March 13, 2022

Nighttime Curly Hair Routine, How to Preserve Curls Overnight + Touchup Refresh

This post is sponsored by Lily Silk. Affiliate links are used.

Are you someone who prefers to wash and style your curls at night, but you struggle with them getting ruined while you sleep, leading to more work the next morning? I’m going to show you an easy, nighttime curly hair routine, including tips that can help your curls last longer and not fall limp and frizzy by day 2. I am also showing ways to protect your curls while you sleep, workout, and how to quickly touch up any frizzy or wonky curls the next morning.

Wash & Style

Washing at night can allow for more time if you need to clarify, deep condition, or do any hair treatments. I prefer to do those on the weekends, but sometimes I get off schedule and need to do those during the workweek. Some people like to wash and condition their hair at night, let it air dry product free, go to sleep, then wet it down and style the next morning. This is referred to as the “wash now, style later” method that I show in this video.

However, for this routine, I wanted to show you the full wash and style process at night.

Dry detangle or detangle wet hair with conditioner
Shampoo or clarify if needed
Condition or deep condition & rinse
Apply a leave-in conditioner and/or curl cream. Comb through to distribute.
Apply a medium to strong hold gel in sections, evenly coating the hair from root to tip to prevent frizz.
Brush style if desired. Creating ringlets and clumps with a brush helps the curls last longer, keeping the frizz tucked into clumps and the definition intact.
Scrunch out excess water with a hair towel or T-shirt to reduce your dry time.
Diffuse until hair is 100% dry. I don’t recommend air drying unless you have time for your hair to fully dry before bed. More on this below
DO NOT scrunch out the gel cast! This is going to be key to keeping your curls intact overnight. The cast will gradually release overnight, and if not, you can scrunch it out in the morning.

Why Sleep with Wet Hair is Harmful

Do not sleep with wet hair, plopped in a hair towel or up in a bun. Leaving your wet hair pressed against your scalp suffocates it, leading to scalp conditions like dandruff, fungus growth, and more. Hygral fatigue can also occur, and damage to the hair’s inner layer, the cortex, when the hair is left wet for extended periods of time. Sleeping with wet hair can also cause breakage and wonky, misshaped curls from sleeping on them.

If you must air-dry overnight, lay your curls out over top of your silk pillowcase and ensure your scalp is properly getting airflow.

Protect

Properly protecting your curls at night is the key to a good nighttime curly hair routine because we don’t want all that hard work to be ruined while we sleep, requiring more work the next morning to fix it. Silk is your best friend if you have textured hair because it allows the hair to glide across the smooth, slippery surface, reducing frizz, tangles, and breakage.

Put your curls up in a silk bonnet or scarf for the most protection. You can also use a silk scrunchie and put your curls in a “pineapple” if you prefer, however it could stretch out your curls.
Sleep on a silk pillowcase to prevent any friction or frizz. Silk is also skin-friendly and reduces wrinkles, such as those that can form when sleeping on a regular cotton pillowcase.

How to Put on a Bonnet

Having the right fitting bonnet is essential to properly protect your curls. If it’s too large for your hair length and density, your curls will fall down and not stay “plopped” on top of your head. If it’s too small, your curls may become misshaped and flattened.

The Silk Sleeping Cap by Lily Silk has an adjustable tie on the back so it will fit any head size. This bonnet is a smaller size, so it’s ideal for those with short to medium length hair, and low to medium-density hair. Lily Silk has various styles of bonnets so you can find the best one for your needs. Lily Silk’s luxury silk material is made from pure mulberry silk, which is soft, breathable, and lightweight.

The LILYSOFT™ Ultra Soft Non-Colorants Silk Pillowcase from Lily Silk is also made of mulberry silk, so it feels soft on the skin and hair. I love how it’s breathable and helps me keep cool while I sleep.

Touchup

When you wake up, you can keep your curls in your bonnet for a bit if you’re going to get ready in a humid bathroom, or even while you workout. This keeps the curls protected and out of your way until you’re ready to finish off your hair.

Once you take your bonnet down, shake your curls a bit at your roots with DRY hands.
Let the curls settle for a moment and assess if touchups are needed.
If needed, add a little bit of water to your hands and pick up individual curls that are frizzy or misshaped, and smooth over them. The key is not to saturate your hair or wet it down. Only use damp hands.
If you feel you missed any areas the night before with product or have significant frizz, you can add a little gel to your wet hands and smooth over frizz.
Let your hair air dry fully, then scrunch out any remaining gel cast if desired. Keep some gel cast in for longer-lasting curls.
If you had stretched curls underneath that you want to shrink back up, or any misshaped curls, spritz them with some water and then lightly diffuse them by pressing your diffuser up to your scalp, springing them back up.

Now you should be good to go! Touching up my curls the morning after wash day usually only days 2-5 minutes. I usually don’t need to diffuse because I don’t really get my hair that wet.

Products Used

For this video, I am testing out some new products from Function of Beauty at Target, MopTop, and I’m testing a new vegan boar brush from Briogeo. If you’re interested in me doing a full review or sharing more of these products, comment below or DM me on Instagram.

Don’t forget to check out Lily Silk for luxury silk products, including silk pajamas, bedding, bonnets, scrunchies, and more.

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