I just took my child's hair (or my hair) out of locs/ braids, and it isn't clumping like yours. It's just fuzzy. Can her hair clump like yours?
If her hair forms curls, my techniques should work for her. It will look a bit more like
Mya's hair or
Arden's hair, but in time, and with no damage, it will grow long.
About her hair not curling now, there are several things I think might be going on:
*First, when curly hair is held pretty tightly in a non-curled style, it takes a while for the curls to fully come back in a pattern. Right now they may still be more in the shape they were held in in her little loc. When I undid my braids many moons ago, it took several washings before my hair formed complete curls again. So it might take a few washings before that section can form curls strong enough to clump.
*With such a tiny section, you might actually have a couple half-curls in that area, which means they are meant to clump with hair still in a loc nearby.
*When you
define the curl, it's best to do it in the direction of growth. If it's in the back, then straight down is best.
*Make sure to comb her curl, sopping wet, with a Denman (or a Denman style brush--not a regular brush, and not a comb). Denmans help curls clump together, while combs comb curls apart.
*The conditioner you are using is highly important. For conditioners I've found to work (and a bit about the "personalities" of each one), you can go to
Recommended Conditioners.
*You also need to use quite a bit of it. When her hair is wet, it should be nearly white and gloppy with conditioner and water. Comb through her hair in the direction of growth. Then run your hand down the curl, again in the direction of growth --or--twirl the gloppy white and wet section around your finger. It really should seem like there is too much conditioner. The hair needs to be dripping with it. If her hair dries, and there is a bit too much left (there will be white in it if there is), just wet your fingers and run it over that area, and it will be gone. It's not a big deal. (You might have to do this a few times while her curls are coming back from being in the loc). Again, the conditioner you use is really important. This will not work with any conditioner. Oil is nice, but the technique doesn't really work with oil for tighter curls.
*If the curl is still popping apart, feel free to divide it into one or two more sections. The tighter the curl, the smaller her sections need to be.
*Make sure to let the curl totally dry without being finger-combed, brushed, picked or taken apart.
Hopefully some of those suggestions/ explanations will work or make sense. It might take a few tries to get the hang of making curls.
Oh! I included a picture of the contrast of what my hair looks like clumped, and also finger-combed apart. You can see how fuzzy the finger-combed side of my hair is, and I'm able to get that hair to clump.