6 Best Ways to Protect and Preserve Your Natural Curls Overnight

Preserving your curly hairstyle overnight can be an uphill task but these 6 ways make it easy to shake out your style the next morning.

Getting your curly style to turn out just right is a lot of work and you definitely want to keep it for longer than 1 day.

However, this can be a challenge to preserve when the time comes for bed.

More often than not, you’re likely to wake up with flattened curls that won’t act right.

You’re forced to throw your hair into a bun in frustration because you really need to get out of the door.

Been there, done that a lot of times. So what can a girl do to make the curls last longer than a day?

This article will cover 6 sure-fire ways to make most hairstyles last for at least 3 days.

6 Best Ways to Protect & Preserve Your Curly Hairstyle Overnight

1. Preserve Your Curly Hairstyle With a Pineapple

This is my favorite way to preserve my curly styles especially wash and go hairstyles.

It involves flipping your head over, then using a silk scarf to pile your hair on top of your head in a loose ponytail.

The ponytail should be loose to prevent the scarf from causing a dent in the style.

The next morning, all you need to do is lightly spritz with water, shake and you’re good to go.

Below is my usual pineapple style. This is day 3 hair so it’s shrunk a bit compared to the first day.

2. Preserve Your Curly Hairstyle With a Silk/Satin Pillowcase

I use this in combination with my pineapple because I am a busy sleeper i.e. I move my head around a lot in my sleep.

A silk pillowcase won’t suck the moisture out of your hair, which can cause dry hair.

Sleeping on a silk/satin pillowcase also makes it less likely for the hair tie from the pineapple to slip off.

You can use either a silk or satin pillowcase but the silk pillowcase provides additional benefits for the skin.

Silk pillowcases are made out of natural protein produced by the silkworm.

Some good silk pillowcase recommendations include Alaska Bear Natural Silk Pillowcase and Townssilk Silk Pillowcase (more budget-friendly).

Related Content: Benefits of a Silk or Satin Pillowcase for Curly Hair

3. Preserve Your Curly Hairstyle With a Silk Scarf or Bonnet

If you don’t like the silk/satin pillowcase idea then a silk scarf or bonnet is the next best thing.

Again, this should be worn over your pineapple ideally. Personally, I have a silk pillowcase and also wear a satin bonnet over my pineapple.

There’s nothing like too much protection for your curls. Keep in mind a silk scarf may slip off in the middle of the night while you’re moving around.

Some good silk scarf and bonnet recommendations include Corciova 100% Silk Headscarf for Sleeping and Yanibest Silk Sleep Night Cap.

4. Preserve Your Curly Hairstyle With GHE (Greenhouse Effect)

While this method is used to increase hair growth rate, it is also a great way to preserve your curly styles as well so yay for dual benefits.

If you’ve never heard about it, the GHE method involves placing a shower cap or plastic bag over your damp curls, placing a silk bonnet over it, and leaving on overnight.

I don’t know about the making hair grow faster part but when my wash and gos aren’t completely dry before going to bed, I wear a shower cap over the pineapple.

This little trick helps my hair retain even more moisture. 

5. Preserve Your Curly Hairstyle With Pin Curls

This works quite well if your style is loose like a blowout or flat ironed hair to prevent reversion.

You section off individual parts of your hair and pin up in a curl and cover with a silk bonnet.

The next morning, carefully take out the pins then shake out the curls.

If you don’t have much time at night, this might look like too much work so it depends on what you’re trying to achieve.

You will require a lot of bobby pins, sectioning clips, and a rat tail comb for this. Below is a simple video on how to DIY pin curls.

6. Preserve Your Curly Hairstyle With Two Strand Twists

This method works very well if your hair is still damp from the style. Part your hair into two sections, twist up each section then pin up loosely.

When you take it down the next morning, your style will have set nicely.

It’s super easy too. Just part one section into two equal parts and twist around each other.

You may want to apply a little butter or oil to the end of the twist before pinning up on each side of your head.

Depending on your style, flexirods may also help preserve the style overnight.

From experience, the flexirods led to another style that messed up the original style.

However, if a flexirod set overnight on wet hair is what you’re after then this will work great.

In addition to preserving your curls, all the methods outlined above will help reduce friction which causes hair breakage and split ends while you sleep.

You can use only one of the methods but from experience, style preservation lasts longer when you combine one or more of the methods.

Do you have a curl preservation tip? Share in the comments section.

Curly Abi

Abi is a curly hair expert, researcher, product tester, and author of the highly-rated Healthy Hair Care Series. She is also the founder of Ade Ori Hair Care, Healthy Natural Hair Products, and Natural Oils for Hair & Beauty. HNHP has strict editorial standards and ensures all the information on Healthy Natural Hair Products is the best for natural hair care. Learn more about our Editorial Policies