Keeping Your Waves Between Washings; How Do You Do It?

[nycelle]

This Saturday, I shampood and conditioned my hair for classification. Didn't use any products, or my WTC to untangle. Just let it air dry.
Turns out, I'm a solid 2a/2b.

However, as the day went on, the wave softened. By the next morning, it was looser, and then today, looser still. By the time my next wash day comes around, my hair is going to look closer to 1c.

I'm not heat styling, or even blow drying. In fact, I don't do anything other than detangle daily with a WTC, and use a very light hair oil.

My question is, how do you keep your waves in-between shampoos? Any tips, tricks? Ideas?

Here are 3 pics of what it looks like on shampoo day, day 2, and now day 3. It's been raining here since yesterday, so my hair is a little more wavy than it would normally be by this time. Still, you can see it's getting straighter.

Day 1
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4654/28446695939_5354470bc9_n.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/KkJKCP)hair type 1 (https://flic.kr/p/KkJKCP) by ellie rk (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138450086@N04/),

Day 2
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4658/39328391385_0049b18309_n.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/22Vjhzx)day 2 (https://flic.kr/p/22Vjhzx) by ellie rk (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138450086@N04/),

Day 3 (today)
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4631/25354934457_d0db7ac560_n.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ECwEEn)day 3 (https://flic.kr/p/ECwEEn) by ellie rk (https://www.flickr.com/photos/138450086@N04/),

[Beeboo123]

I spritz and scrunch to reset the waves

[lapushka]

I spritz and scrunch to reset the waves

I did do that when my hair was BSL but now that it is between TBL & classic, I no longer do.

Waves will sag from wash to wash, that is just normal. If you want to keep them, do spritz. You can make your own, fill a spray bottle with some demineralized water, then add a squirt of conditioner, shake well before use and you're good to go!

Before learning to "keep" them, you also want to learn to "enhance" them. By trying the LOC/LCO (see signature) method for instance for styling. Don't put a lot of product in, layer per layer you want to use about a pea to a coinsize of product, but it will enhance what you've got!

And don't comb or brush (but when it's wet and at the time of a wash).

[Virankannos]

I have the same problem. I vary between 2c and 2a. I can't loose bun or pineapple it for the night (which is what they say curlies should do), because I get a headache and/or lots of tangles that way. I also have to detangle every day. Seems like I'm forever doomed to live with odd-looking braid waves or as a frizz-ball, instead of natural waves.

[LadyCelestina]

Some loosening is unavoidable. Here's my hair right after a wash

https://i.imgur.com/mJ7bVsr.jpg
and here is day 3
https://i.imgur.com/4BmMbkn.jpg

I'd say it goes from 3a/3b to almost 2c/3a on top with some spirals on the bottom.


For my hair, I find that trying to make it curlier on day 2 or 3 also makes it frizzier. Usually it involves water and conditioner smoothed in, then bending over and scrunching, scrunching, scrunching like crazy with gel or curling mousse. Then scrunching some more.

The usual way I refresh my curls though is just smoothing frizzy curls with conditioner. My curls are looser but way less frizzy than when I do the above ^

[Ophidian]

LadyCelestina I don't think I've ever seen your hair before. It's gorgeous!:thud:

nycelle, I don't have the patience to style it and because I don't wear it down I don't have a particular need to. But I have noticed that it holds braid waves like nobody's business. They are similar to my natural wave pattern, but do tend to kink in weird places so if I were going to wear it down and wanted it wavy I would probably do a kind of wet set but damp braiding and then leave it down for a bit to relax before scrunching it or doing a light oiling to calm down the frizz. I wear my hair in a braid every night and this is enough to maintain waves between washes.

[PixieP]

I don’t, I bun for sleeping and that kills my waves the first night after washing:/

[*Wednesday*]

I’m a 2/a-b. Right after a wash day, it is so lively and wavy. I wear it up or braided every day. If I was going to wear it down and to refresh, overnight I braid it or do a bun w/twist and makes texture.

[Arctic]

I say enjoy the different looks!

[littlestarface]

I wish that was possible, I even get spirals and huge S patterns all over my hair after I wash, its such a shame they don't stay forever. Most of the time my hair is fluffy straight waves cuz of the braids and buns.

[nycelle]

So I tried the to dampen, spritz with water that I added a little conditioner to, then I scrunched and let air dry. I think it added a little wave, but it also tangled. Had to use a WTC and now it's back to where it was. Ahhh well.
Braiding at night, even one loose, braid, turns me into a frizz ball by the morning, and using oil doesn't work as well as it normally does. So no braids for me.

I'm going to try a bun tonight and see what happens. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to mess with it too much tomorrow morning so if it doesn't work well, it's going up as I have to be in the office early for a meeting.

Thanks for help everyone, very much appreciated.


Arctic, you have a point. Maybe I should just work with it, rather than against it.

[Corvana]

Heh I don't even bother! My hair is up always anyway, and if I want my hair to look wavy and be down I'll wash it and plop and LOC. I'm also planning to get a diffuser with multiple heat settings so that I can dry it on warm or even cool so that I don't have to try to not touch my hair for three hours. If the heat isn't too hot to be on a sensitive bit of your skin (inner thigh is my best testing area, it's so sensitive :shudder:) for a long period of time, then it won't hurt your hair.

My signature shows my waves right after they're washed, and my avatar shows them after they've relaxed a couple days and been combed. But I put it up in a disc bun basically every day (sometimes I go with a peacock twist in a claw clip), since it's the one I can do at my length, and that always stretches them out.

[Arciela]

I have this problem too. For me there is no real fix except washing it again sadly. I've tried misting my hair with water mixed with a tiny bit of conditioner before and it helps a little, but nothing comes close to how it is after washing.

[jera]

nothing works as well for me as washing either. Hair just seems to flatten out, but I do get something out of misting with a spritzer bottle. It's not completely useless. I don't put conditioner in mine. Just water.

[nycelle]

I'm glad to read it's not just me. I mean I'm sorry it happens to you guys as well, but it's good to know there are many with this "issue."

[LexI bright]

On wash day, I do LOC, with my "C" being a med hold gel or gel and cream cocktail. Then, IF I want to wear hair down and wavy day 2 or 3, I pineapple for sleep and in the morning mist with purified water infused with lavender e/o and scrunch. I repeat misting and scrunching til its quite damp but not wringing wet and this reactivates my gel and I often get BETTER waves and curls than I had on wash day.

[Robi-Bird]

If I really want to keep them, I use gel after I wash it, and don't so much as finger detangle between bunnings. Mostly I live in buns, and if I want to keep my waves between buns, I just don't brush it to bun it, and smooth the worst of it out with my fingers. The waves aren't the same as wash day, but not bad.

[OH_suzi]

I think a lot of serious curlies are permenantly curly! They have their own hairy plusses and minuses, but this is where most are lucky.
Wavy whirly somewhere around 2a you get the promise of a curl but it never really lasts, mine can lose their shape by the end of day one!

Sometimes i can encourage a curl shape back the next day by wearing a curly hair do, e.g. put hair in a high pony and twisting it - it stays in a ringletty pony all day and if I take it out the ringletty wave stays.
Or A messy bun, when I take hair down it stays in a mad scrunchy curly voluminous do, esp if you bung a bit of light hold hair spray in there. It’s a bit on the wild frizz side though!

But if I want nice curls for a night out or whatevs, I gotta wash n scrunch n diffuse from scratch and accept that after several hours dancing they might just be waves.
But I am greatful that heated tongs or curlers are an option but not a nesssity for my curls.

[OhSuzi]

...just discovered I have accidentally got two accounts I wondered why it said only 3 posts and limited access.

[LadyCelestina]

LadyCelestina I don't think I've ever seen your hair before. It's gorgeous!:thud:


Thank you :flower:

I don't post pics that much I guess :)

[floraflowerpowe]

I like to sleep with my hair rolled into a bun and the ends that stick out rolled around my finger (pincurls?) and keeping it all in place during the night with small hairclips. The next day my hair is still wavy, but never as nice as directly after washing.

[Simsy]

Mine lives in small braids wrapped into a bun. This gives me a bit of swirl and a lot of wavy kinks down the length, particularly since I put it up with copious amount short of oil and don’t get it wet between washes. I am fairly heavliy on the 3a side of 2c-3a, with natural Shirley Temple ringlets. If I want close to my natural pattern, I stick in it in rope braids for a day or so.

[lapushka]

...just discovered I have accidentally got two accounts I wondered why it said only 3 posts and limited access.

OhSuzi, I would let a mod know before they discover it and you get sanctioned for it (you can only have one account per lifetime here); this so they can get rid of the other account or merge them. :flower:

[nycelle]

Thanks for all the tips.

Gel does work for longer wave hold. But in the end, I found it made my hair drier so I stopped using it.

Lapushka, I've used the LOC method in the past, without realizing it was a method. Now I just use a light oil. But I'm gonna go back to the leave in conditioner part of it.

BUT- last night I used a silk sleep bonnet and I was amazed at the results this morning. Woke up at the crack of dawn to drive to a meeting that was canceled. Only consolation was that my hair looked amazing as soon as I took the bonnet off, so no time was put into doing it.
No frizz, smooth, shiny, and no tangles. I was, and still, am shocked. This bonnet may become another one of my hair Holy Grails.

[ravenheather]

I mist and scrunch in some leave in. I use kinky curly knot today. Now I am back to thinking about a bonnet. I have cheapie satin ones that I can take or leave, but I always wonder if silk will be better.

[nicolezoie]

If your shower is large enough: bun your hair for your shower, then after you're done with your usual stuff, turn the shower head away from your body, take out the bun, and let the mist in the shower fluff your waves. That resets the pattern for me. In my case though, I nearly always put my hair back up after, so the waves aren't as obvious. My length is happier, in any case.

[Ophidian]

Thanks for all the tips.

Gel does work for longer wave hold. But in the end, I found it made my hair drier so I stopped using it.

Lapushka, I've used the LOC method in the past, without realizing it was a method. Now I just use a light oil. But I'm gonna go back to the leave in conditioner part of it.

BUT- last night I used a silk sleep bonnet and I was amazed at the results this morning. Woke up at the crack of dawn to drive to a meeting that was canceled. Only consolation was that my hair looked amazing as soon as I took the bonnet off, so no time was put into doing it.
No frizz, smooth, shiny, and no tangles. I was, and still, am shocked. This bonnet may become another one of my hair Holy Grails.

Oh haha yeah! I’m surprised I didn’t think of that. I had forgotten what my hair looked like in the morning before I started covering it with my silk scarf at night: nice waves on one side and Hagrid on the other :p :D