My daughters are hispanic and have very curly, coarse hair.  I use Wen on them and their hair is beautiful.  I only wash it once or twice a week with Dr. Bonner organic shampoo and then use Wen replenishing mist when it is wet and then through the week on dry hair.  I have been doing this since they were about 6 months old. It works for us.  Hope this helps.

Try “blended beauty” products (you get them online), they are the best I have found (and i have tried ALOT) and they have a hair type guide that will help you to determine the best products for his hair. They are all natural and none of the “bad” stuff that is harmful to our little babies/children.

You may want to join the blog—“Chocolate Hair - Vanilla Care.” it’s a great resource for hair & skin care.

My daughter (now 1) is African-American with lots of super-curly hair.  I’ve used various kinds of products (including Carol’s Daughter, which is ok but very heavily fragranced).  I actually don’t wash her hair at all with soap, but just rinse it thoroughly with water when she bathes.  Then I apply a generous amount of organic sweet almond oil and comb her hair out.  Her hair sucks it up (and I use it on her skin too, and it makes it gorgeous!).  Sometimes after the oil I use a creme for kinky hair from the line called “Hair Rules” (available at Ulta).  Both were recommended to me from a dear friend who is African American.  Her hair particularly LOVES the oil.  I like keeping it simple and natural . . .

Ditto Chocolate hair vanilla care- that blog is the BEST! I highly recommend the brand Kiny kurly and their line of products just for infants- “Tiny Twirls.”

We tried everything for my AA son.  You are correct that using baby shampoo can dry out their hair- at least it did our son’s.  We use Mixed Chicks.  http://www.mixedchicks.net/
They even have kids products now (they didn’t when we started using their product).  It does wonders for our sons hair.

I also second Chocolate Hair, Vanilla Care and Boys and Girls Natural Curls for tips, styles, and ideas. The hair care line we like is Curls (curls.biz) and they have a kids line, though I use the adult products on my daughter and have since she was six months. We don’t shampoo, either, we use a cleansing conditioner to keep her scalp clean (often called CO-washing for Conditioner Only, or no-pooing) and a leave-in conditioner for moisturising/detangling. We use raw coconut oil (from the cooking aisle) for moisture touch-ups after swimming.

My 20 month old son is AA/Caucasian. His hair is slightly frizzy in ringlets. I only wash if it is dirty. I wash with conditioner every other night in the bathtub. I use deep conditioners every once in a while. To fix it in the morning, I wet it thoroughly and comb through leave-in conditioner like “Mixed Silk” from Sally’s Beauty Supply. The Mixed Silk line (I believe) is a generic and inexpensive version of Mixed Chicks. I absolutely love this line. They also have gel to set his ringlets.

Thank you all - much appreciated.

My daughter is AA with very tight, coarse hair.  I wash her hair with conditioner, and I discovered through trial and error that this worked well. Because, I have oily skin I couldn’t fathom NOT washing a child’s hair with shampoo everyday.  Anyway, then I also use a daily spray detangler and follow up with Olive Miracle Moisturizer Lotion.

Well Keith66 you definitly got a lot of great advice! Not sure what I can add.
The texture of your son’s hair sounds very much like mine. I am Puerto Rican (Spanish, West Africian) I went through YEARS of trial and error to figure out what works best for me. It wasn’t until my bi-racial step-mother advised me did I know what to do.
I wash my hair once a week. I could go with twice a week but my sclap is very dry and my hair is very long. Washing it more than once a week is just a lot more work. lol I use sulfate free shampoo and conditioners. While my hair is still wet, I spray with Horse and Mane(?) detangler, then add a Leave in Conditioner (Mixed Elements from Sally’s. It’s the generic version of the Mixed Girls products. Much less expensive). I apply a few drops of any thick serum or shine product. Brush out, comb with wide tooth comb then make ringlets out of some pieces. I let it dry (DON’T TOUCH IT!!! A lot of people make the mistake of messing with or touching the hair while it is drying and that will only make it frizzy! Let hair air dry. At night I put it up in a loss pony tail. In the morning I take it down, spray with a little water and vola! Beautiful hair for a week!

Hope this helps anyone! ;D

Ooops, I meant “Mixed Chicks”. Sally’s has the exact same products only cheaper. “Mixed Elements”

Hello!

I have super curly, dry, frizzy hair that I have fought with most of my life. I can say only wash once a week with shampoo as needed, otherwise just use water (I also do this with my daughter, who has extremely sensitive eczema-prone skin). On my daughter, I mostly use olive oil (from the grocery aisle) in her bathwater—it works beautifully on her hair and skin, gets her nice and clean, but doesn’t dry her out. For myself, I use Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioner in place of a styling product in my hair—it’s wonderfully moisturizing, and actually keeps my hair in place.

Good luck!