How can I stop my toddler daughter from tangling her hair?

Question

My daughter is 2 1/2 years old and this is a 2x daily routine of untangling the mess she gets her hair into. She has thin fine hair like myself and I'm absolutely not going to shave or just cut it off as that won't fix the underlying problem. She usually has her hair tangled into knots (2-4 knots) from twirling her hair around her fingers. Most of them I can work out with my fingers and comb her hair after, and honestly she loves when her hair is done and pretty, so I'm totally confused as to why she likes to tangle it before and after sleeping (both at night and naps). Please help! (remember, cutting and shaving is absolutely not an option - I'm sure we can resolve this without resorting to those horrible ideas).

Answer 1

Braid it, or ask your local salon what can be done to make it more manageable. x

Answer 2

Put her hair in a high pony or always keep it braided. EVentually she will forget about it and then you can put her hair back down.

Answer 3

put it up in some way, and just stay on her ***, gently, about not playing with it when it's down

Answer 4

my daughter did the same thing! she really likes the feeling the hair makes when runnign through her hair try gettting her a baby doll with real feeling hair ( lots of it ) and lay it in her bed at night  so she can twirl its hair instead of her own... good luck!

Answer 5

My niece had this same problem and we were always brushing her hair out.  She is almost 5 now and has thankfully stopped this practice, but we found that putting her hair in braids or just a ponytail often solved the problem.  French braids were best because it kept all the hair in and it looked great to boot!! Hope this is helpful and GOOD LUCK!

Answer 6

maybe put it in braids?

Answer 7

sounds like shes doing it  just while sleeping if so it is definitly a comfort thing my daughter has really long thick hair it was always a mess to comb in the morning we found that braiding works best. SHe calls it "Dorthy hair" , from watching the Wizard of Oz. its great because it gives it just a little curl as well. if you braid it before you put her you'll find she'll stop twirling it hopefully sooner rather than later.

Answer 8

Sounds like she does it when she goes to bed.  It's probably a comfort thing.  My nephew used to twirl other peoples hair when he was going to sleep.  NOT MINE!! I would remove his hand from my hair repeatedly.  He eventually got the idea.

I agree with th doll idea.  Get her some thing that has long hair, and see if you can get her to lay with it and twirl it's hair, instead of her own.  It's worth a shot.

Answer 9

keep her hair braided