You have some gotten some pretty good responses and suggestions. I will add that you may want to limit washing to once a week or so depending on how much product you are using in her hair. Washing more often can/will strip the hair of its natural oils and render the hair and scalp overly dry. My dd is not biracial but has very curly and soft hair. I wash her hair once a week, detangle and braid or do whatever I plan to do style wise. As another poster stated, cotton sheet can damage hair and dry it out further, so I am working now to get my dd used to sleeping in a satin scarf. She is 20 months, so she is at the age where she wants nothing on her head. In the mornings I spritz her hair with a mixture of water, olive oil and a little cream base something leaning more towards all natural products as I don't want to add gunk to her hair.

I have found loads of products at Target that work well for us. It really will be a trial and error sort of journey until you find what works for your daughter's hair.

Oh, and my dd's hair is a lot longer on top than in the back. I did scalp massages which helped a little, but she will only sit for so long for a massage.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op-Assuming your DH is AA first talk to his mother and/or sisters about what your ritual for doing her hair is. If your Daughter's texture is closer to your DH you need to know that AA hair needs considerable more moisture and certain moisture (non alcohol, and for me non water based) at that. You can not wash it everyday and certain shampoos will break the hair and not encourage growth. Also take her to an AA hairdresser to recommend products and grooming techniques that will help.

Her hair will probably sprout off all of a sudden.

21:47, here. If you have specific products or techniques to recommend, please share. I have tried several, and with tons of effort DD's hair does look like less of a frizzy mess and more like tights curls, but I could never get it any longer. I thought it was a "black hair" issue at first, but then I saw pictures of DH at this age with much more hair, and his relatives started to express surprise at what little hair DD had. It's actually the source of a conspiracy theory in my family, because many of the AA relatives think I am keeping it short due to my inability to manage AA hair, but although I do struggle with AA hair, I honestly am not keeping it short on purpose.

Also, as an aside, the "kink" in AA hair turns out to be very different than "very curly" white hair. It needs and tolerates a ton more moisture, literally I pour olive oil on DD's head and her hair looks better--not overly oily. This was a total shock to me.

Try this site for informational purposes. I have not tried their products but they have good information on biracial hair.

http://www.treasuredlocks.com/biracial-hair-care-guide.html

Another go info site: http://www.naturallycurly.com/

Also it is very common for AA babies/toddles to have very short hair in the back and be longer in the front. Cotton bedding can be very drying on their hair.

Based on your comments, I'm not sure I would use husband's family as a resource. It seems like (based on your comments) they had an age old expectation of so called "good-hair" growing on child because of the mixed race aspect.

I definitely would not suggest washing everyday. Maybe three times a week. Use shampoos that are sulfate free and please don't use Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo. That is poison on baby AA hair.

Target sells a good product called Mixed Chick Kids:

http://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=mixed+chicks&category=0%7CAll%7Cmatchallpartial+rel+ALL%7Call+categories&lnk=


You will just have to figure out what works for your child and do some research. I am AA, with a little girl, who's father is half white. She is 10 and I still struggle to find good products for her hair. Everything dries her hair out.

Make sure to use a wide tooth comb and be gentle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op-Assuming your DH is AA first talk to his mother and/or sisters about what your ritual for doing her hair is. If your Daughter's texture is closer to your DH you need to know that AA hair needs considerable more moisture and certain moisture (non alcohol, and for me non water based) at that. You can not wash it everyday and certain shampoos will break the hair and not encourage growth. Also take her to an AA hairdresser to recommend products and grooming techniques that will help.

Her hair will probably sprout off all of a sudden.

21:47, here. If you have specific products or techniques to recommend, please share. I have tried several, and with tons of effort DD's hair does look like less of a frizzy mess and more like tights curls, but I could never get it any longer. I thought it was a "black hair" issue at first, but then I saw pictures of DH at this age with much more hair, and his relatives started to express surprise at what little hair DD had. It's actually the source of a conspiracy theory in my family, because many of the AA relatives think I am keeping it short due to my inability to manage AA hair, but although I do struggle with AA hair, I honestly am not keeping it short on purpose.

Also, as an aside, the "kink" in AA hair turns out to be very different than "very curly" white hair. It needs and tolerates a ton more moisture, literally I pour olive oil on DD's head and her hair looks better--not overly oily. This was a total shock to me.

Why the obsession with length--why isn't short OK? Is there an expectation from your DH's relatives that because the child is biracial, that she should have long hair?

Or you could just leave the hair alone to do what it's supposed to do. Don't saddle it with products and shit. Wash and trim as needed, keep it clean and just let it be.

AA mother here. You can not get a product recommendation that will help over an board. Hair is to complicated and people have various terms for texture and products. Go to the family and a professional.

What works for one person may not work for others. I have a bi-racial relative who use a moisturizer that would be to harsh for my hair and I am not bi-racial.

Two daughters here, both with curly hair, but have completely different hair. One has thick hair that grows super-fast -- she is 5.5 years old and it's halfway down her back in big chunky curls. The other one is 8 and has slightly curly but very fine hair, and it hardly grows at all -- it's just barely shoulder length normally, even shorter now since I cut the water/sun-damaged ends off. Both were as bald as eggs until about 2 (so was my son). Honestly I think it's just genetic roulette -- all three of my kids are totally different, and their hair is just part of that. As long as your dd is eating well, it's probably not a vitamin deficiency and there's probably little to nothing you can do to make her hair grow any differently than it does now.

All you can really do is learn how to treat and style her hair so it's manageable and becoming.

Anonymous wrote:Op-Assuming your DH is AA first talk to his mother and/or sisters about what your ritual for doing her hair is. If your Daughter's texture is closer to your DH you need to know that AA hair needs considerable more moisture and certain moisture (non alcohol, and for me non water based) at that. You can not wash it everyday and certain shampoos will break the hair and not encourage growth. Also take her to an AA hairdresser to recommend products and grooming techniques that will help.

Her hair will probably sprout off all of a sudden.

21:47, here. If you have specific products or techniques to recommend, please share. I have tried several, and with tons of effort DD's hair does look like less of a frizzy mess and more like tights curls, but I could never get it any longer. I thought it was a "black hair" issue at first, but then I saw pictures of DH at this age with much more hair, and his relatives started to express surprise at what little hair DD had. It's actually the source of a conspiracy theory in my family, because many of the AA relatives think I am keeping it short due to my inability to manage AA hair, but although I do struggle with AA hair, I honestly am not keeping it short on purpose.

Also, as an aside, the "kink" in AA hair turns out to be very different than "very curly" white hair. It needs and tolerates a ton more moisture, literally I pour olive oil on DD's head and her hair looks better--not overly oily. This was a total shock to me.

AA mom here who advises on natural hair care in my spare time.
Couple of questions to better help:
How often are you washing dd's hair?
What products are you using including shampoo, conditioner, hair oil?
How or are you wrapping her hair at night or is she sleeping on a satiny type pillowcase?
What types of hairstyles is she currently wearing?
As a pp asked, have you spoken with other AA relatives about what their hair was like at that age and asked for tips?

Anonymous wrote:Op-Assuming your DH is AA first talk to his mother and/or sisters about what your ritual for doing her hair is. If your Daughter's texture is closer to your DH you need to know that AA hair needs considerable more moisture and certain moisture (non alcohol, and for me non water based) at that. You can not wash it everyday and certain shampoos will break the hair and not encourage growth. Also take her to an AA hairdresser to recommend products and grooming techniques that will help.

Her hair will probably sprout off all of a sudden.

+1

My dd is 5, and has very curly hair. I asked the ped about how it just doesn't seem to grow much. My ped said it is probably growing more than you think and just curling up. Now, she does get regular haircuts, but I remember thinking it would never grow.

Anonymous wrote:OP- Do you children have different hair textures?

*Your

OP- Do you children have different hair textures?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cutting hair can make it seem more easy to handle but tidies not and can not make it thicker or grow faster.

Getting trims does make your hair healthier and grow faster.

Trimming hair can make it appear healthier, due to removing damaged ends, but it does nothing to actually improve the health of the hair. And trimming the ends of hair has absolutely zero effect on how quickly how hair grows--that all happens in the scalp.

+1. I can't believe people actually believe this myth. Your hair roots don't know if something is cut off at the end - it's not like there are blood vessels or nerves going down your hair shaft; hair is dead material.

I've even had a hairdresser tell me this BS, but of course he has a vested interest in people believing it...

OP, my daughter is also biracial and the back of her head is bald. It has been since she was born, she's 2 now. She has this afro in the front and absolutely nothing going on in the back.

I think part of it is she sleeps on her back, always has and part of it is my gene that she inherited, I never had a full head of hair, still don't. I braid the parts of it that I can (cultural) and just leave the bald part to chill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cutting hair can make it seem more easy to handle but tidies not and can not make it thicker or grow faster.

Getting trims does make your hair healthier and grow faster.

What is the mechanism for a hair cut making hair grow faster?

magic.