothed detangling comb to carefully work through your child’s hair covering all areas at least once. [Tip: hold section of hair firmly with one hand while you use the other to detangle with comb in an effort to limit pulling on the scalp]
8. Final Rinse – Use a cup to rinse the remaining conditioner from hair until water runs clean.

AFTER BATH

1. DO NOT rub hair with a towel. If needed, scrunch bottom of curls gingerly with a towel just enough to prevent dripping.
2. Do any lotion and dressing routines as quickly as possible so you can get back to hair before it loses too much moisture
3. Get yourself & kiddo situated comfortably for combing. It’s best to find a distracting activity for your little one like a book, video game, TV show, puzzle, etc.

PREPARE TO COMB

1. Pour oil into hand and slightly rub hands together before applying first to hair at the nape of the neck, ends, and hairline. Spread remaining oil into the rest of hair.
2. Squirt cream into hand and slightly rub hands together and apply first to ends & then the rest of the hair.
3. Generously squirt detangling spray to hair at the nape of the neck and through the rest of hair; make sure to get into the different sections for even disbursement.

COMBING BIRACIAL CURLS

1. Use a hair clip to section hair off by pinning the top 3/4 to the top of the head while you work on the bottom section.
2. Use a double-sided wide-toothed + fine-toothed comb to carefully work through the bottom section.
3. Start with the wide end and then flip and use the fine end. [Tip: Keep a water spray bottle nearby in case you need extra moisture.]
4. Bring down the next section and repin the top half; repeat until you’ve carefully combed through all of the hair.
5. Next, take your comb and start combing the hair back, like you’re going to put it in a ponytail, combing gently from root to tip.
6. Once you have all hair gathered into your hand, then comb through the ends a few times until you don’t get stuck on any more tangles
7. Go over it again from root to tip with the fine-toothed end, which will remove any remaining tangles you may have missed & give you a more ‘polished’ look.

STYLE

1. Release the hair and apply either mousse or hairspray sparingly throughout
2. Have your child hang their head while you hand comb up through hair at the nape of neck toward middle of scalp
3. Then have them sit up and hand comb from hairline to crown of head
4. Finish by scrunching all sections by hand
5. Let air dry or use a diffuser to set
6. This will look a little “Jheri Curl” until it’s dry.  If it doesn’t soften to your liking then just tousel + re-scrunch when dry.

DAILY CARE FOR BIRACIAL CURLS

1. This style holds up well for the first night or two with minimal work.  I actually think it looks best the next day!
2. After that, we normally need to spray with water and re-scrunch to reactivate curls.
3. You can also use a special spray for this.

This is what it looks like wet right after we finish our process.

 

Ok, so we’ve gone over basic maintenance, washing, after bath, combing, styling and daily care for your little love’s beautiful hair.  It may seem complicated at first, but practice makes perfect.  So with the right products and some patience, this will become second nature to you.

And this is the same night, once it’s had the chance to dry. [Ignore the goofy face…]

It will also save you tons of grief and spare your little one’s scalp!  I really hope this works as well for you as it has for us!  For more information on biracial curls and other topics like this I highly recommend joining the Multiracial Motherhood Musings Facebook group run by fellow blogger, Diedre Anthony (Are Those Your Kids)

You can also check out all of my resources for parents and families.  I would love to have you join my community!