How to Care for Curly Hair at Night — Hint: It Depends On Your Hairstyle

Many times, when you look for information about how to care for your hair at night, you get blanket recommendations that may not be helpful in your specific case. If you want to preserve your style and ensure that your hair remains healthy, the first thing you should know is that your nighttime hair care routine should be individualized for you. In this article, I’ll fill you in on several ways to care for curly hair at night based on your specific hair situation.

Why Curls Need Protection at Night

To put it simply, curls need protection at night because they are prone to frizz, dryness, and breakage. Their structure is full of twists and turns, which makes it difficult for your scalp’s oils to keep them moisturized. And prolonged dryness can result in breakage over time. What’s more is curls frizz up like it’s their job.

Your risk of experiencing these issues increases exponentially if you’re tossing and turning under your cotton comforter without adequate protection.

This is why curls need protection at night.

Nighttime Curl Protection For Wash N’ Gos, Twist Outs, and Braid Outs

After doing all that work to get your wash n’ go, twist out, or braid out looking exactly how you like, it’d be a shame to wake up adorned in a bird’s nest. Thankfully, you don’t have to. Here are a few things you can do at night to preserve these styles and your hair’s health:

Pull your hair into a high, forward pony (also called a pineapple).

Pineappling will keep your hair up and out of the way without stretching out the ends of your hair. When you wake up in the morning, you’ll simply take your hair down from the ponytail, shake, finger-style, and go. I am a little biased, as this is my #1 favorite way to preserve my wash n’ gos. Here’s how to do a pineapple on mid-length hair:

1. Lean forward so that your hair is hanging downwards.
2. Gather your hair into a ponytail near your widow’s peak. Use a loose, soft ponytail holder to secure.
3. Fold a silk or satin scarf in half, so that it looks like a triangle, wrap it around your hairline and the nape of your neck, and then secure it in the front of your head with a knot.
4. Remove the ponytail from your hair. The scarf should be the only thing holding your curls up. Doing this will prevent any harsh lines when you take your hair down in the morning.
5. If your hair is too short for one pineapple, don’t worry. You can do several!

Put on a silk or satin bonnet.

If you’re not into pineappling for one reason or another, you can simply slip a silk or satin bonnet over your head to protect your style and keep your hair from losing moisture overnight. All you’ll do is smooth your hair towards the back of your head, plop a bonnet on, and catch your Zs. Just know that bonnets can flatten your curls or even ruin the overall shape of your style. To prevent this, you can put your hair in a few loose braids or twists before putting the bonnet on.

Nighttime Protection for Braids

When it comes to protective styles, like box braids and cornrows, there are a few things that work really well. If your style is sleek and flat and you want to keep it that way, tie it down with either a Durag or a silk or satin scarf. Otherwise, you can slip on a bonnet and go to bed.

If your scalp could use a little TLC, oil your scalp or lightly spritz on some braid spray before covering your hair up for the night.

Just ensure that your hair isn’t wet — that’d create the perfect environment for mold and mildew growth.

Nighttime Protection for Roller and Rod Sets

Roller and rod sets are notoriously difficult to maintain at night. It’s way too easy to smush your curls and ruin your style by sunrise. One way to prevent this from happening is to wrap individual curls around your finger and pin them near your scalp (this is known as pin curling). You’ll then put on a bonnet to preserve moisture and keep frizz in check.

Another option is to wrap your roller/rod curls like you would if you had a silk press. This means combing or brushing your hair around the perimeter of your head until it looks like a beehive. Ensure that your hair is very flat to your head. Then, use a silk or satin scarf to keep your hair in place and protect it from friction, frizz, and moisture loss.

If you’re okay with a wayward curl or two, you can skip the pin curling and wrapping and just put on a bonnet.

A Great Option for Many: Silk or Satin Pillowcase

If the thought of a whole nighttime hair routine makes you cringe, maybe you need something a little easier. Skip the braiding, pineappling, pin curling, etc. and simply sleep on a silk or satin pillowcase. It’ll reduce friction and frizz and you won’t have to worry about a bonnet or scarf coming off of your head by midnight. Though this protection method could work for most hairstyle types, there are a couple of issues that you could come across:

1. Your hair could still end up messed up by morning, depending on the style.
2. Since your hair isn’t covered up, you could lose more hair moisture.
3. If your hair is oily or covered in product, it could end up on your face and break you out.

So, there you have it — how to care for curly hair at night. As you can see, there are several ways to do so. It’s just a matter of figuring out which method is right for you. My advice is to try several — you’re sure to find the one.

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Happy journey!