Washing DD's hair is a nightmare

The twins have decided that every night is bath night instead of every other night and they love to play in the tub for up to an hour. In the last month or so DD freaks out when it is time for hair washing. We use the no more tears shampoo, have the bucket with silicone that lays on their foreheads to keep their faces dry, and are in no way rough when we wash their hair. However, if you heard her screaming and carrying on you would think we were attacking her.

We thought that she was only doing this with us, but my mom told me the other night that she has been doing this with her too when she gives them a bath. We tried letting her wash and rinse her own hair, but that hasn't helped. We could deal with this better if it didn't happen EVERY night :shok: . DH and I are starting to dread bath time. Last night I told her we were going to take her to get her hair cut short if she didn't calm down during hair washing time. That lead to shrieks of NOOOOO.

Is this a normal stage at this age? I am hoping this is a phase that we quickly outgrow.

 

Unfortunately, IMO, normal. <_< Both of my girls did this. It is SO annoying!! Even though you have started bathing every night, can you skip hair washing and only do it every 2-3 days? That's what I ended up doing because I could not stand it anymore. I would tell them each bath time whether it was a hairwashing day or not.


ETA: Mine outgrew it and are MUCH better now and have been for months.

 

Great idea! We never thought of that. Good to know it can be a phase. Thanks!

 

What is the worst part, rinsing? physically washing? My DD has always been good and I give credit to my DH who always just poured water over their heads from a few month on.
My neighbors little girl will usually freak on her mom but let me to it. She does prefer to have a wash cloth she can cover her eyes to rinse.

Hope it is a short phase!

 

It is the whole process; the getting it wet, the lathering, and the rinsing. We have all tried everything we can think of like the special rinse cup, having her rinse, having her lather the shampoo, but she screams like someone is attacking her the ENTIRE time. One time she got herself so upset screaming that she threw up in the tub. It makes me wonder what the neighbors think if they can hear her.

BTW as you can see from my avatar she loves the squirt zone, my sister's swimming pool, and playing/floating in the bathtub so it is not a "water" issue.

 

I don't have any great advice except to say that my girls hate having their hair brushed. They don't react as strongly as it sounds like yours do with the hair washing, but it still was a big struggle every morning.

To minimize the drama, I ended up getting their haircut pretty short and now brushing is a piece of cake and only takes a few seconds instead of five agonizing minutes. They look super cute and clean-cut with their short haircuts. (Oh, and the haircut itself is easy because they know they get lollipops afterwards - I guess my kids are easily bribed... :acute I figure when they are older and can take responsibility for taking care of it, they can choose to grow their hair out.

 

O wow, I thought I was the only one. My daughter is a terrible nightmare and I too have bucket with silicone that purs water away from her face and tear free shampoo but she still screams like someone is trying to drown her. Makes me feel like a crazy person but now I wash her hai twice a week only as I can't take it mor than that. I hope it will pass.

 

FYI: It's not just girls, my one DS is like this as well. It's been going on for as long as I can remember (at least a year) and they are 3 1/2. I have tried everything as well. There are some nights that as soon as I wet his hair, he wants out asap. So I have to wash him as quickly as possible. I wait to wash their hair last so at least he can have some fun in the tub. But as soon as he sees me fill up the rinse cup :gah:

I've even tried showers but that freaked him out even more.

 

I was going to suggest just washing it every 2-3 days too. At one point I had to start washing hair first. I told DD that it was hair time, then play time. Part of why she was getting so upset was that she saw hair washing as the end of her "fun time", so we did it first and let her know that washing it was how she got her play time and she got more play time by allowing us to wash it easily.

 

Exactly what we went through. Baffled me to see them "washing" their own hair in the kiddie pool, but acting like I was pulling their arm out of the socket when *I* did it in the tub.

 

I have tried everything (even goggles), but my DD still jumps up and down in the tub screaming like she's being tortured. So I have decided just to do it fast. I put on my bathing suit, climb in, pull the shower curtain shut, let her soap her own hair with my help and then physically restrain her while I hold her head under the shower (on a very gentle setting). I keep her face away from the water and just go fast with the goal of nobody getting hurt. So probably 20 seconds to rinse her hair. I D-R-E-A-D it.

And, yep, my girl is always sticking her face in the water at the pool. So go figure.

And--heehee-she also screams when her brother's hair is being rinsed.

 

As others have said, I started washing hair less frequently to avoid the angst. I also bought those wash puff things for both girls & put a bit of shampoo on those & let them scrub their bodies while I lather their hair. We also had good luck with giving them each a wash cloth to hold over their eyes while rinsing - although, with Danika, the thing she hates is getting water in her ears, not her eyes, so she holds the cloth over her ears. ardon: Right now, they don't love it, but they don't freak out like they used to.

 

Have you ever let them "paint" with shaving cream? I usually squirt a little on the wall and they use an old spatula to paint with it. Then I can just rinse it off at the end. You can even mix a little food coloring in the shaving cream in like an egg carton to make it fun. If that is something she might like, you can use it as a bargaining tool. "Oh honey, when you wiggle around and yell, it makes me really tired. And I won't have energy to let you play. If you can sit still, I'll have enough time/energy and you can paint."

We have a handheld shower, and letting them lay in an empty tub, and use that on their hair (With a little washcloth over their eyes) has been the way I finally won them over. It also puts a little responsibility on their hands, because if they wiggle, the cloth comes off and they might get water in their eyes. They still don't like it, but we have no more tears at least.

There's a Yo Gabba Gabba episode with "It's Fun to Wash Your Hair" as a song, so I'll sing that while we do each step. I also remind them over and over to be my brave boys.

 

I have to say I have one of the DD's as well... even though she is 11 now and she washes her own hair now, she is the same as everyone else has described, loves swimming but come shower/bath time, hates hair being washed.

I ended up like everyone else who said, minimise the hair wash days - 2 days per week unless she got extremely dirty and wash and rinse very very quickly, had her lie down in the bath with a face cloth over her eyes... it was a really really traumatic time and I have to say that when she got old enough to wash her own hair, I was so relieved! BUT I have had to buy her some anti-dandruff shampoo because she doesn't rinse out properly

Also I get my mum to give her hair a thorough wash when she is there - for some reason she just doesn't make the same fuss with her.

We also have had and do have problems with hair brushing, I get so annoyed and frustrated especially as I think she should by now be able to do her own hair in the morning for school, but to give her credit, she has been practicising because she know when I'm in hospital, it's either herself or DH lol!!!

PS: I tried the bribery and it didn't work, I threatened to cut her hair off but I just couldn't do it, she has lovely hair although it's a bane of my existence! :catfight:

It's the only thing that makes me nervous about having two more girls lol!

 

My girls did this off and on for awhile a couple of months ago. They had been fine then all of a sudden, "NOOOOOOOO!" screaming and thrashing around to get out of the water, I have no idea why they did this but thankfully they stopped after a few weeks on their own.