Re: Please help with daughter\'s hair!!
The first thing that came to mind is that she might need to treat her dry scalp and hair from inside out. Does she drink lots of water? I personally don't like water but will drink it in apple juice (which doesn't have added sugar yet is very sweet). So I just dilute apple juice with water and thus get my 8 glasses. Perhaps you could do the same. Also her food might be low in Omega oils. Is her skin dry too? If so, then she definitely is lacking sth in her diet that's causing the dryness and may need to up her Omega oils. Check out this link:
http://www.mercola.com/2003/dec/27/dry_skin.htm
If it's just her hair and scalp that are dry, it may be from whatever products you are using on her hair. Ammonium Lauryl/Laureth Sulphate and Sodium Laureth/Lauryl Sulphate found in most shampoos can be harsh and drying so you might need to get something a little gentler, say one of the natural shampoos found in health food stores. Emu Oil Shampoo is said to be great for dry scalp and hair so it might be a good place to start. Here's a link to one type of this shampoo and conditioner:
http://www.healthyhairplus.com/dry_hair.htm
The other thing I noticed is you use grease on her hair. Grease doesn't moisturize hair. Water does. So whatever moisturizer you use, it should either have water as one of its ingredients, or you should apply the moisturizer to damp hair to seal in the moisture from water. I recently heard wonderful things about Shea Butter or Shea Oil. They are supposed to really soften hair. The other thing you could do is get some jojoba oil or coconut oil or avocado oil. These oils actually penetrated the hair shaft instead of just sitting on the hair and are very nourishing to the hair. After washing her hair and conditioning (For the conditioning, put a plastic cap on her head and leave the conditioner on for a while. If it's a warm day, have her sit or play in the sun with the cap on to allow the conditioner to penetrate her hair. Adding olive oil to her conditioner before applying could improve results. When you rinse her hair, use lukewarm to cool water, then apply one of the three oils I just mentioned while her hair is damp to help seal in the moisture. Then braid her hair and allow it to dry. At night apply some shea butter or oil and if she doesn't mind, have her sleep in a plastic cap or Saran wrap. Sounds crazy but I'm yet to find anything else that gives hair a perfect moisture infusion than this. If shea butter is as great as I've heard, with the plastic cap treatment, her hair should be baby soft in the morning. Softness is proof that hair is well moisturized.
A lot of us have also found that washing the hair often helps with dryness. So you could try that if it's do-able. In other words, whenever her hair feels dry, instead of layering it with grease which isn't adding moisture, give her a conditioner wash...where you wet her hair, then apply conditioner to her hair like you would shampoo, comb through and rinse. Focus on hair not scalp coz you don't want her having residue on her scalp that could cause itches. If this becomes a problem (residue) a final rinse with an apple cider vinegar solution, massaging her scalp, should help leave the scalp squeaky clean. After you rinse, while hair is still wet, apply an oil or shea butter and braid it to airdry or if it's relaxed, but it in a bun. You'll be surprised at how much better her hair will be with added water (moisture) and regular conditioning.
If you decide to give her supplements for the omega oils, do a search for kid vitamins and you should find fish oil pills that have safe amounts for kids.
HTH
I have tried everything and I don't know what I could possibly do to make it less dry. She has an extremely dry scalp also.
