Both Drake and Juliet were blessed with copious amounts of hair at birth. Other moms of babies with less hair, grandmothers, bald men… they all would quip about the dark head of hair on my children’s heads and how striking, long, and bountiful it was. For what it’s worth, I was also born with a full head of hair similar to Drake and Juliet so looking at my own baby pictures it never occurred to me that this was unusual, or that I would have children with less or no hair at all. With a lot of hair though comes a good set of issues — namely cradle cap, knots, and mullet like hair styles.
My raven haired girl
With Juliet I am now almost 10 months in with this battle and still don’t see an end in sight. While over time her cradle cap has decreased, there are still 2 large chunks on her head and one on her ear that persistently stay despite my use of Mustela, oils, Cortisone (doctor suggested), etc. I wash and comb and brush every time I bathe her, but I am always greeted in the morning with those flakes nevertheless.
Battling cradle crap is hard work
Drake’s hair is more similar to mine, while Juliet has inherited her daddy’s fine hair. Drake’s hair is much thicker these days as a 3 year old than when he was a baby, but even as a baby his hair was never that hard to comb and didn’t tangle that easily after sleeping on it. Juliet’s baby fine hair though has been a different story. Since she was young she has always woken up with interesting hairdos. Because of how fine the hair is, it tangles and knots easily so I have to take more time after a bath to detangle it. Then once she goes down to sleep and wakes up, it’s inevitable there are a few new knots to contest with. She is still young so part of me hopes maybe her hair will get thicker and we won’t have these issues. Luckily for now Juliet doesn’t seem to mind when I comb her hair and knots. I remember being in tears as a child when my mom brushed my hair, so I’m hoping to avoid that with Juliet.
A typical Juliet hairdo after wake up
Drake had his first haircut at the tender age of 5 months. His aunt did it and we saved the clippings, but he was really rocking a full on mullet complete with rat tail. I was so nervous about doing it since I had heard so many moms talk about not cutting hair til baby was at least a year old, but Mr. Chocolate insisted saying that the mullet was seriously awful looking (it was). His aunt did a great job and after that it was no big deal when he had a second cut around 10 months of age. Juliet’s hair isn’t the best right now, but I haven’t cut it yet as I’m not sure what to do for a little girl. Her hair isn’t as mullet-like as Drake’s was, but it’s still not quite right either for a girl. I am planning on taking her to see Drake’s hair cutter next time I take Drake to get a more professional opinion about what would be the best first steps for her since I do want it to grow long, but also look alright on a baby girl.
Drake getting his first haircut
Since Juliet is a girl, I am faced with another hair issue I never had with Drake, which is doing little girl’s hair. I am embarrassed to admit I really don’t know the first thing about hair styling (or make up to add to that). As a child my mom knew how to do one hairdo — a ponytail — and that’s all. Sometimes she would braid it, but nothing fancy. I remember enviously looking at all the other girls with their bows, headbands and clips of all kinds, and wishing my mom would get some for me. One of my silly fears about having a girl is that I won’t be able to do her hair or makeup when she gets older since I never learned from my own mom. Now that Juliet is here I am overwhelmed looking at all the bows and clips and I so want to try them, but the few times I have it’s never ended well. I really hope I can figure out a few cute styles before she knows mommy doesn’t know what she is doing!
Mommy doesn’t know how to work these
Did your LO have a lot of hair at birth? What is their hair like now?
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
I feel your pain mama. A was also born with mama’s thick head of hair (same as me when I was born and have to this day!) and it never shed. He had a week or so of dry spots, but not full blown cradle cap. We just wiped him with wet wash cloths and waited it out.
A had his first hair at six months! and has had three total (he’s 17 months) he’s due for another
coconut / 8483 posts
Oh they are SOO cute!!
DH and I were expecting a bald blond haired baby. 6 weeks ago out popped our baby with a LOT of very dark hair!! It’s sooo long and so cute, but so shocking!
Did either of your kids lose their hair? I keep wondering if his is going to fall out and then grow back in. I hope he keeps it – it’s soo cute!
honeydew / 7091 posts
I was expecting a full head of blonde curls and got… nothing. Womp womp. It finally started to get some length at 12 months, but nothing even close to your newborn babies! Totally jealous!!
blogger / clementine / 998 posts
we had some fierce cradle cap at our four month appt. i think by 6 months it had quieted down considerably, but i think she still has a couple small spots. her hair is very fine, too and it can get little fuzz tangles at the end – as if something got caught and formed a little ball at the end of her hair. sometimes when she sleeps and gets sweaty her hair gets all curly and matted and we say she has rasta-hair.
nectarine / 2771 posts
You know how much I love your kids hair! I am super jealous
LO is almost 16 months and well, let’s just say, she gets mistaken for a boy fairly often (regardless of the amount of pink she is in) and I don’t foresee a haircut for a loooooong while
cantaloupe / 6692 posts
T had beautiful soft baby hair when he was born. Now at 10 weeks it’s getting really thin. We’re battling cradle cap as well. Our ped recommended selsun blue and scrubbing the flakes out. It’s working but his beautiful hair is coming with it it seems!
So sad. His full head of hair was a wonderful surprise and now it’s going away.
pomegranate / 3779 posts
LO has hair very similar to Juliet’s and a huge cowlick on the top, so her hair is always crazy when she wakes up. It’s just started tangling a bit, so I need to figure out how to comb it without pulling on her head too much. Do you have a suggestion on the best way to detangle?.
For “doing” her hair right now, I usually just stick a bow in it and call it good.
blogger / nectarine / 2687 posts
I honestly think CB’s hair is his best trait.
It falls perfectly and has natural highlights — nearly everyone comments on it! He gets it cut about every other month because I like to keep it long-ish.
Interestingly enough, I had NO hair when I was little and didn’t need a haircut until I was almost 5!
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
We also struggled with cradle cap … DS2 was born looking like had a bad toupee. Have you tried making a paste of baking soda and water? I finally got fed up and did that, combed it through, and wouldn’t you know it — it really did get rid of almost all of it.
pear / 1696 posts
I was born with lots of dark hair so I just expected my baby to born with the same (DH also has dark brown hair). To my surprize LO came out with blonde hair and just a little. Its still very light brown..not at all what I expected!
guest
My daughter had terrible cradle cap for a long time. At first we scrubbed at the spots with a toothbrush during bathtime. I think what really worked though was figuring out a way to loosen the spots she already had. We ordered this special sponge from Amazon. It was a sponge on one side and had these flexible, kind of spiky bristles on the other. We used that with California Baby tea tree shampoo and really lathered and scrubbed the dry areas, and then after the bath really loosened up the spots with the comb too. So gross but it worked! Wish I could remember the name of the sponge product but it came up for me in a search of cradle cap products so perhaps you will be able to track it down? Good luck!
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
C had cradle cap but I just let I t resolve itself on its own. Love the ice of J crying – so cute!
bananas / 9973 posts
They are so so cute! K was born with a decent amount of hair. It’s pretty fine and tangles easily, like Juliet’s, but not as full. We didn’t deal with cradle cap, but we wash her hair everyday. Started using California Baby conditioner around 4 months. Every morning when I “style” her hair, I use California Baby Detangler Spray and use a natural boar bristle brush (Ambassador has a baby one that’s gentle). It works amazingly well to tame and untangle. The best comb for us still, is the comb from the hospital.
As for “styling” – seriously it gets more and more fun! We couldn’t do headbands for more than a few months because the hair got to be too long in the front. Unless I want to trim bangs, they still get in her eyes. So we do lots and lots of clips/bows! My mom also did not know how to do hair. To this day, I have issues doing anything other than simple braids on my own hair. But you can even do little topknots, Pebbles ponytails, pigtails – quite simply!
You can see this Pinterest board I made for some ideas for now & the future! Even though K has a good amount of hair – I’m quite jealous of Drake and Juliet’s!
http://www.pinterest.com/shopaholicviv/little-girl-hairdos/
kiwi / 511 posts
My youngest was born with super fine reddish hair (strawberry blond sort of) which surprised everyone but my Mom and myself. My DH and I have really dark brown hair. But I was a red-head when I was born, then it moved to blond, golden brown and just darkened as I aged. I think I used to have super fine hair as well but I need to double check right now it is crazy thick. He also had a lot of cradle cap, I don’t think the amount of hair really affects that, we used the little remedies cradle cap lotion.
I am going to give the youngest his first haircut this weekend and he will be 2 years at the end of the month. I will likely just trim up the back to get rid of the mullet and a bit in the front so it doesn’t get into his eyes. I think he will be ok with haircuts.
The oldest, I cut his hair and he often sports the weed whacker cut. He absolutely freaks out when we take him to the lady that cuts both mine and my DH’s hair so I just do it myself. He is almost four and getting better but I let him watch youtube videos the biggest problem is getting around his ears.
Both get tons of tangles in their hair, I use No More Tangles and it helps a lot. @Mrs.Chocolate one other thing I do on my hair (and my kids too) when getting knots out, I hold the lock of hair in one hand and work the knot out with the the comb in the other. The closer to the knot the better, for some reason it seems to pull on my scalp less.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
Gahhh, so cute!!!
Xander (14m) was born almost bald and still looks the same, haha. He has hair, but not very much!
pea / 16 posts
We had a very hairy baby (and not just on her head) and to prevent cradle cap, apply baby shampoo to a very soft bristle brush and SCRUB the baby’s head with it. The idea is to remove all the flakes because it’s the flakes combined with the natural oils that creates the cradle cap. We did this every night during bath time and haven’t had any issues!
pea / 16 posts
Also, the book Moms on Call suggests using Neutrogena T-gel 3 times a week for up to 2 weeks to treat pre-existing cradle cap (scrub with baby brush during bath). I haven’t personally tried this and the book does mention talking to your Pediatrician first!
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
Your kiddos have the best hair!! I loved Mini’s baby hair (the curls!) but Pint-Sized barely has any yet… I can’t wait until it grows in more!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
@Mrs. Champagne: No nothing ever fell out for either
@Danizaur: Hmm I might have to try Selsum Im getting desperate she is almost one!
@mrs.shinerbock: I just use a comb. Mrs Bee wrote a great post recently though about detangling and some of the other commenters seem to have good suggestions too. Juliet isn’t fussing right now so all I do is brush this might change later if she protests more though
@Mrs. Yoyo: I never heard of this Where did you hear about it? How much per mix to water do I do?
@shopaholic: Thanks for the advice and board Im going to check it out. Any other suggestions? Im clueless when it comes to styling and really want to do my little girl justice lol
@Mrs.Maven: Thanks for the suggestions!
@lilibunny: Oh thanks for the suggestions! I might need to try something Im getting desperate
blogger / kiwi / 675 posts
Oh my goodness, the pics! I love them! They are so cute!!! The hair is adorable. My kids start out with hair and then bald quickly, Gem really didn’t have much hair until right before two Summer’s is a lot thicker though so she has a bit more
grapefruit / 4671 posts
I second the California Baby Conditioner suggestion for the tangles. DDs hair is fine and curly. I currently shampoo her hair once a week and use the conditioner right after. I detangle in the morning with a spray mix I made from conditioner, water, olive oil and aloe vera gel.
The key to easy detangling is not to do it on dry hair, you need conditioner or a detangling spray and also to use the right brush or comb. I use a ConAir shower comb, some people use denman brushes or a tangle teezer.
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
M is 2.5 and still hasn’t had a hair cut. He didn’t have hair until he was over one!