"Train" My Toddler's Hair?

As your daughter grows and gets older, she'll get her "big girl(thicker)" hair in. All 3 of my girls started out with curls. Now the oldest has straight hair with a little body and the middle has wavy hair, the youngest (20 months) still has all of her curls, but she still has toddler hair. When the big girl hair comes in, it will be more managable and will part somewhere naturally. In the meantime, there is nothing cuter than a curly head with a pebbles on the top!

Dear N.,

As a curly girlie myself, I can tell you that you're fighting a losing battle if you want your daughter's hair to follow your command. LOL!

Our hair is not of this planet, and it will do as it pleases as long as we live. There are wonderful styling products out that that allow us to disguise the curls when we want to as we get older, but left in its natural state, curly hair is, by nature, wild and uncontrollable. Don't worry ~ that's part of its allure! Tee-hee.

Find a hair stylist who is good with curly hair (I found one at the Charles Penzone Grand Salon by Polaris), and get a good layered cut for curly hair. And always remember that if you trim 1/2" off curly hair, you get about a 2" shrink factor (at lest). Our hair seems to get so excited when we trim off the ends! I usually call it helium hair because it grows large, not long.

Give your little curly girlie a hug for me, and tell her how pretty she is! :-D

Hey....for Heaven's Sake! You are lucky to have a little girl with pretty curly hair! Who told you that a child needs a part anyway?? Geesh.......leave her hair alone! You might want to lay off putting any kind of elastic in her hair on a daily basis because it could cause some temporary hair loss. As her hair grows longer, the curl will not be as pronounced anyway and IF you want her to have a part, I am sure that can be done by the time she starts kindergarten.

Hi N.!

I'm a hairdresser and unfortunately, there is no way to "train" hair - it's just not possible. Hair grows a specific way from the scalp and no amount of pulling or combing will change the way it grows! :-) Everybody has a natural part - some more distinct than others. If you're having a difficult time finding your daughter's here's a trick that can help. When her hair is wet comb it all straight back. Once you have it all back push it forward slightly. Her hair should separate at her natural part line. Good luck and enjoy the curls!

My youngest daughter and youngest son both have curly hair. We do keep our sons hair short but once it grows it "puffs" and our daughters hair is curly when it's shorter but when long it is wavy, the weight stretches the curl i am guessing. She does have a natural part but he has no part. His just does it's own thing all over his head with no rhyme or reason. I think little girls(and boys) with curls are so adorable! I say you just let it be, her hair may not have a natural part. Enjoy her curls, it won't be long before she is wishing for straight hair as my oldest daughter with my straight hair wishes for curls! I miss the Pebbles 'do! Take care!

Let her hair go. Putting it up in pig tails may eventually straighten it.
My now 6 yr. old daughter had curly hair when she was 1 yr. old. But it was sooo thick and heavy, and it grew like crazy, and most people thought she was 3-4 because of how much hair she had.
It was so bad that I had to start pulling it back in a pony tail or pig tails. Within a few months of doing this, it started to lose the curls. and now it is still thick and heavy, but the curls are gone.

That doesn't mean your daughter would lose her curls, but as long as they don't interfere with anything, let her have the curls. You may NOT be able to change them at all.
I have a cousin (male) that since the day he was born, had a natural afro, and to this day (he is close to 50) and he has lost a lot of his hair to baldness, but the curls are still there.

Don't worry about a part in the hair. Most curly-tops don't have parts. Mine didn't until I let it grow long enough & then it will naturally fall where-ever. However, my part tends to move around - probably because it is curly and there is no "natural" part to my hair. Sometimes it's on the left, sometimes on the right, sometimes down the middle. I get to wear it wherever it looks best. Sometimes no part at all - just pulled back. Especially when I have those bad hair days! I have a nice selection of headbands! And on hot days I'll pull it back into a pony tail. But when it's short - it just curls.