How Often Should You Wash Your Child’s Natural Hair?

Washing your child’s natural hair too often can dry it out and increase the odds of breakage. The tips below will help you create a shampoo schedule for African American kids that is the perfect balance. Just make sure you are using a gentle shampoo designed specifically for natural hair—such as Fro Babies Honey Bubbles Moisturizing Shampoo.

Adjust Your Shampoo Schedule By Age 

Just like most things in life, there is no one-size-fits-all equation, so let’s first discuss your child’s age. Infants should not use hair care products until they are at least 12 months old. Bathe them with infant-safe body wash that you can use to cleanse their scalp and hair and apply a tiny dab of natural coconut or jojoba oil to their hair when done. As a toddler, elementary school or teenager washing every 7 to 10 days is almost always often enough. We will discuss the exceptions to this rule below.

Hair Type Can Change Your Child’s Washing Schedule

If your little one has mixed curly hair you may need to increase the frequency of washing to 1 to 2 times per week. All curly hair requires specialized curl care, but if your child’s hair is super fine or their scalp is oily, you will need to wash more frequently. On the flip side, if your child has super tight curls or their hair is extra dry, you may only want to wash every other week. Hair tends to be drier in the winter months, so you may wash less frequently when it’s cold out.

Other Factors That Can Impact Curly Hair Washing

Kids are active so their playtime and extracurricular activities may impact their natural hair shampoo schedule. If your child goes swimming, in either salt or chlorine, washing directly after is a must. If they swim frequently this can include washing with a conditioner every other time instead of a shampoo. This will cleanse the salt and chlorine without stripping their hair. However, if they swim frequently you may want to invest in a swim cap to protect their hair. Get a cute one and they will be excited to wear it.

You will also need to increase wash frequency if your child’s scalp is itching, if they have excessive product build-up, if they are sweaty, or if they have sand or other playtime leftovers in their hair.

Always Condition After Washing 

While a moisturizing curly kid’s shampoo will cleanse and hydrate, you must not skip the conditioning process. If you can’t get your toddler to sit still long enough to leave a conditioner in every time you shampoo, we suggest using the Detangle Me Baby Leave-In Conditioner. You can use this daily on wet or dry hair to condition and make combing and styling easier. When they can sit still and as they get older and wash their own hair, we suggest a more traditional conditioner such as So Super Soft After Shampoo Conditioner. You can still use a detangler once it’s rinsed out if needed.

Here’s to your child’s beautiful natural hair!