Wash night is my favourite night with respect to curly hair care. My curls look bouncy and full of life the next morning. Oh how I wished they stayed that way for more than just a day! Since it is not possible to wash your hair every single day, we need to look at ways to refresh curly hair on the 2nd or even the 3rd day. Refreshing curly hair means getting back the bounce in them. And the one thing that instantly gives life to curls is the humble water because water helps reform hydrogen bonds which cause hair to be curly. And so more the water, the better 🙂
All the below methods incorporate water. Here are 4 ways to refresh your curly hair.
1) Smoothing with your fingers – Least amount of water
This has to be one of my favorite ways to refresh and I found it out quite recently.
- Wet your hands thoroughly.
- Take a pea sized amount of gel (aloe gel works best for this) and rub it on your wet palms.
- Smooth it on 1 section of your hair without running your fingers through.
- Continue steps 1,2 and 3 with all sections of your hair.
2) Using a spray bottle – Low to moderate amount of water
This method works best if your hair is just slightly limp and lifeless without too many tangles.
- Fill a spray bottle with water – This bottle is the ultimate curl refresher : Flairosol Bottle, The Perfect Curly Hair Refresher (and a spoonful of your favourite conditioner or leave in conditioner, or curl cream or gel or a few drops of your favourite oil if you want) and spray it liberally all over your hair. You could also you readymade water based hair mists like the SheaMoisture Hold & Shine Moisture mist. Many brands have refresh sprays.
- The water will reactivate the products from your last wash day. Nevertheless take a small quantity of styling product in your hand and smooth it on your hair (Do not run your fingers through your hair, they will not clump back together).
- Flip your head down and scrunch your hair.
- You could use a gel or some drops of your favourite oil or serum and scrunch again or finger twirl any particularly out of shape curls. Aloe vera gel works best for this.
3) Tweaked Super soaker method – Average amount of water
- Almost like the super soaker method, over your wash basin, bend your head forward and use your palms to scoop water and scrunch your hair.
- Repeat till your hair feels wet enough.
- Proceed to apply your leave ins as usual and scrunch your hair.
4) Completely wet your hair in the shower – Most amount of water
- Just before getting out of the shower, turn upside down and pour 1 or 2 mugs of water on your hair or stand under the shower for a minute or 2. This will realign hair and help clump the curls. Don’t run your fingers through your hair (because this is not your extensive wash day to spend all your time detangling it).
- Out of the shower, proceed to apply leave ins and scrunch your hair.
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Hi! I am Anjana and I fell in love with my curly hair after years of hating it. YOU can too!
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science gal
September 17, 2016 at 5:26 pm
What a cutie spray bottle 😻. And hei, thanks for the useful post.
Anjana
September 17, 2016 at 10:30 pm
Hehe I know 🙂 🙂
Vidya Ravi
September 18, 2016 at 10:30 pm
Wow!! This was the post that I had been waiting for. Thanks so much Anjana 🙂 🙂 🙂
Anjana
September 19, 2016 at 2:42 pm
You are welcome Vidya 🙂
Armeen Hossain
November 7, 2019 at 8:55 am
Hi
I am confused about option 4. Do we have to put something on the hair during shower ? Then apply the styling products ?
Anjana
November 7, 2019 at 3:44 pm
Nope, nothing in the shower
Sarah A.
September 30, 2016 at 1:40 pm
useful tip! cool.. glad to be here and read something like this that is quiet useful and yet easily done tips. thank you for posting this. I’ll be following this tips for quiet awhile.
Nijoo
October 12, 2016 at 4:51 pm
Anjana my hair is similar to yours…and typically I do refresh using the first method, but u are right it causes a whole lot of frizz…what do you do usually?
Anjana
October 12, 2016 at 5:09 pm
Nothing much actually 🙁 I deal with the frizz 😐
Nijoo
October 14, 2016 at 9:56 pm
:))) Khool…
Madhavi
March 24, 2017 at 10:13 pm
Anjana,
Just came across your posts on Pinterest. Love that there’s a desi girl out there blogging about curly hair. I just embraced my curl this week, and i have a couple of issues with 2nd and 3rd day refreshing. 1. Flatness on top. I tried clipping on my wash day for volume at the top of my head, but when I do the refresh methods you described, i cannot address the flatness on top. 2. I can’t get rid of flyaways on refresh days. They seem to get worse and worse. How do you deal with these issues?
Anjana
March 27, 2017 at 9:47 am
Hi Madhavi! 1. Do you have short layers? That’s how I avoid flat top. Also by diffusing with my head bent down. 2. Do you use gel on your wash days? I’ve noticed that a good gel used on wash day makes day 2 hair better
crlsth
April 8, 2017 at 10:50 pm
I have baby hair frizz starting from wash day. Do you have suggestions how to tame them?
Anjana
April 9, 2017 at 11:22 am
Do you use a gel? It’s THE best to tame frizz without weighing down hair. Even if you don’t use it for the rest of your hair, grazing it over your baby hair will keep them in place 🙂
Shruti
June 11, 2017 at 1:02 pm
Hi Anjana
One of my friend shared this link and I found it very very useful. Thank you for awesome tips.
I too have curly hair, but short in length and with small curls. I do follow the same technique to wash. But I am completely unaware of the products which need to use post wash. And next day of wash my hair same…😂unmanagable, dry.
Could you please suggest the products you use other than shampoo and conditioner. About the product can be used for co wash, serum, or gel , curl products, spray etc.
That will be very useful.
Thanks
Anjana
June 12, 2017 at 1:52 pm
Hey Shruti! Thank you..check this out – List of curly hair products in India (for every budget)
Sneha
August 22, 2017 at 11:56 am
Hey, have you tried Moroccan products? From the ingredient list I figure they are not CG friendly but I have their intense curl cream (used as leave in and curl activator) and Moroccan oil treatment original (used as serum and lock in oil). Can you share your views on this product range?
Anjana
August 22, 2017 at 11:58 am
Hey Sneha..I haven’t tried it but if you find that your curls look good, please continue to use it 🙂
Snehal
November 1, 2017 at 1:49 pm
Can you please post pictures of what your 2nd and 3rd day curls look like.?
Anjana
November 1, 2017 at 2:13 pm
Hey Snehal, I have a few 2nd and 3rd day pics on my Instagram page. Check it out 🙂
Snehal
December 1, 2017 at 2:58 pm
Well I am sorry..
But they all look so similar.. (you have really great hair!)
Can you please be specific next time if you post a picture ?
Anjana
December 1, 2017 at 3:08 pm
I have mentioned that in the captions
Sathi
November 21, 2017 at 8:37 pm
Can you put up a video for refreshing curls.. Please
Anjana
November 22, 2017 at 9:38 am
Noted 🙂
Vidya
February 8, 2019 at 3:31 pm
Hi Anjana,
Just wondering if you happened to put the video for refresh days? Particularly interested for method 1 & 2.
Anjana
February 11, 2019 at 2:12 pm
Not yet Vidya
Sana
March 27, 2018 at 10:07 pm
Hey Anjana, you’re blog has been amazing! I’ve finally gotten some definition to my curls, I think I need to try more product in order to finish taming the frizz, and I get my first curly cut on Friday. But I have a few questions- 1. The only way I seem to be able to get my hair to look good on refresh days is by re-wetting my hair entirely, which requires a lot of product again and even the cheaper products aren’t cheap when you’re using that much in one go! (My hair is probably the length of yours after your most recent cut.) is there anyway to do more “‘frizz management” on refresh without having to use so much product again? 2. How many products do you use post shower? Your routine says things that you often use, but doesn’t say how many of them at one time. Ex: is it a lime size amount of leave in, quarter size amount of oil elixir, golf ball amount of hair lotion, and then half a lime of gel? 3. When you tie your hair, say in a braid, how do you stop the braid from looking like a Pom-Pom tassel? Do you apply a styling product before you tie it?
Thanks!
Anjana
March 28, 2018 at 9:43 am
Hi Sana!
1) Have you tried the 1st method? It works really well esp if you use a gel like Aloe or Kinky Curly Curling Custard
2) I use a leave in OR cream, AND a gel. A gel is a must 🙂 Sometimes I skip leave in too because Squish to condish is amazing!
3) Haha I like that comparison, though I haven’t noticed my hair looking like that with a braid. Maybe you can mail me some pics?
Sana
March 29, 2018 at 6:59 pm
1. I have tried the first method. It helps, not as much as I’d like. Even if I’m just doing aloe gel I have to use quite a bit to get my hair to calm back down.
2. When you do things like the oil elixirs, how does that play in?
3. I’d be happy to send you some pictures- where do I sent them?
Anjana
March 30, 2018 at 2:59 pm
Oil elixirs?? The email id is mentioned on my contact page
Sana
March 30, 2018 at 7:04 pm
Things like Kerastase and mythic oil. Will email now!
Anjana
April 2, 2018 at 10:12 am
I used to use them. I don’t like them anymore because I avoid silicones now
Donna
June 20, 2018 at 10:27 pm
This morning I used a spray bottle to fully dampen my hair, then applied a good curling gel. Once the gel was applied I used a few small banana clips to hold the curls until almost dry. Looks great! Thanks for the great advise.
Anjana
June 21, 2018 at 8:31 pm
Yay 🙂
Varshini
July 25, 2018 at 6:35 am
Hi Anjana 🙂
I had smoothened my hair and m slowly growing it out. Should I start using all the leave in conditioner now so that the curls look defined.
Somehow, my hair gets really dry and there are baby hair standing out on the crown which looks really bad.
Any suggestions on this?
Thanks In advance 🙂
Anjana
July 25, 2018 at 1:19 pm
You can start it for the new growth part
Shruti
July 26, 2018 at 11:03 am
Hi Anjana, loved your blog!! My name is shruti and I have curly hair (2b I think) and I have huge problem.. I love coloring my hair in funky colors (currently it’s blue) and I think the beach is ruining my curls.. I am not sure how to bring back my curls.. Can you maybe help? I use a paraben free shampoo, a color protect conditioner, followed by morocon oil leave in conditioner for curls.. Is there anything I can do to fix my problem?? Looking forward to hearing from you!! 😁
Anjana
July 26, 2018 at 3:07 pm
Hey Shruti check this https://www.curlsandbeautydiary.com/colouring-curly-hair-treat-damage/
Rathi Rao pejavar
September 26, 2018 at 7:14 pm
Hi Anjana.. Which gel do you use during refresh day 2 & 3?
Currently I am using aroma treasures aloe vera gel. But at the end of the day it makes my hair dry..
Anjana
September 27, 2018 at 2:29 pm
I like https://www.curlsandbeautydiary.com/kinky-curly-curling-custard-review/
Rathi
September 27, 2018 at 6:14 pm
Can this be applied on damp hair? .. For refreshing on days 2&3, i just spray some water with conditioner and not make my hair fully wet..
Anjana
September 28, 2018 at 1:38 pm
Yes give it a try – may or may not suit your hair depending on your hair 🙂
Nishka Nachappa
September 30, 2018 at 1:34 pm
Method 3 is what I do. I fully wet my hair every single day. Once it’s damp I apply my favourite Cantu cream and scrunch.
Samriddhi
October 29, 2018 at 5:48 pm
https://www.nykaa.com/hairpro-hp-7005-water-spray-bottle.html?productId=113634&ptype=product&skuId=113634
A good cheaper alternative to the hair spray empty bottle 🙃
Anjana
October 29, 2018 at 7:29 pm
Wow thanks for pointing this out 🙂
Sophia Vindeni
November 30, 2018 at 8:38 am
Hi Anjana!
My roots tend to look oily and greasy after day 2 or 3 and simply refreshing them with water and product doesn’t do the trick. Is there anything you recommend? Or is there something I’m doing in my overall routine that is causing this?
Anjana
December 3, 2018 at 4:34 pm
Some hair types have to be washed every 3 days. It could also be due to your level of activity, pollution, hormones etc.
Prakriti
December 9, 2018 at 10:49 pm
Should we use both leave in conditioner and gel to refresh the hair.. when using the water based method…
Doesn’t it lead to build up…
Anjana
December 10, 2018 at 4:14 pm
Not if you use water soluble products. But you can use either 1 also
Jessica John Joseph
July 15, 2019 at 2:50 pm
Hi Anjana,
Your blog has helped my hair improve in last 1 month.
I’m still a newbie who is under learning and experimenting phase.
I struggle with refreshing, my hair lands up dried and frizzy.
My curl is 2C coarse I think (or 2B).
Could you upload video on the same?
It would help better.
Refresh method: In small spray bottle, little conditioner mixed with water, I spray on my hair and just smooth it.
The hair pieces that seem to be flat, finger coil and clip it until dried.
Gel I usually use during wash day is flaxseed gel (this time added aloe vera gel from plant too), but do not use for refresh as I am not able to figure out right technique and where it is more necessary.
Looking forward for your video on refreshing techniques.
Ash
August 7, 2019 at 5:02 pm
hey, after the first day of washing, i wake up and my hair is frizzy and the curls are not in tact. i was wondering how to stop that? have tried a spray bottle and it doesn’t work 🙁
Anjana
August 8, 2019 at 2:18 pm
How do you keep the curls protected while sleeping?
Ash
August 8, 2019 at 5:45 pm
I have very short hair so I’m not sure how to keep it in tact 🙁
Anjana
August 12, 2019 at 2:17 pm
Wrap it up using a silk scarf
Snehal
January 5, 2020 at 9:18 pm
Hey Anjana..
I have question regarding the Smasters technique.. How do you figure when your hair is 50-60% dry? Like there should be a gel cast or the hair should be damp but not dripping wet.. ? I want to give it a try but I can’t figure out what 50% dry hair means ?
Anjana
January 6, 2020 at 3:11 pm
That’s a good question Snehal 🙂 50% dry is when hair is drier than damp but wetter than dry 😀 It starts to hold the shape and is not very stretched anymore.
Does that make any sense? 😀
Sanjana Ghosh
July 8, 2020 at 9:43 pm
Hi Anjana, I discovered your blog two days back and I’m spending hours reading it 😛.
However I’m a bit confused refreshing curls. Due to the hot and humid weather in Kolkata, I need to wet my hair everyday to remove the sweat so the 4th method seems to be the best. What should I do Before entering the shower, how to detangle the hair? Since I have just started taking care of my curls it’s very frizzy and gets tangled easily.
Anjana
July 9, 2020 at 4:17 pm
There’s no need to detangle while refreshing Sanjana
Sanjana Ghosh
July 9, 2020 at 9:43 pm
Thanks a lot!
Abhilasha S
September 4, 2020 at 1:34 am
I think my hair has low porosity. I tried the float test (strands of hair in a bowl) and by that alone assume i have low porosity.
Would you still recommend process 1 for me? which using the aloe gel for refreshing curls.
Anjana
September 8, 2020 at 3:45 pm
Check this post 1st Abhilasha https://www.curlsandbeautydiary.com/everything-wanted-know-hair-porosity/
Pooja
September 11, 2020 at 4:58 pm
Hi
pls suggest All these products can v use for 8 yrs kids.
My daughter’s hair from front and scalp wavy and length is same like u showing in pic of 3b.
V much dry and not grow long.
Pls suggest routine for her
Thanks
Anjana
September 14, 2020 at 3:20 pm
Yes you can use the products on kids. Also check this post https://www.curlsandbeautydiary.com/curly-hair-care-kids/
Nandini
October 17, 2020 at 5:20 pm
Hi Anjana! Yet Nother beutuful post, many thanks !
For the styling product you metioned in point 2 under second method, can I you cantu curl cream which is mentioned in your posts.
Anjana
October 19, 2020 at 2:28 pm
You can give it a try
Nandini
October 17, 2020 at 5:22 pm
Hi Anjana,
Another question for you, can we use the diffuse technique to dry hair even after these refresh techniques. Or is it meant to be for days when we shampoo.
Thanks!
Anjana
October 19, 2020 at 2:29 pm
Yes you can diffuse after refreshing too
Melanie
February 25, 2021 at 8:22 am
Anjana,
I recently found your blog and it has been incredibly helpful already. Your hair is absolutely beautiful and you are the cutest thing ever! Thank you for sharing all of your helpful tips and taking the time to show us your techniques with your video and blog. It’s made such a difference for this old woman!
Best,
Melanie
Anjana
February 25, 2021 at 1:08 pm
I am so glad to hear that, Melanie! 🙂
Paige
June 4, 2021 at 10:50 am
Heya! A curly from New Zealand here! Just wanted to say you are stunning and your hair us beautiful!!! Keep sharing your knowledge =) the world appreciates it =)
Anjana
June 7, 2021 at 9:56 am
Aww, thanks a ton Paige!!
Michele
July 31, 2021 at 8:45 am
Hi Andana,
I’m very glad to have come across your site. I tried your routine & realized that’s how I used to do my hair several yrs ago. I fell into the CGM and it didn’t work for me. I have tried other peoples tutorial videos. But yours is the only one that works for my hair. Sad I strayed from what worked for me But oh so glad I’m on my way back to my beautiful curls. Thanks to you! I appreciate you. A question-On your steps for 2nd, 3rd & 4th day hair – step #4 do you diffuse after? Or? I’m going to try step #1 this week, I just did my hair this morning.
Anjana
August 2, 2021 at 1:50 pm
Thanks for your comment Michele 🙂 Sometimes I diffuse, sometimes I air dry
Archna
May 24, 2022 at 12:39 pm
Nice blog. thanks for sharing
Rohit Attri
May 11, 2023 at 3:23 pm
I’ve been struggling to keep my curls looking great between washes, but these three methods have made a noticeable difference. Great post!