Your dancer’s hair and hair care

[BalletMummy123]

Hi all!

Both my DDs (7 and 10) have very damaged hair with lots of breakages and split ends from the constant gel, hairsprays, bobbles, elastics etc.

 

Can anyone recommend any treatments or hair care ranges that would help? We currently use Body Shop and have used Lush before but whatever we try doesn’t seem to make a difference.

 

They are due another cut but even that doesn’t make a massive difference. Any tips/tricks greatly appreciated! X

[Jewel]

I'd say for a start to stop using the gel and hairspray on a regular basis and save it for exams/performances only.  

[MamaFrosty]

We found the only thing that really helped during a run of performances was a hair mask for damaged hair and sleeping in a loose plait. Her hair is very fine so we have to do the same in summer when she’s swimming in the sea or in a chlorinated pool a lot. Now she uses an Aussie deep conditioner once a week for maintenance and we only use a small amount of gel for classes because she hates her ‘wispy bits’ (which she’s unfortunately inherited from me 😂)

[Neverdancedjustamum]

I am very interested in the responses you get to this too. Unfortunately, whilst @Jewel’s advice makes perfect sense, it’s often not an option for my DD as she has very long, curly hair (with lots of baby hair and wisps and layers) and using water alone to “tame” it doesn’t work for long.  She doesn’t have classes every day but on the few days she does, we definitely need to use hair gel at the very least to make her bun look halfway neat. I too am very worried about hair damage but also I’ve seen quite a few dancers (from young to more mature, from hobby dancers to full timers, students to professionals) who appear to have either receding hairlines - presumably from hair being constantly scraped back into a bun - or with middle parts that seem to progressively grow wider through the years. I’m so paranoid about this that I always try to vary my DD’s bun - middle part one day, scraped back another, side part the next. Perhaps luckily, DD hates having her hair in a bun anyway so as soon as class is over she gets her hair down asap. She’s not a full time student and none of her classes prescribe a specific style so we do have the leeway to do whatever bun as long as it’s neat.  On an interesting slightly different note, it does seem like her use of hair gel more often than her non-dancing school mates has helped her avoid getting head lice through her primary schools years (and up to now). Even when there was a rise in head lice cases when she was younger in school, lice seem to avoid her hair like the plague and we’ve never had to deal with them. Not sure if it’s related to use to hair gel spray but strange in any case. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Neverdancedjustamum

[Pixiewoo]

DD is older, but we only use gel/hairspray for exams/ performances etc. She also has thick, long hair.  She finds that dirty hair stays neater in buns etc! 

 

You can get bobbles that are made of stretchy fabric rather than elastic,  and these are much kinder on the hair.  I think we got the last lot in either primark or claires accessories. 

[BalletMummy123]

Thank you for you answers everyone - very much appreciated. Can I ask which regular shampoo/conditioner you would all recommend? Thanks again x

[Pixiewoo]

DD either uses some hideously expensive shampoo and conditioner or,  we really liked the banana shampoo/conditioner from bodyshop ... then we found similar in poundland! 

[OnlyDance]

My DD suffered with the breakages, split ends and hair line loss when she was younger. We limited the use of gel and hairspray (occasional use shows etc like Jewel mentioned above) and also cut right back on shampoo as I found this was drying her hair too much and making it brittle. We use loads, and loads of hair conditioner! Sometimes we 'wash' with conditioner only. After the final rinse we add a (very) little argan oil to the hair before drying. In the last year or so she reintroduced hair spray/gel for some classes without problem (well except for the split ends 😂)

[Kanangra]

We used to spray hair with water  to make it damp when putting it in a bun, DD's hair was quite fine and this helped to neaten it. I think it's hard to avoid the breakages from using hair elastics though.

[Kerfuffle]

Could you try French plaiting it into a bun rather than scraping it back? It might be more secure that way and need less spray. 

[munchkin16]

I have thick hair with lots of wispy fluff when I scrape it back. I tend to braid the front top sections or do two little twists into the bun. It still have some stray hairs but this tends to contain enough of them to be neat, without needing hairspray.

 

On some days I just do two French braids and pin them up into a twist at the back. Keeps everything neat and changes up where the pressure on my hair is.

[LaCamargo]

Daughter has very fine hair that breaks easily especially after several days of having to be in a bun/high pony tail for dance activities. We only use gel spray or hairspray for exams or shows. Since using Elvive Full Resist Reinforcing shampoo and conditioner she finds that her hair is less prone to breaking. It can usually be found on offer somewhere. She is also very careful about the type of brushes that she uses. Other daughter with frizzy hair prone to breakage uses oil conditioner when a sleek looking bun is needed but is careful not to use too much. She also likes the same Elvive shampoo.

[Ruby Foo]

On 21/04/2022 at 19:48, BalletMummy123 said:

Thank you for you answers everyone - very much appreciated. Can I ask which regular shampoo/conditioner you would all recommend? Thanks again x

 
The Aveda Botanical intensive repair is good especially if you sit with it on under a hot towel ( microwave) for a while. 
It is much more the thing NOT to scrape your hair back these days. Some vocational schools are being much more proactive in changing hair positions, not putting your hair up too early and sitting in it for academics, and encouraging a slightly softer look  than the gel/ egg head, purely because of the damage and fall out - literally.

[Beezie]

Hairnets completely changed the game for us.  We can use a soft ponytail holder, loosely coil her hair, and then the hair net holds it in place.  We pin the edges of the net with a ‘tuck under’ type motion, with silicone-coated pins. (The hairnet let’s us do the same style with less tightness, and it still stays put.  I think technically the style is called a flat bun…at least that is what one of the older girls told us when showing me.)

 

I’ve also started using an oil-infused leave-in conditioner in place of gel.  It gets rid of all the fly-aways.  Makes her hair greasy at first…. but after she takes out her bun, it has diffused/absorbed enough that it looks fine until the next wash.

[HowMuch!]

DD isn’t at vocational school, but dances 3 times a week and all day Saturday. She has fine, flyaway hair. We’ve found that using spray conditioner on dry hair is a good alternative to hairspray, just water never works for her. Plus she now only washes her hair on a Sunday so it’s ‘dirty’ enough to stay neat for associates on a Saturday, bit grotty looking by Friday but it works for her 😂. At school she only wears it in a loose low ponytail or down, and during the week for her local classes she’ll mix up the hair styles with low bun, plaited bun etc. agree with the other posters who mention fabric hair bands, loose coil and bun net. We only use gel/hairspray for shows, auditions and exams.