The Northwest Scents Blog

Question: Do you have products you would recommend for a boy's hair? Our son is full African American descent. I keep it cut very short. Also, we currently use J&J baby wash for hair & body, plus Eucerine lotion fo his body morning and night and oil sheen olive for his hair, but I only do that in the mornings. We wash his hair twice a week. Is this an okay regiment? Or do I need to be using a conditioner?

Answer: I don't have a line of products specifically for boys, but our regular product line is gentle enough to use on children, and I can provide the products in unscented (which I would recommend for babies) if you are interested in them.

If your son is really young (which he probably is because you are using baby wash) you don't need a conditioner. And you probably can limit the shampooing to once a week instead of twice a week. Bathe him as often as you need to, but I would recommend shampooing once a week unless it is necessary to do it more (such as if he gets food in his hair or does other things that babies tend to do).

I think that your regimen is fine (shampooing weekly, lotion for his body, and oil in the hair). Where I would be careful is with the product choice. I used to use Johnson and Johnson on my son's hair when he was a baby up until he was about 3 and from what I remember it dried his hair out. However, when my son was a baby, Johnson and Johnson didn't have the "naturals" line out, so my experience is from their original baby shampoo.

If your son's hair seems dry and/or brittle, or if he gets dandruff or cradle cap, I would switch to a different brand of oil (more natural). I'm not familiar with oil sheen olive, but if it is a product made with synthetic oils (mineral oil and/or petrolatum) I would switch to an oil or pomade made with natural oils and no mineral oil or petrolatum. Mineral oil and petrolatum are actually drying to the hair.