If wails at wash time, shrieks at story time and sobs at school time sound familiar, read on.

In our house we’ve all been ‘blessed’ with thick hair, the sort that people who don’t have thick hair marvel at and say they’d love.

I say be careful what you wish for. Apart from the fact you have to request extra time at the hairdressers and it takes on a life of its own when the weather is even vaguely damp, taming the tresses of a five-year-old with a similar barnet is no mean feat.

BB manages to whip hers up into a multitude of knots on a daily basis – see here for some hilarious photographic evidence – and washing and brushing it can be nothing short of a nightmare.

Through a lot of trial and error I’ve managed to come up with some ways to lessen the pain – both physically and metaphorically – and I thought I’d share them for anyone in the same boat.

5 easy ways to detangle kids’ hair

1. Brush their hair in the bath. If I brush BB’s hair after I’ve shampooed it and before putting the conditioner on, it’s less likely to twist itself into a meltdown-causing mountain of tangles. I then brush it again before she gets out of the bath.

2. Use grown-up conditioner. I find the kids’ stuff just doesn’t cut the mustard, and using my own conditioner on BB’s hair makes brushing the knots out much easier. This may also explain why she’s never had nits – apparently nits don’t like hair with conditioner in it because they can’t get a purchase on the hair to lay eggs.

3. Use a detangling spray before brushing. Like conditioner, I find the kids’ stuff doesn’t do the trick so use an adult detangling spray instead. Admittedly they’re pricier, but anyone who battles knotty hair at bed time will tell you you can’t put a price on squeal-free brushing.

4. Invest in a detangling hair brush. We’ve got a Tangle Teezer designed specifically for thick and curly hair which can be used on either wet or dry hair and it’s absolutely brilliant thanks to ‘detangling teeth technology’.

This is basically a two-tiered teeth system, involving long teeth to detangle and short teeth to smooth the hair cuticle. We were very kindly sent a ‘Maroon Mood’ version to try out (£11 – there are all different sorts for all different hair types) and it’s made bed time and getting ready for school so much easier. Even better, I can use it too.

5. Use leave-in conditioner. Again, use an adult version – it really does work.

Is hair brushing a drama in your house? Do you have any top tips for avoiding meltdowns?

This post was written in collaboration with Tangle Teezer. As always all opinions are my own and based on my own honest experience.

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