Styling kid’s natural hair can be a breeze when you have the right hair products. That’s why in this post, I will be recommending some curl-defining hair products you can use when styling your daughter’s hair. These hair products are suitable for kids age 2 and above.
If your child has fine hair, curly hair, wavy hair, or mixed hair, I recommend using lotion-based hair products such as As I Am Born Curly Twist Defining Smoothie. This way, your child’s hair won’t feel too heavy and weighed down if she were to use a cream-based product like Camille Rose Naturals Kids Sweet Pudding Mandarin Hair Buttercream or a similar hair product.
How can I enhance my child’s natural hair curl pattern?
You can enhance your child’s natural hair curl pattern by trimming off the heat-damaged ends. And if your child’s hair is badly damaged, the only best option left is to chop it off and start again. Don’t panic, her hair will grow back healthier.
Another way to enhance your child’s curl pattern is to stop using chemical treatments and heat stylers. If you must use heat, make it sparingly. Too much use of heat stylers messes up hair’s natural curl pattern.
Find the right balance between moisturizing and protein-treating their hair. When there is too much of either product, your child’s hair gets hard and loses its elasticity. And without elasticity, the curl pattern is not visible.
Also, check the pH of the hair products you use on them. With the perfect pH balance (4.5-5.5) your child’s hair should naturally curl. Ideally, shampoos should have a higher pH to open the cuticles so that all the dirt and grime come out while conditioners should have a low pH to close the cuticles so that the moisture and nutrients are retained inside the cuticles.
How do I make my child’s curls more defined?
To know how to enhance your child’s curls, you must first understand her hair type. Is her hair wavy, curly, or the kinky coily type. Depending on her hair type you may need products to coax her curls to be more defined.
Use curl-enhancing products like curling cream, curl butter, pomade, or gels to make the curls more defined.
Avoid Products with sulfates and harsh chemicals, they are the biggest enemies of curls. If you can, invest in organic products or products with natural ingredients such as honey, rice water, coconut oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, shea butter, and the likes. These help to enhance curl formation.
Other tips to define your child’s curls include:
- Using a generous amount of conditioner
- Using your fingers to curl or coil her hair
- Only combing using a wide-tooth comb
- Saturating hair with moisture
Why are my daughter’s curls not defined?
There are a number of reasons why your daughter’s curls are loosely defined. One is that you may be living in an area with high humidity or its summertime in your area. When the air is very humid, your hair tends to expand in order to absorb the moisture causing the strands to bust out.
End result? Frizz instead of defined curls. If this is the case, try using humectants such as glycerin. This will help absorb the excess moisture in the air, helping your child’s hair retain its curls.
Another reason could be that you are using the wrong styling products. When it comes to picking curl-enhancing products, it’s important to consider your child’s curl pattern. If her patterns are tight (coily), it’s best to use curling gels and puddings. If her curl pattern is loose (curly), it’s best to use curling creams and mousses. Most brands will indicate what curl pattern to use the product on in on product description section.
The other reason could be that you apply the curling products when her hair is dry. These products define curls more when the hair is soaking wet.
Lastly, check whether your daughter is ruining her own curls. Teach her to keep her hand away from her beautiful curls.
What can you put in a baby’s hair to make it curly?
Your baby’s scalp is still sensitive and cannot handle so many styling products. If you must use curl-enhancing products, stick to organic products or products with baby-friendly ingredients like coconut, honey, olive, or shea butter.
Also, go for products specially formulated for babies like the products we have recommended in our review section below.
Do black babies come out with curly hair?
Some black babies are born with soft curly hair but a majority of them are born with silky straight hair that starts to curl as they grow.
Is it better to twist hair wet or dry?
Some parents prefer to twist their child’s hair when it’s fully soaked with water while some prefer when it is damp. This is because twists tend to hold better and last longer when the hair is damp or wet. The downside though to styling hair when it is wet is the massive shrinkage that comes when your hair dries. Also, the twists will take longer to dry. This is why others prefer to twist when the hair is dry.
On the other hand, twisting hair when it is dry retains its length. Your child gets to wear her twists long. Now, the biggest challenge with dry-twisted hair is that it does not hold so well, it tends to be looser.
Should you twist your child’s natural hair every night?
It’s really not necessary to twists your child’s hair every day. First off, that would be too much manipulation of their hair that can lead to breakage.
Secondly, the twists should hold together for as long as two to six weeks if you installed them well and used twisting cream/butter.
Lastly, there is no need to retwist if you care for their twists in the right way. They should automatically last longer with regular maintenance as well as a nighttime care routine that involves covering their hair with a satin bonnet every night. Regular maintenance should include moisturizing, washing, and conditioning.
How do I make my child’s two-strand twists look fuller?
Adding kinky hair extensions is definitely an instant way to make your child’s two-strand twists look fuller and bouncier. And especially if their hair is low-density.
The technique you use also matters. I find that keeping their hair stretched out as much as possible when twisting out makes the twist thicker when it’s released. Another trick is to divide the sections into equal parts and lengths and part bigger sections.
How do you keep children’s two-strand twists moisturized?
It’s easy and you can do this every day. What you need is a moisturizer and a sealant to do the job. You can use their daily leave-in conditioner or a curl refreshing spray to moisturize and their favorite oil to seal. If you don’t have a curl refresher, check the ones I recommend down below. Be sure to be generous when moisturizing and sealing their ends. The ends are the weakest and so they need too much TLC to be healthy.
Two-twist strands retain moisture for longer so you don’t have to do this every day. I guess this is the reason why I always recommend them to any parent struggling with maintaining their child’s hair.
How do you put a child to sleep with a twist out?
Lightly spray their twists out with a moisturizer and secure their hair in a bun using a satin scrunchie then cover their hair using a satin kiddy hair bonnet. In the morning, remove bonnet and scrunchie, shake the twists to be loose, and again spray some moisturizer or curl enhancer on them. And viola! They are as good as fresh.
What products make African American hair curly?
All the products we have recommended in the review section below make African American hair curly. Try them out and leave us your review in the comments section.
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This post contains affiliate links which means that I make a small commission at no additional cost to you if you make a purchase with my link. Should you have additional products to add to this list, please feel free to add them in the comment section below.
If you find a discontinued product on this list, please do let me know so I can keep this post updated. I’d also like to inform you that brands change their product packaging from time to time, which means that the product picture in this post might look a bit different from the retailers website at the time you decide to make a purchase.
1) Aunt Jackie’s Baby Curls Curling & Twisting Custard
Product Promise: Good-bye unruly, frizzy, poofy curls, waves, and coils. Say hello to smooth, defined, hydrated tresses your child will love! Enriched with coconut oil, shea butter, and olive oil, baby curls give shape, control, and manageability, while adding moisture, shine, and natural conditioning. Anti-frizz formula helps curls, waves & twists stay well-defined and springy.
Elongates and gives curls long-lasting definition. Help leave hair feeling super soft to the touch. No sticky, crunchy feel! Contains no sulfates, mineral oil, or petrolatum.
Customer Review: “My daughter gets a lot of baby hair flyaways and this helped reduce the frizz and flyaways. It also helped define her natural wavy curls.”
2) Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Kids Curling Butter Cream
Product Promise: Formulated with gentle shea butter cream and enhanced with the addition of rich coconut milk and coconut oil to keep hair moisturized and defined. Nourishes every strand to leave your child with healthy, bouncy, and adorably defined curls.
Kid’s hair is left feeling moisturized and free of flyaways. No sulfates, parabens, phthalates, propylene glycol, mineral oil, and petroleum in this hair cream. It’s safe to use on infants, toddlers, and big kids hair.
Customer Review: “The best product I’ve found to bring out my daughter’s curls! Smells great. Agree with other reviewers that a little goes a long way, one tub will last awhile. Definitely worth a try!”
3) Camille Rose Naturals Kids Sweet Puddin Mandarin Hair Buttercream
Product Promise: A vitamin-rich buttercream enriched with aloe and fruit oils to moisturize and condition delicate strands. May be used as a styler for braids, twists, and knots. Keeps hair healthy, soft, and shiny. Filled with vitamins to moisturize dry scalp and minimize dandruff.
Customer Review: “My son’s favorite moisturizer. He keeps a low cut fade and pretty much only uses this for his waves.”
4) Camille Rose Naturals Kids Brown Butter Hair Balm
Product Promise: A concentrated blend of natural butters and oils crafted to soothe the scalp and stimulate hair growth. Nourishes, softens, shines, and smoothes hair. Intensely smoothes and defines, while also helping to detangle hair strands. Moisturizes dry scalp and helps minimize dandruff. Safe for children.
Customer Review: “Beautiful and great product! Smells great too! After I detangle my daughter’s hair I put it on and it holds her hair perfectly. I’m glad I purchased it.”
5) Just For Me Curl Peace Braiding & Twisting Grip
Product Promise: It’s time to take kid’s braiding, twisting, and protective styling game to a new level! This gentle yet effective grip glaze gently holds braids and twists for longer-lasting protective styles. Formulated with safe and healthy ingredients like flaxseed, avocado oil, and black castor oil. Your hair will be left nourished, shiny and neat.
Customer Review: “I love this product for my daughter’s hair. Amazing. Will be buying more”
6) Curly Kids Curly Gel Moisturizer
Product Promise: Ultra-moisturizing creme conditioner that lasts all-day. It lightly holds style without feeling stiff, tacky, greasy, or sticky. Great for ponytails, bobs, and braids. Adds vital moisture and shine. It also minimizes breakage and damage due to dryness. No Mineral Oil or Petrolatum, Sulfate and Paraben-Free.
Customer Review: “Love this product. Both my daughter’s hair looks beautiful! Went from unmanageable to perfect. I absolutely love the smell too. I recommend it to everyone.”
7) Curly Kids Mixed Hair Care Custard for Kids
Product Promise: An easy solution for your child’s hair care needs. It locks in moisture to keep the hair strands soft and pliable. It’s infused with coconut oil to give it a smooth texture and for outstanding frizz control. You can use it on all sorts of locks, from wavy to kinky and more. Its lightweight formula controls flyaways without making your hair feel crunchy. Free of sulfates and paraben
Customer Review: “My daughter has naturally loose soft curls. Curly Kids custard is the perfect curly hair moisturizer for my baby girl. Her curls are much more defined and there is no more frizz!”
8) Curly Kids Curl Poppin Creme
Product Promise: Developed for curly, kinky, coily, wavy, and frizzy hair. Provides maximum moisture and manageability without the sticky greasy feel. Create defined, crunch-free curls and coils with this light to medium curl defining creme. This lightweight curling creme is excellent for finger-twisting, coiling, and wash and gos. Perfect for long-lasting curls. Formulated without sulfates, parabens, petrolatum, and mineral oil.
Customer Review: “Works just like the container says. Defined perfect curls without causing any greasy or stiff feeling!”
9) FroBabies Puffy Hold Me Down Baby Gelle
Product Promise: This multi-purpose styling gel is infused with honey, avocado, and other natural ingredients that offer superior hold without the hard, crunchy feeling of most gels. It is gentle on the hair and can be used for various hairstyles. Use to define curls and stop frizzies on medium curly to wavy hair. You can also use it to create great twist-outs on all textures of curls.
Customer Review: “I love this product for my granddaughter’s hair! It smells good and works beautifully on her hair!!”
10) FroBabies Curls-A Poppin Soufflé
Product Promise: A creamy, magical curling cream that is gentle but very effective in taming any curls and shaping them into the most defined curls ever. The mix of honey and avocado coats hair strands, adds shine, and leaves behind beautiful, frizz-free curls, twists, and coils. Can be used to reduce shrinkage (depending on styling techniques). Made with natural ingredients.
Customer Review: “ It works so well and smells heavenly. Hair is not hard after use, smells incredible and the hold is just right. I keep introducing others to it.”
11) Curly Q Custard Curl Cream
Product Promise: This rich and creamy custard provides great curl definition and sheen for curly girls to naturally elongate their curls. It is loaded with certified organic ingredients (certified organic sunflower oil and certified organic aloe leaf juice) and moisturizing butters (e.g. shea and mango) to hair-strengthening ingredients such as panthenol and lecithin. Voted parent magazines “Favorite Product for Girls with Kinky Textured Curls.”
Customer Review: “Great for my toddler’s thick kinky hair! Would highly recommend.”
12) Curly Q Gel-les’c – Curl Jelly
Product Promise: This botanical-based, organic curl-enhancing, shine-promoting styler is lightly scented with cucumber-melon and citrus. Great frizz-fighting solution for all curly hair types and textures. Imparts brilliant sheen, banishes frizz, and holds those twirls in place!
Customer Review: “Very good for toddlers with curly hair. Leaves the curls curlier. If you run your fingers through the hair the next morning, the hair is soft and you can relax the curls a bit more.”
13) Just For Me Natural Hair Milk Curl Perfecter
Product Promise: A light, milky cream that helps control frizz and define curls. Leaves curls bouncy, beautiful, and touchable.
Customer Review: “Perfect for my son’s 4B curls. Makes his hair very soft and moisturizes super well without taking the curl out.”
14) Luster’s Pink Kids Frizz Free Curling Creme
Product Promise: Elongates curls, moisturizes, detangles, and eliminates frizz. Amazing for curly and wavy hair and it’s perfect for Wash’N Go styles. Infused with argan oil and shea butter to define, strengthen & soften hair.
Customer Review: “I’ve been using this product for 2 years in my girl’s hair. It’s so light and leaves no residue. Keeps her curls defined without frizz for most of the day.”
15) Taliah Waajid Kinky, Wavy & Natural for Children Herbal Style & Shine
Product Promise: A styling cream that softens, moisturizes, and conditions while making hair manageable. A light, moisture-based hair styling cream that prevents frizz, defines curls, and reveals the beautiful curls that you did not know existed. Works best on tight to medium curl patterns.
Customer Review: “Seals and lays my daughter’s natural hair down. Also keeps it moist.”
16) Honey Baby Naturals Honey Shea Butter Hair Smoothie
Product Promise: Enriched with honey, shea butter, and coconut oil to give curly and textured hair hydrated, soft, and defined curls. It restores moisture and fights frizz for healthy, shiny, and amazing curls and waves. Ideal for curly, coarse, and textured hair types, this cream will give your little one soft, shiny hair.
Customer Review: “Smells good & moisturized my baby’s dry hair really well without making it heavy.”
17) Honey Baby Naturals Hold It Honey Styling Gel
Product Promise: An alcohol-free, flexible hold gel that hydrates your hair while providing hold, shine, and style retention. This oil-infused luxurious gel is the perfect blend of honey, jojoba oil, and flaxseed oil for slicking, stretching, lengthening, and setting your hair for all-day hold and control without the build-up and dryness of ordinary gels. Added flaxseed promotes healthy hair growth and overall scalp health.
Customer Review: “I love the smell. My baby’s hair feels soft after using.”
18) Honey Baby Really Hold It Gel
Product Promise: An Intense holding gel that creates the most defined curls. It’s a moisturizing formula, which includes rosemary and honey. Keeps curls hydrated and plump, and it’s perfect for edges, ponytails, buns, and anything that needs holding. Contains honey, flaxseed oil, and rosemary which keeps the hair healthy during styling. Hair stays in place all day with extreme hold without the crunch or flakes.
Customer Review: “I love it for my daughter. Great hold without the stiffness. No white residue. Smells good.”
19) Honey Baby Honey Dew Hair Foam- Styling Mousse
Product Promise: This lavender oil and sugar cane-infused hair foam is perfect for amplifying waves, curls, and coils and leaving hair bouncy and shiny. This styling mousse is great for roller sets, twist-outs, flexi-rods, and wash-and-go’s. Soothes the scalp and conditions the hair while also giving it a natural sheen, and leaves hair full of body. Also, the consistency, while light, provides fantastic defined soft-to-touch curls.
Customer Review: “This product gives my baby’s braids a soft hold.”
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20) Honey Baby Wash & Go Honey Styling Creme
Product Promise: This wash-n-go styling creme is perfect for all hair texture, giving your hair hold and definition without the crunch. It’s infused with key ingredients, lemongrass, and almond oil, containing antiseptic properties as well as vitamin B1 and B6. This product is a great 2-in-1 when looking for the right curly cocktail for a wash-n-go.
Customer Review: “My favorite styling creme for my daughter’s curls.”
21) Cantu Care for Kids Curling Cream
Product Promise: It’s formulated to soften and strengthen strands while controlling frizz. Use it to nurture and nourish fragile coils, curls, and waves. Helps to make your child’s hair easier to style. Ideal for activating curls or refreshing twists and braids. It is the right blend of 100% pure shea butter, coconut oil, and honey made without harsh ingredients.
Customer Review: “I tried this on my daughter’s 4a curly hair. This product is creamy and thick, and it smells amazing. It really melts into her hair and makes it easy to comb and manage. It makes her hair shiny and soft and it really moisturizes it.”
22) GlassWing Organics Loc & Natural Hair Butter for Kids
Product Promise: This amazing all-natural hair butter was created for the tender hair and scalp of kids and babies. Was created specifically for retwisting the hair and keeping new growth smooth and manageable.
It may also be used for twist-out styles on loose hair or as a hair conditioner or hair sealant. Will allow medium flexible hold on locked hair while also supporting healthy natural hair growth maintenance without buildup, flakes, or clogged pores.
Customer Review: “This is my favorite hair product for my little boy. He’s a little over two and we have been through several different brands of hair care products until we settled on this one.”
23) Kinder Curls Super Curls Styler
Product Promise: A water-based and silicone-free styler that is pH balanced to safely smooth the hair cuticle, creating shiny, manageable curls. Allows easy manipulation of curls into a looser, well-defined, frizz-free curl with ultimate softness and clean shine. Specially formulated for your little ones and supports all their styling needs such as bantu knots, twist outs, and more. Reactivates with water with absolutely no product build-up, and it is very effective in humidity.
Customer Review: “Didn’t make my girl’s hair feel heavy at all. It also revitalizes so well for days with only water!”
24) Young King Kids Curling Cream
Product Promise: Royally crafted haircare for boys, designed to moisturize, enhance and define curls. Made with a perfect blend of plant-based ingredients, including shea butter and marshmallow root for softer, textured hair. Promotes textured hair health and growth. Works for both high porosity hair (low moisture retention) and low porosity hair (high moisture retention). Free from harsh ingredients (no sulfates, parabens, mineral oils, and silicone).
Customer Review: “My son now loves doing his hair, thanks to Young King. He loves the way it smells and wants to look in the mirror when we are done!”
25) As I Am Born Curly Argan Curl Defining Jelly
Product Promise: Smoothes the natural curl formation with just the right level of hold. It provides long-lasting definition and great shine. Non-flaking when used as directed.
Customer Review: “I love the way this product defines the curls of my two-year-old and it seems to leave his hair moisturized.”
CONCLUSION
Do you have any questions about getting the best curl definition for your kids? Have additional products you’d like to add to the list? Please send me a direct message on my Instagram page right HERE.
Such a resourceful infographic. It’s worth sharing, no?