I haven't written much about hair in awhile, so I thought I'd share a recent hairdo that turned out especially good on my 5 year old daughter. I did a bunch of cornrows that began at a center part, and then went diagonally backwards to two low ponytails, one behind each ear.

I still struggle with keeping the front edge of the hair in the braids, because she has a lot of short hair at that front edge. But one nice thing about this particular do was that it was easy to freshen up the look of the hairdo by redoing just the two braids at the front hairline when they got fuzzy in 3-4 days.

Most of her head looked pretty decent for a good week, and I was able to get about 10 days out of the style by just redoing those front two braids. I took the bally ponytails out at night, and just left the snaps in at the ends of the braids.

Also on a hair related note, I've been searching for an alternative to my beloved Suave Two-Minute Conditioner, since it seems they have discontinued it. The good news is that I only had to try five different products to find two that I like pretty well-- a much better ratio than when I first began trying hair products for my girls.


I look for three main things in a leave-in conditioner: moisturizing, detangling, and affordability. I don't want my girls to have to cry through hair-combing sessions. Sure, they get restless, especially in the case of a style like the above that takes an hour or so to do- a movie works wonders there. But with the right hair product-- and a Disney DVD going -- they don't have to suffer through hairdo sessions.

The first winner I found was Suave Professional Anti-frizz Cream. it has a pleasant smell and a good feel in the hair, and does a great job at making it easier to comb through the hair. There's no petroleum or mineral oil in it, which is good. It does have some alcohol, I see now while looking at the label. That makes me wonder if it might dry out the hair. Anyone know?

The second one I liked was Freeman's Moisture Plus Anti-Frizz Cream. It takes a probably twice as much product as the Suave to allow me to comb through my girls' hair comfortably, and still it doesn't allow the comb to glide through quite as easily. But it smells utterly fabulous, and I don't see anything worrisome on the label. I'll think we'll stick with these two options for a bit and see how they do.

Related links:

Hair Types: just how curly is it?
Making Hairdo Time Easier

Black, White and the Cornrow Between