Laura's got an interesting hairstyling tip:
My friend's daughter has extremely unruly naturally curly hair that takes a ton of maintenance to keep from tangling, knotting, etc. They recently went to an amusement park for several days and before she went, she took her daughter to get braids (cornrows) in her hair. She went to the beauty school so it was reasonably priced. Cornrows are easy to maintain while they are on vacation, and tangles won't be an issue on the rides.
I have a friend who gets cornrows every summer. She has long, thick, red hair, and she insists it's the easiest hairstyle to maintain while camping and traveling. If you try this, be sure to sunscreen the exposed areas of your child's scalp — it will be vulnerable to sunburn.
wikiHow has a good article on the basics of cornrows.
Beware. As a former elementary school teacher at an all-girls’ school, I will warn you. After spring break many of my students would come back from exotic places with cornrows. This was always followed by lice outbreaks. The teachers decided that they must reuse the combs when braiding the hair.
Great for the Summer months – tougher in Winter though.
I frequently french braid my daughters’ hair in the summer, at least until we get it cut short. It keeps it tidy and out of their faces. It does need to be redone every morning, but it doesn’t take long and is worth the extra effort.
When my sister joined the swim team we started looking for ways to keep her hair in her swim cap because she has long hair.
So I took and braided her whole head. It wasn’t cornrows just a head full of tiny braids. And it worked great. She kept them in for about a week and then I’d redo them. They didn’t start to dread up because we took them each week.
By the next swim meet I was braiding half the teams hair. lol.
I remember getting these as a gradeschooler once. Very cool and low-maintenance, but two caveats:
1. Sunscreen the scalp! OUCH that sunburn hurt. Zebra peeling!
2. Prepare to have much patience when it’s time to take them out. And a rat-tailed comb. And detangling spray. And possibly some tears.