I like my boys to look neat. They don't need to wear peter pan collars but they do need to have clean faces and brushed hair. My boy's tidiness says: we're pretty much pulled together, even if we're not. The problem is that Dashiell has had a dreadlock growing in the back of his hair for about six weeks. It started over the holidays as a maple syrup tangle that grew bigger and bigger every time I would try to comb it out or spritz it with leave in conditioner. I think the conditioner gummed up when he slept on it and it grew and grew and grew. Never mind that when I would try to touch it he would run away and try stuff his head in any small place it might fit, like his mini kitchen stove and that was actually was much more troubling than the dreadlock itself. I brought him to the hair dresser and she couldn't even get it out with professional detangling product without making him cry. We discussed cutting it out but it was close enough the the crown of his head that it would be an Alfalfa if it was lobbed off. So I thought I could work on it slowly (just like when his circumcision tried to reattached itself and I had to pull his foreskin back everyday day during the first three months of his life. Slow and steady won that race, so I could handle this.)
The other day I was at a party and talking about his hippie-hairdo and a friend asked, "Why not try Goo Gone?" We laughed. How funny to use a petroleum based product that's powerful enough to wash asphalt stains off t-shirts near my kids scalp. Hilarious!
Hilarious yet intriguing. Last night as I was, once again, making him cry by spritzing and combing his dreadlock in the tub I finally hollered to John, "Honey, can you bring me the Goo Gone!"
John brought the bottle up with a big question on his face and I flashed to that horrible scene in Slumdog when Jamal and Samil escape from the beggar camp. Children are so willing… the first time around. John watched me check the label that read: "Non-Toxic… Avoid prolonged contact with skin." Clearly, if they could use the word "prolonged" it wasn't going to burn his brain right away. I took Dashiell's tangle in my palm and massaged a few drops of Goo Gone on it, being careful to not let the tangle touch his head or the rest of his hair. John got very nervous and told Conrad to get out of the tub and turned to me and said, "You know what else might work, setting the tangle on fire."
I gave him my most understanding eye roll and kept massaging the knot and it completely came undone! After a shampoo and rinse his hair was as smooth as new baby peach fuzz. Except for a very slight industrial cleaner-ish smell that's on the back of his head, you'd never even know his type of hair could master a dread lock at all. I've spent most of this morning, running my through his fine and shiny hair.
I know it sounds risky, but it was effective and I'd also use it (sparingly) for those times your kid's hair comes in contact with:
Glue (Krazy, Gorilla, Elmers, and Rubber Cement)
Honey
Gum
Nail Polish ( it's probably safer than nail polish remover because it works so quickly there's less exposure to chemicals)
Vaseline
Diaper ointment
Peanut Butter
