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• What does refreshing curly hair mean?
• Give your curls the best chance of lasting
• Assessing your hair the next day
• Refreshing to reduce frizz
• Refreshing to bring back definition
• Refreshing to increase volume or fix wonky curls
• Refreshing greasy/oily hair

What does refreshing curly hair mean?

Refreshing is what we call the restyling or quick fixes in between the days that you’re not washing your hair. It’s key to making your curls last for a few days, so you don’t have to just give up and re-wash your hair every day. If you wake up with a load of extra frizz – refresh. If your curls are dropping and going limp – refresh. If your scalp feels a bit gross and itchy…well, maybe it’s just time to wash your hair again.

First, give your curls the best chance of lasting

To reduce the likelihood of you needing to refresh, there are some steps you can take on washday to ensure you get the best hold and definition you can.

First, ensure that you wash your hair thoroughly and clarify regularly, to keep your scalp happy and give your strands a good base to take on your styler. If you find your hair is going limp and lank quite quickly, this may be because you’re not shampooing properly or with a strong enough cleanser. It might also mean your products are too heavy for your hair.

Next, condition the right amount for your hair type. I know there’s that stereotype of curlies using two handfuls of conditioner every washday, but in actual fact, when I use too many conditioning products, it makes my curls too soft, and they end up falling flat and gaining too much halo frizz. If you have fine hair like me, sometimes less is more! If your curls are losing their definition too quickly and gaining that soft frizz, maybe you could stand to cut out some conditioning steps, such as leave-in or cream, or switch to a lighter conditioner. But if your hair is feeling rough and tangly, you need to add in those conditioning elements, and possibly do a deep conditioner next washday.

Then, ensure your stylers have a good hold. Gels tend to have the best hold, and of course, you can layer this over a cream or mousse (or another gel!). Creams tend not to have a lot of hold on their own, and mousses are more for volume than definition, so play around with your combos until you get the results you like.
Check out my beginner routine for my favourite shampoos, conditioners, and gels.

Finally, do not skip sleep protection! You want to reduce the amount of friction your curls get at night as much as possible. There are a few ways to do this, with bonnets, buffs or clips (we’ll cover this more in my next post!) but I personally either put my hair in a Bambonn hair wrap, or tie it in a high pineapple-style ponytail on top of my head with an invisibobble. Plus, I always sleep on a silk or satin pillowcase.

The importance of sleep protection for curly hair

Assessing your hair the next day

When you wake up and take your sleep protection off, your hair might look a sight. It could be squashed, or sticking up Marge Simpson-style. But all is not lost! First, give your roots a shake, and then leave your hair alone for 5-10 minutes. Once gravity has put it back in a more normal shape, you’ll be better able to assess what your hair needs. Maybe it doesn’t need refreshing after all! But if it does…

Refreshing to reduce frizz

I need to get a big disclaimer out of the way first: you cannot fully eliminate your frizz. Sorry, it’s part and parcel of having curly hair. Sure, you can reduce it, but you won’t be able to make it fully go away, and on the off-chance you do, it will come back eventually. So, try not to let the frizz bother you! Still, there are a few things we can do to at least reduce excessive frizz.

My favourite method is to do a dry refresh: take a tiny bit of gel (or your preferred styler) on your hands, spray a little water on the other hand, rub your hands together, and then use praying hands to smooth down any fluffy areas, especially over the top of your head. If needed, scrunch your hair a little as you go. When your hands get sticky, spray a little more water on your hands before adding more styler, so you don’t overdo it.

You can also smooth down individual curls with your wet-producty hands, and twist the curl a little to help it re-curl.

My favourite products for dry refreshing:
Tréluxe Hi! Definition Styling Gel or Reflex Serum (get 15% off when you buy through this link)
The Curl Company Curl Reviving Styling Spray (no need to add water for this one).

Why your curly hair is frizzy (and how to fix it)

Refreshing to bring back definition

If there’s way too much frizz to deal with, or if your curls are dropping or losing their curl, try a wet refresh: wet your hair down, either with a spray bottle or completely re-wetting it in the shower, and re-apply a little extra leave-in/cream and styler. You might find that just a light mist of water (with or without a squirt of conditioner mixed in the bottle) helps reactivate the product in your hair and you can work with that, but some curlies find they just have to completely wet their hair again.

You may want to diffuse your hair dry again if you have made your hair quite damp. If it’s just one or two curls that have lost definition, try just wetting down these individual curls with a spray bottle and restyling. Use a brush or your fingers to twizzle them back into a curl shape.

Depending on your hair’s porosity, using steam instead of water also may help your hair re-curl (more on this in the next section).

My favourite products for wet refreshes:
Continuous mist spray bottle
JSL Essentials Hair Mist (get 15% off with code COAST15)

Refreshing to increase volume or fix wonky curls

If my curls are a bit flat or lopsided, I try a steam refresh. You can either shake your hair out in your bathroom steam after a shower, or use a facial or clothes steamer* to direct the steam towards your hair. I then smooth my hair down while I do this to smooth the frizz – if you have enough styler in your hair, the steam should reactivate the hold a little.

Once your curls are a bit softer from the steam, you can either smooth or scrunch in some leave-in or glaze over a little styler mixed with water (the same as with a dry refresh) to contain the frizz.

*If you do use a clothes steamer, be careful – make sure it’s a low wattage one so you don’t burn your face off! The steamer I use is 800W and you can find it here.

Refreshing greasy/oily hair

If your roots need a boost, apply some dry shampoo and fluff your hair up (you can get CGM-friendly ones if you are trying to avoid alcohols). Also, try flipping your parting for instant volume!

But, if your roots are a little too greasy for dry shampoo, or your scalp is getting itchy, then it might just be time to wash your hair. Remember, there are no prizes for going days without washing your hair – if it feels like it needs a wash, wash it! I am not one of those curlies who can go a week without washing their hair – I wash mine every 3-4 days.

My favourite dry shampoos:
Hair Dance Dry Shampoo (get 10% off with code 10NATALIE44)
Umberto Giannini Next Day Perfect Invisible Dry Shampoo (get 20% off with code COAST20)
Boucleme Root Refresh or Foaming Dry Shampoo (get 15% off with code COAST15)

Getting your curls to look acceptable in the days after washing is one of the hardest parts of following a curly hair routine. I hope one of these methods help your curls last!

Check out more of my Refresh tips on Instagram.