Back-to-school: Hair tips, styles and tricks

It starts with disbelief, which grows into confusion and near panic, which fades into last-minute-solution mode. School has resumed. You’re looking at your beautiful girl’s hair, nicely decorated for church, and you’re thinking to yourself – not another week of hurried hair styling. It’s been one week since school resumed and it is not unexpected that some pupils haven’t yet got quite into the back-to-school game with just the right hairstyle for a new school session. Besides, one week may seem more than enough in the eye of the teachers for you to have got over the hurried-styling session. Makeover offers a few pointers for choosing just the right hairstyle for starting the new school session on a highly inspiring note.

Detangle first

Before you subject the child’s hair to stylish for the school session, it is absolutely important to ensure the hair is fully detangled. This can be done at home or at the stylist’s salon and helps to ensure ease with plaiting.

Go easy

For many, save for special occasions, the holidays have been spent not doing so much in terms of hairstyles for the girl-child. So, it is important to prepare the hair for the new phase of pulling and stretching. For the first few weeks, while you may want to do something that would last a while, try to minimise stretching the hair too far, just to ensure it lasts. The scalp is quite sensitive and the hairstyle, no matter how pretty, will only become a source of discomfort for the child.

Prepare for more dirt

Unlike the holidays when you could somehow monitor the child’s movement, remember that school offers a mix of fun and work. As such, now may not be a good time to go for weaves – some schools now allow that. Weavons may hide sand, dandruff, candy remnants and other forms of dirt, which in the long run, will cause itching and may breed some infection.

Wash frequently

According to some stylists, there is no reason not to wash a child’s hair regularly, with water, but less frequently with shampoo. For those, who think otherwise, frequent washing is necessary to ensure the hair retains moisture, and doesn’t encourage breakage from drying out. So, when choosing hairstyle, go for something that will not discourage regular washing.

Styles to choose from

Simple braids, weaving styles, didi, among other offers, more when it comes to a variety of styles to choose from. When choosing, however, endeavour to stay away from styles that stress the hair strands and roots, keeping in mind that they need to be as free as possible to interact with friends they have been away from for weeks. Plus tip: let your child pick from options you offer.

Reduce artificial products

Experimenting with artificial products on children’s hair will, in the long run, produce negative results such as breakage, increased dandruff, reduced growth, and in some cases, no more growth. If you have to retouch your child’s hair, always use products prescribed for their age. For those who wish, if you have already started seeing the adverse effects of artificial product, stylists advise starting over, by going for the big chop. It is best to always use natural products for children’s hair to ensure best results.

Choose the right stylist

It is not out of place for a girl to hate going to a particular stylist, and you see children flocking to one. When your child weeps for good reason at the stylist’s salon listen to what the child is actually trying to say. Sometime, the difference between a wonderful day at the salon, and ‘warfare’ with tears, lies in the hands of the stylist. Ensure the stylist isn’t pulling your child’s hair too strongly – this can be obvious from swelling and straining. Also, if you can, stay with the child to reduce distractions which may result in the stylist straining the child’s head and neck to ensure it’s in place. Children deserve to enjoy the beauty process.