
- How To Protect Short Curly Hair At Night
- How To To Preserve Girls Overnight With Short Hair?
- A Curly Haired Adventurer’s Guide To The Outdoors — Melanin Base Camp
- Nighttime Curly Hair Routine, How To Preserve Curls Overnight + Touchup Refresh
- How To Sleep With Curly Hair: The Ultimate Expert’s Guide
- Protective Styles For Natural Hair During Workouts
How To Protect Short Curly Hair At Night – One of the questions I get asked the most is how to sleep with curly hair so you don’t have to refresh every day, especially from the new to curly girl method. Sleeping with curly hair seems to be something many curlers and waves struggle with.
Successfully preserving curls overnight is not as difficult as you think. Let’s go through these 4 options so you can see how easy it is to keep your curls overnight and spend less time fussing with your hair in the morning.
How To Protect Short Curly Hair At Night
On wash day, I make sure to wash my hair so early that it is completely dry before I fall asleep.
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I also try to wait at least an hour after it dries for the style to set before applying the buff.
This means I usually wash in the afternoon and I try not to go out so my style doesn’t get ruined. It’s not always possible, but it helps me get lasting results.
The way your hair looks on wash day is very important because it is the style that will lock in and what you will maintain for the next few days.
Some people wait to untangle until the morning, which helps your curls stay overnight.
How To To Preserve Girls Overnight With Short Hair?
Experiment both ways and see what works for your hair. Leaving the plaster on longer gives me more definition, but it kills my volume, so I screw out the crunch soon after my hair dries.
The most important step is to use a buff every night (pictured below). This is the one thing that makes the biggest difference. I put off trying this for years because I didn’t think it would do much, but I wish I had done it sooner.
I took a poll on my Instagram stories recently and it seems that using a buff pillowcase and silk or satin are the most common ways curlies protect their hair at night.
I use the same buff maybe 2-3 nights because they stretch out. I make sure to pull it down over my ears so it stays on all night.
Tie Your Hair Up
Buffet will slide up and possibly come off so I also have a silk pillowcase. I have one that is only silk on one side, which makes it affordable. You can read more about the benefits of silk pillowcases here.
Some people struggle with the buffet being upside down while they sleep. In this case, you can clip the sides over your ears to try to keep it in place.
It’s even more important to use a silk or satin pillowcase if you can’t keep your buff on.
Silk scarves and hats are other options besides a buff that you can use to protect your hair while you sleep.
Ways To Sleep With Curly Hair
Pineapples, medusa clips and a bun or braid are some ideas. Experiment with these and see what works best for you.
Because my hair is so thin and easily disturbed, I can’t put anything up without ruining the curl pattern, so I just pull it in a buff and leave it that way.
A pineapple pulls it all into a ponytail at the top of your head. Some people pack a silk scarf similar to the way the buffet is also used.

I have also seen some people sleep in the plop, either wet or dry. I don’t recommend sleeping in a wet plop because it’s bad to leave your hair wet for that long. But a dry plop might work for you.
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I like to use the Briogeo Scalp Revival Treatment Serum on my scalp. This serum is water based, not oil, and it helps hydrate and balance my scalp to reduce itchiness and flaking.
You can see how I apply it in this hair routine video. I basically put a drop on my hands, emulsify and rub all over my scalp in sections. These things have really made a difference in letting me go longer between washes.
I use the Scalp Revival line because it helps my scalp and I usually apply some on day 3 and 4. Massage it in well and it absorbs overnight so your hair looks fresh in the morning.
I also do a scalp massage with this massager after applying a little more of the scalp treatment on day 3 or 4. This helps keep my scalp calm and feeling fresh. If your scalp gets itchy or greasy, this can help with that.
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I usually do this at night before I put on the buff, but I’ve done it in the morning if I feel like I need it.
I like to do a quick scalp massage in the morning without serum after taking my hair out of the buffet as well. This will help fluff your hair and restore it.
So these are the basics on how to sleep with curly hair to keep it looking decent for days.
As I said before, hair color is the most important, so if you take only one piece of advice from this post, it should be to at least try it.
How To Grow Curly Hair
If you specifically have fine or thin curly hair like I do, it does better with less manipulation. Remember that fine hair is more prone to damage and loses its curl pattern more easily, so you need to be more delicate with it.
I find my hair does better with just a buff versus using a headband or combining the two. I don’t stuff my ducks in the buffet, but you can try it and see how it works. I’ve tried sleeping without a buff on my silk pillowcase and it’s nowhere near as effective as a hair buff.
I find the buff just holds the hair in place so well and there’s very little friction so that’s why it works so well. So if you have thin or fine curly hair, give a buff or wrap a sample without a hair tie or bun.
Watch the video below to see what my nighttime routine looks like so that my curls don’t get ruined while I sleep.
Nighttime Curly Hair Routine, How To Preserve Curls Overnight + Touchup Refresh
If you want help embracing your naturally wavy or curly hair, join my FREE email course and download my FREE pdf guide, THE QUICK START GUIDE TO MASTERING YOUR CURLS, full of everything you need to know to get started and get your beautiful waves and curls.
Delilah Orpi is the founder of The Holistic Enchilada, a blog about curly hair and conscious beauty. She followed the Curly Girl method to bring back her curls and is passionate about using more ethical products. Delilah is a trained Curly Hair Consultant and has been featured in Curl magazine, GLAMOR and Yahoo. She writes to raise awareness of the clean beauty movement and simple curly hair care. Here’s how I protect my curly hair at night to minimize frizz, reduce dryness and prevent damage. Retain moisture and shine, maintain curl definition and boost root lift and volume. So my wash day results last longer all week. And I don’t need to spend time, money and more product (and packaging) refreshing in between days!
I’ve tried many different ways to protect my curly hair at night over the last five or six years. I have found a way that works best for my curly hair, whether my hair is short, long or medium length. It works
I invested in a really good quality silk pillowcase and a silk hair wrap. Like even though they are quite expensive, you spend money once to save money for months and years to come. Because my hair looks so good on the days between my wash days. I don’t need to use more product and packaging that refreshes my hair every day.
How To Sleep With Curly Hair: The Ultimate Expert’s Guide
Not to mention the amount of time it saves me! I am a single mother with two children, one of whom has ADHD and ASD. I also got two dogs, a partner and I run my own business. So saving time in the morning without having to refresh makes a huge difference to my day!
There is nothing worse than spending lots of time and effort on your laundry day. Style your hair just the way you like it. Only to wake up the next morning with flattened, stretched curls and dry, frizzy hair full of knots and tangles. It wasn’t until I figured out how to protect my curly hair at night that I was able to make my washing results last. And my hair looks
If you protect your hair properly at night, you should not have refreshed your hair in the days between washes. Assuming you had a good wash day to begin with. Used the right styling products to give you the results you want.
Product to make these results last. Which means protecting your hair at night can also save you precious time, hard earned money spent on spending
Protective Styles For Natural Hair During Workouts
If you have straight hair, protecting it at night is really important and beneficial. As it will help to reduce and avoid the use of heat styling tools. Such as wands, tongs and straighteners i
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