Hair gel/oil advice.

Hello. I’m a dad of 2 girls. Both dance as a hobby, and for classes and shows they’ve been asking for French/dutch braids. I’ve been learning slowly through tik tok and YouTube videos. My question is; their hair seems to dry so fast while I do it that I’m wondering if there’s a gel or hair oil that won’t harden as I do it, more so to just keep it slick as I do to keep it tight and neat, but not damage their hair in any way? I’ve seen aloe gel, will this harden like normal gel?

Any advice welcome.