4 Ways to Preserve Your Wash & Go At Night
We often get asked what’s the best way to preserve your wash and go at night while you sleep. Honestly, your nighttime accessory of choice will come down to personal preference and sometimes, your hair length.
Although this blog post will list 4 common options for preserving your set, please keep in mind that this will sometimes require you testing out different options and seeing what best suits your individual situation.
What Is Refreshing?
Within the natural hair community, a buzzword we often hear is “refreshing.” For our understanding, it seems as though refreshing is the daily practice of using product and tools to maintain and “refresh” your curls.
As licensed stylists and tight curl educators, let us to be the first to tell you that we do not subscribe to daily refreshing. A style that is set properly from the beginning will not require you to grab more product, a spray mist bottle and go to town on your hair.
“A set is just the physical transformation of the hair from wet to dry. It refers to the application of a tool to the hair to create artificial texture or a technique to enhance the natural texture of the hair.”
And let us not fail to mention, applying more product or water to a set can take the hair out of its form and lead to frizz, crunchiness or overall decreased longevity. If you find that you need to “refresh” your curls, it’s likely time to cleanse/condition/style over again.
Option #1: Buff
The most popular option amongst naturals is a Buff, which is a long tube made from a breathable and moisture-wicking microfiber. A Buff is Aishia’s (our co-founder) favorite nighttime accessory to use.
There are many variations of Buffs (or hair sleeves) that can be found online including The Doux Tube Styling Buff and The Loc Soc.
Steps for how to apply a Buff:
Step 1 & 2: Stretch the Buff with your hands to create an opening in the middle
Step 3: Smooth your hair down and pull the Buff over your head until it’s around your neck
Step 4: Pull the Buff over the top of your head
Step 5: Stretch the Buff down to cover the rest of your hair
Step 6: You’re all done and ready for bed.
Below is a quick tutorial from one of our Cut It Kinky Alumni Stylists, Elaine, for how she fluffs her hair in the morning after removing the Buff.
Option #2: Scarf
A scarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle to cover the head. There are a dozen places to purchase hair scarves including department stores like Target or Walmart along with your local beauty supply store.
Steps for how to apply a Scarf:
Step 1: Fold the scarf diagonally and place the side with no ends to the front of your head
Step 2: Once positioned, tie the ends of the scarf together once in the back
Steps 3 & 4: Using the extra scarf length, bring the ends to the front and tie again
Step 5: You’re all done and ready for bed!
Here is a quick tutorial from one of our Cut It Kinky Alumni Stylists, Angel, for how she ties a scarf.
Option #3: Bonnet
Bonnets have been a solid nighttime accessory within the black hair care community. Bonnets are rather easy to apply and can be helpful for preserving your style at night. They are also pretty accessible as you can often purchase from department stores like Target or Walmart and even smaller convenience stores like Walgreens or CVS.
If you’ve noticed, there have been a trend of companies making super large “or jumbo” hair bonnets. We strongly advise you not to purchase a bonnet that is larger than the amount of hair you have. This causes the hair to be loose and disheveled under the bonnet, which can lead to decreased longevity in your style.
Steps for how to apply a Bonnet:
Step 1: Place the bonnet over the top of your hair
Step 2: Start pulling the bonnet down to get ready to tuck
Steps 3 & 4: Starting tucking your hair inside of the bonnet all around
Step 5: Don’t forget to tuck in those curls in the back!
Step 6: You’re all done and ready for bed
Option #4: Silk/Satin/Cotton Pillowcase
Satin is often admired for its soft luxury exceptional quality. Satin pillowcases are often much more affordable than silk, as satin can be manufactured using a natural or synthetic blend of fibers. Satin pillowcases can be purchased from retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Amazon and Kohl’s.
On the other hand, silk is a moisture-wicking fiber that keeps you dry at night, which discharging sweat and oils. Silk is luxurious fabric that is known for its breathable and soft sleeping surface and is ideal for all types of skin sensitivities. However, silk is oftentimes much pricier than satin due to its quality level. If you’re seeking quality silk pillowcases, our Cut It Kinky Mentor Stylist, Sonnie, offers them for retail here.
Contrary to popular belief, cotton pillowcases are also totally fine to use and sleep on. It will not break your hair off or cause any mechanical damage. Many of our SeeSomeCurls Course subscribers have expressed that satin makes them sweat even more, and they have no issues with cotton. If you find that this is you, cotton is also a suitable option to use and sleep on.
Why We Don’t Recommend Pineappling for Tight Curls:
Pineappling is a well known phrase within the natural hair community where you arrange your hair into a loose, high ponytail on the top of your head (i.e. a loose bun) before going to bed.
The surface textures that are most impacted by not being able to pineapple their hair at night are coarser surface textures. If you choose to pineapple your natural hair as a coarse girlie—your hair will be “up and stuck” like Marge Simpson or Don King.
The reason for this is because coarse surface textured hair often takes the form of where its been, so if you’re pulling it up into a loose bun at night, it will take on that form and not move, hence being “up and stuck”. Pineappling can also cause a loss of definition, creates frizz due to added manipulation and will not lead to longevity of the style.
Want more tips on how to preserve your natural hair at night? We cover all the natural hair fundamentals and more in our digital consumer education platform, The SeeSomeCurls Visual Library.
Our 1.2K+ course community of tight curl + naturals are shaving more than 50% of time off their wash day, being showered left and right with hair compliments, and are receiving direct support of a very encouraging community of tight curlies + naturals who have been exactly where you are.
