Inside: Cleansing, detangling, products, and styling tips you need to know for biracial boy hair care!
Hair care for biracial boys is just as important as hair care for biracial girls, yet there’s far fewer resources for them!
When I first had my son I remember trying to look stuff up online but most of what I found were haircut ideas for biracial boys.
So I ended up doing the same mixed hair care routine for my son that I did for my daughter and just improvised as he got older.
I wanted to share my biracial hair care routine for boys because I’ve gotten a lot of questions over time about hair care specifically for boys. Plus I wanted to share this in case you’ve been looking for resources for mixed boys hair care and haven’t found any!
Tips for biracial boy hair care
Cleansing and detangling
When cleansing their hair, you’ll want to do it once or twice a week. Anymore than that and you’ll dry out their hair.
You don’t need to use shampoo especially if their hair is coarse and curly. You can use a co-wash instead to cleanse the scalp because it’s much gentler on their hair.
After cleansing, put a moisturizing, detangling conditioner through their hair and comb out the tangles with a wide tooth comb.
Make sure you keep the conditioner in the hair while you’re detangling. It gives the conditioner a chance to moisturize your son’s hair and makes it easier to get the tangles out.
Products for mixed hair
My son has fine curly hair so it works best to put the products in his hair after I rinse out the conditioner when it’s still thoroughly wet.
You’ll want to at least use a leave in conditioner to keep their hair moisturized. Curly mixed hair is very prone to becoming dry and if it gets dry it’ll get damaged.
These are my favorite products for mixed hair and I use them for both my son and daughter.
If you have a baby boy these are great biracial hair products for babies.
Styling tips for biracial boy hair
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If your son has long hair you can blot it with an old t-shirt after he gets out of the bath and then let it air dry. You’ll want to stay away from drying their hair with a towel because the friction from rubbing mixed kids hair with a towel can damage it.
The way I style my son’s hair is I use my fingers as I’m putting the products in to encourage definition in the curl. (I kind of scrunch/fluff his curls up).
Then I avoid touching it afterwards so it doesn’t frizz, (cause the more you touch it the more it will frizz).
If your son has longer, coarser hair you’ll want to learn some protective hairstyles. When their hair is constantly exposed to the elements it again can become dry and breakage can occur.
Some good protective hairstyles are braids, puffs, and twists.
Some important tips to remember for protective hairstyles is make sure your sons hair isn’t pulled too tightly as that can cause hair loss. Also when you take out the protective hairstyle let your sons hair rest for at least a week before putting it in another one.
If your son’s hair isn’t in a protective hairstyle, you’ll want to add some extra moisture to it daily.
What I do is spray my son’s hair and then add some leave in conditioning cream and gel to moisturize and define his curls.
If your son has very coarse hair, instead of using a wide tooth comb for styling purposes, you can use a boar bristle brush.
I don’t use heat when I style my son’s hair so I only style it when I know it has time to air dry. So on days when we have to leave the house super early, I’ll put a hat or a hood on his head, (cause otherwise it looks crazy!).
But you’ll want to be careful if your son’s hair is coarser. Either don’t choose a hat that’ll tangle his hair, or add some extra moisture to his hair before he wears a hat, (if he’s going to be wearing it for awhile).
Related: 10 Best Leave In Conditioners For Biracial Hair
Biracial boy hair care tips for night time
When your son is sleeping you’ll want to invest in a satin pillowcase and/or satin sheets. If they sleep on cotton sheets, it’ll pull all the moisture out of their hair which again, causes damage and breakage!
The satin sheets and pillowcases glide along the hair and don’t suck all the moisture out so it’s much gentler on their hair when their tossing and turning at night.
Final thoughts
The bottom line with biracial boy hair care, is making sure you have a gentle cleansing and detangling routine, use moisturizing products, take care when styling it, and protect it overnight.
Mixed boys hair can suffer from damage and breakage just like mixed girls so keeping it protected and moisturized will keep your son’s hair healthy!
Related Reading
6 Tips For Managing Fine Curly Mixed Hair
How To Protect Biracial Hair While Swimming
10 Diverse Books For Confident Boys
10 Crafts and Toys That Support Racial and Cultural Diversity
I have a biracial son whose hair is more like mine than his fathers. It is curly but more caucasian. I have no idea how to take care of it, but whatever I do is not good enough for his father. Please help! His hair is not as long as your sons, but definitely curled.
Hi Amanda! What are you currently doing for your son’s hair care routine? If his hair is more of a fine texture, he may need his hair washed more than one or two times a week, but I wouldn’t wash it every day because this dries out curly hair. This is something you’ll have to experiment with to determine how often you need to wash it. Detangle his hair right after you wash it with the conditioner still in it. After detangling, wash out the conditioner and add product while his hair is still wet. For products, he may only… Read more »