Hair for grownups slash dummies, part 2

April 7, 2015 9:10 AM

I have, on a morning when I take a shower, nice wavy/curly hair. I would like to find a way to get it to look about the same when I shower at night after the gym and get up in the morning. Possible? How do I hair?

Thanks to some of the advice I got in this question last year, I am totally happy with this look on day one- front view and side view- achieved by combing it in the shower with a wide-toothed comb, putting a little bit of curl mousse or Aveda Be Curly in there, scrunching it and generally leaving it the hell alone. This is right now the best-case scenario on day 2 or if I shower at night, if I kind of finger-comb it and get it a little bit wet. Is there a way to rejuvenate day 2 so it might look a little more like day one?

posted by charmedimsure to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (14 answers total)

Best answer: I usually end up using my fingers, but a spray-bottle works even better. Get it wet in a pretty uniform way, maybe add a teensy bit more product, ideally dry with a big diffuser to encourage the curl.
posted by Sequence at 9:30 AM on April 7, 2015

Usually a product can be useful - Curls Lavish Curls Moisturizer is what I use for 2nd day hair. I don't do it often and it isn't 100%, but it gets me about 70% of the way there.
posted by typecloud at 9:33 AM on April 7, 2015

Best answer: Are you adding more Be Curly when you dampen and finger-comb it? I've found that for my hair--which started growing in wavy last year, so I'm still figuring all this out--it looks good on Day 2 and decent on Day 3 if I scrunch it up with more Be Curly in the morning. I'm also, after I dry it on Day 1, shaking it out a bit and spraying Aveda's Be Curly hairspray throughout it and scrunching it, which seems to help set the curls even more.

I'm mostly finding that Day 2 is the best-looking day, oddly enough.
posted by telophase at 9:49 AM on April 7, 2015

I absolutely hate hair products but there is one product I use that really works to extend my style by a couple days: Living Proof Prime Style Extender. It is supposedly based on some MIT technology and it works by coating your hair in some patented molecule that repels dirt and oil from your hair so it stays cleaner, longer. It is not cheap and the whole MIT claim smells a bit fishy to me, but it does keep my un-styled, slightly curly, fine-ish, caucasian hair soft and fresh a full two days longer. (I shampoo every three days so not sure if the fresh period would be shorter for someone who shampoos more frequently). I also had a friend visit recently, who blonds her mouse-brown hair so it is quite badly damaged, and she was blown away by how this cream made her hair feel. It was the first time in years she was able to wear her hair down for an entire day and have it look fresh and feel soft. Also, it doesn't feel like product at all (did I mention how much I hate products?) - your hair just feels like a 20% better version of itself, not stiff or gooey.
posted by rada at 9:50 AM on April 7, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I am the absolute last person who should be telling anyone how to do hair, but I use a spray bottle too. Getting my hair reasonably damp recreates the showered-this-morning-look-at-my-curls look.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:07 AM on April 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

Devachan makes a lavender scented curl refresher.
posted by brujita at 10:35 AM on April 7, 2015

I am not clear here if you wash your hair when you shower at night or if you are talking about skipping washing it entirely for two days. Those are different scenarios.

If you are washing your hair at night, I have curly/wavy hair and I have, in the past, done a couple of things that worked well for washing hair at night and looking okay the following morning.

The first is to put it up in a ponytail on the top of my head still damp and sleep with it that way. You might need to experiment with putting some extra ties on it, spaced out, to keep it neat and not have it frizz up on you. Or try braiding it damp before bedtime and unbraid it in the morning.

The second was to put soft curlers in it while it was damp and go to bed that way and sleep with soft curlers. That gave me fairly long lasting curls without product. It is much curlier than the look you currently have.

I don't have suggestions for a scenario where you just don't wash for two days. But if you are washing the night before, yeah, there are ways to go to bed with damp hair and wake up looking pretty darn good.
posted by Michele in California at 10:50 AM on April 7, 2015

I haven't tried this yet, but I've heard switching over to a silk pillowcase can help you wake up with nicer looking hair since the "slickness" doesn't mess up your hair the way a regular pillow case does. They also sell silk head wraps.

I also know some people use the pineapple method of putting your hair up on top of your head using a very loose scrunchy at night, but from your picture, it looks like your hair might be too short for this.

With that being said, your best bet is probably just to go with the spray bottle thing recommended above.
posted by litera scripta manet at 11:00 AM on April 7, 2015

Your hair might not be long enough -- but I exclusively wash my hair at night because it takes too long to dry. I spray leave in conditioner, comb it out, and then put it in a bun on the top of my head with a fabric hair tie.

In the morning, it is still damp, and I add more product -- and then let it dry. Perfect waves/curls every time.
posted by hrj at 11:21 AM on April 7, 2015

I just wet mine and brush it through with my regular hair brush. If I didn't put on product the day before I'll add spray on some frizz ease curl reviver and comb it through then give it a quick scrunch and leave it alone.
posted by missmagenta at 1:52 PM on April 7, 2015

If I don't shower in the morning, I just put my head under the tap and get my hair wet (damp, not soaking), towel dry, finger comb and I am good to go.
posted by metahawk at 3:34 PM on April 7, 2015

I usually shower at night, and if I wake up with bedhead I wet a washcloth then run it over my head to get my hair wet enough to style.
posted by COD at 4:57 AM on April 8, 2015

Nthing you need to make your hair wet again. I found that I needed to get it wet enough so it was almost freshly washed and towel dried wet. To achieve this I dreched a clean flannel and ran that all over my hair. It was wet but not dripping. On preview, what COD says.
posted by koahiatamadl at 10:06 PM on April 9, 2015

Response by poster: Spray bottle and a little bit more product is far more effective than splashing a little water on it, which had been my previous dopey morning routine. Thanks, all.
posted by charmedimsure at 12:26 PM on May 7, 2015 [1 favorite]