Fruit slime as baby hair gel

If that title didn't grab you, you're a stronger parent than I.

Erin's hack requires no preamble:

My 11 month-old daughter's hair is just long enough to get in her eyes, but not long enough to tuck behind an ear. I don't really want to start cutting her hair, so I've taken to using a tiny bit of banana or kiwi slime as baby hair gel. I just rub my fingers over the fruit until they are a little sticky and then finger-style her hair back away from her face. That's all you need. It's effective, convenient, and cheap!

I asked if it washed out ok, and here's what Erin said:

Oh sure! In fact, I got the idea from her grabbing her own hair while her hands were covered in fruit slime. Whatever she grabbed and scrunched in her little hand would stick straight up all day long (but wash out of her hair at night). My husband thinks I'm insane, intentionally putting food in her hair, but it's really not even noticeable if you only use a little. It's not exactly long-lasting, but it will last a few hours (until the next meal! HA!).

Awesome.

Tags: Baby, Parenting

Comments

[ale, bristol, uk]

How about aloe vera? My problem with food is if it's able to disinfect at the same time and Aloe Vera would do this... But is it sticky enough!!?

[cmcinnyc]

Pear juice works beautifully as well. Honestly, it never occurred to me to do this on purpose. My daughter can be relied upon to style her hair at breakfast with whatever fruit is served. I'm pretty sure aloe would work--it says right on my tube that it can be used as a hair gel.

[sheree]

Hey, it's no different than using any of the really expensive 'all natural' hair products from LUSH or Body Shop. I used to do something similar to my older son's very fine, straight hair (I used whatever fruit was available).

[Julie]

Aw, now I'm all nostalgic for those days when my girl styled her hair every morning with banana moosh. Sniff.

Also, it reminds me of when I was a kid (early 70s) and a neighborhood grandma confided that she stuck those precious bows to her granddaughter's hair with a dab of corn syrup.

[Parent Hacks Editor]

So here I'm thinking this hack is revolutionary, and now I'm hearing "oh, everybody does it." Amazing! The things one learns in this "job." I love it.

[bokodasu]

Heh, why not? My conditioner has bananas in it. Avocado, too. Very good for the hair. Wish I'd thought of this when my daughter was in the pre-silverware stage.

[Jill]

I put lemon juice in my hair as a teen and had the same results, but also extra attention... from bees. Aloe might be better in the summer months!

[amy]

Another up side to it is from the tactile end - it will help desensitize the kid to sticky stuff and to things in her hair. I wonder if my daughter would be more cooperative during hairstyling now if I had used this hack two years ago...

[Lauren Snell]

My two-year-old son got his haircut last week. Later that day a friend admired the cut and asked if they put styling gel in it. I said no, that's yogurt from his lunch.

[Trudy]

My 11 month old had "crazy hair" day at day care tomorrow. I wasn't sure what I was going to do but now I'll just give him spikes with some banana slime!

Thanks!!

[STL Mom]

Soap works too. Wipe your wet hands over bar of soap, then smooth down your kid's hair. Use unscented soap if worried about bees. I used to do this for elderly ladies with long, fine hair when I worked in a nursing home, years ago.

[Mombi]

I think this is a fabulous idea! Not only do you not need to worry about all the chemicals that are in standard products, but there's a built-in re-application timeline as well! The only downside I can see is that it would be a bad idea if you're outside anywhere with bugs that are attracted to food scents.