I built this brand because of a seven o'clock problem.
My kids have different hair. One has loose curls that tangle overnight into something that looks deliberate. The other has finer, straighter hair that flattens on one side and will not be reasoned with. For about two years, mornings in our house ran the same way: brush, protest, negotiate, give up, ponytail, leave late.
What follows is what I actually do now. It takes about seven minutes for both of them. I am not going to pretend it is always calm, because some mornings it is not. But the fight is mostly gone, and that was the only thing I was after.
If you want the background on why we started the brand at all, that is here.
Before anything, I do not start dry
This is the single change that fixed the most.
Dry hair does not want to be brushed. The tangles are tighter, the hair has no slip, and every pass pulls. When my daughter used to cry in the morning, it was almost never the brush. It was that I was dragging a brush through dry, knotted hair and expecting it to go well.
Now nothing starts until the hair is damp. Not soaking. Damp.
Step 1: Damp it down, about 30 seconds
If they showered the night before, I mist the hair with water from a spray bottle until it feels cool to the touch. If they showered that morning, I towel it until it stops dripping and wait a minute.
Either way, I am looking for damp, not wet. Soaking hair holds product on the surface instead of letting it through, and it takes forever to dry.
Step 2: Detangler, section by section, about two minutes
I spray Detangler through the hair, concentrating on the bottom third where the knots actually live. The top of the head is rarely the problem. The ends are.
Then I split the hair into four sections with my hands. Two in front, two in back. I do not use clips. Clips are another thing to lose at seven in the morning.
I work one section at a time, starting at the ends and moving up in short passes. Not root to tip. Ends first, then an inch higher, then an inch higher. This is the part people skip and it is the part that matters. If you start at the root you are pushing every knot in that section down into one knot at the bottom, and then you have to fight that.
The Detangler is a 250ml bottle and lasts us about two months using it every morning on two kids.
If you want the longer version of how to pick a detangler, including what else is out there, we wrote that up separately.
Step 3: Cloud Brush, about a minute per head
I use the Cloud Brush because the bristles have give. A stiff brush on a damp curl does not glide, it snaps.
Same order as before. Ends up to roots, section by section. If I hit resistance I stop, mist that spot again, and go back to it. I do not power through. Powering through is how you end up with a kid who flinches when you pick up a brush.
The Cloud Brush.
Step 4: Style and Define Cream on the curly one, about a minute
Only on my daughter. My son's hair does not need it and it would weigh him down.
About a quarter-sized amount in my palms, rubbed together, then applied to damp hair from the ends up. Same direction as everything else. I scrunch upward a few times and then I stop touching it. Touching curls while they dry is what makes them frizz, and I spent a long time learning that the hard way.
Style and Define Cream. There is a full guide to applying it if you want the amounts by hair length.
Step 5: The hairline, about 20 seconds
My daughter has baby hairs along her hairline that will not lie flat no matter what. For a long time I did nothing about it, then I tried an adult gel and it went crunchy and white by lunch.
Now I run the Magic Hair Wand along the hairline. It is a gel stick and you apply it directly without getting it on your hands. It holds them down for the school day. By the time she is home they have mostly come back, which is fine. They are supposed to be there.
More on what baby hairs are and why they do that.
What I gave up on
A few honest ones.
Brushing at night. I tried the "brush it out before bed and the morning is easy" approach for months. It was not easier. It was the same fight, just moved to a worse time of day when everyone was more tired.
Matching routines. I wanted both kids on the same products because it seemed simpler. It is not simpler, it is just wrong for one of them. My son's hair needs less of everything. If your kids have different textures, the routines are genuinely different.
Doing it myself forever. My daughter now does her own detangling most days. It is slower and it is not as thorough and I have made my peace with that. She stopped dreading it when she got to control the brush.
Perfect hair. Some mornings the part is crooked and one side is flatter. Nobody at school has ever mentioned it.
The whole thing, in order
- Damp the hair, not soaking
- Detangler through the bottom third
- Split into four sections
- Brush each section from the ends up with the Cloud Brush, never root first
- Style and Define Cream on curly or wavy hair only, applied to damp hair
- Scrunch, then stop touching
- Magic Hair Wand on the hairline if you need it
That is it. Seven minutes, two kids.
The products in this routine
- Detangler, 250ml. Leave-in detangling spray for ages 3 and up. Straight, wavy, curly, and coily hair.
- Cloud Brush Flexible bristles for damp detangling.
- Style and Define Cream, 250ml. Leave-in cream for wavy, curly, and coily hair.
- Magic Hair Wand, 40ml. Gel stick for the hairline and flyaways.
All four come together in the Starter Set, which is what we use at home.
Not sure where to start? The routine quiz takes about a minute.
Common questions
How old do kids need to be for these products? PixieYou products are formulated for ages 3 and up.
How often should I wash my kid's hair? It depends on texture. Straighter hair usually needs washing every two to three days, curly hair every four to five, coily hair about once a week. Detangling happens on damp hair whether or not it is a wash day. Full breakdown by texture here.
Should I detangle before or after washing? After, on damp hair, with product. Detangling dry hair causes more breakage and more tears.
Can I use adult hair products on my kids? You can, but adult styling products are formulated for adult hair and often have a firmer hold than a child's finer hair needs. That firmer hold is what creates the crunchy, flaking result most parents notice.
Where do I start if I am only buying one thing? The Detangler. It is the product that changes the morning.
More questions are answered on our FAQ page.
