How to Refresh Curly Hair Between Washes

Tools and materials:

• Spray bottle
• Leave-in conditioner
• Curl butter
• Jamaican black castor oil
• Scissors

1. Take out your protective style

I’ve had this protective style all week, and I’m taking it out now.

I usually don’t go more than a week without taking out a protective style, even if I’m not washing my hair.

When your hair has been in a hairband for a week, your hair can tangle with the ties so be careful taking it out.

2. Gently separate the strands

You shouldn’t detangle dry hair, but since my hair is clumped together, I’m gently separating the strands.

3. Section

Separate your hair into four sections, or if you want to return to the same protective style after refreshing, you can leave it the way it's parted.

4. Spray with water

Bunch your hair up and start spraying it with water. You don’t have to spray until it’s dripping wet, but it should be damp at the very least.

5. Work in the moisture

Work the moisture into your hair and make sure everything is saturated.

All that’s in my spray bottle is water, but you can add aloe vera or glycerin. Glycerin is a humectant, so it can draw moisture from the atmosphere. 

6. Begin detangling

Now that it’s wet, it’s easier to detangle.

Use all of your fingers to provide support for the strand to make it easier to pull as opposed to yanking them.

7. Add in a leave-in conditioner

Apply leave-in conditioner from root to tip. I’m making sure I’m taking out any major tangles and kinks, but I’m not worried about it being super detangled since I’m going to put it back in a protective style.

If I was going to do a twist-out, I would’ve detangled with more detail since the definition of your twist-out depends on how well your hair is detangled.

8. Add Jamaican black castor oil

Coat the strands with Jamaican black castor oil.

9. Add a curl butter

Use a curly moisture butter to seal in the moisture and products. Concentrate more on the ends to make sure they’re well taken care of.

10. Snip out knots

Use scissors to snip out any stubborn knots right where they form.

11. Twist and clip away the finished section

Twist up the section you finished working on and clip it away to secure it and repeat this process on the remaining sections.

If you’re going to do a twist-out, go ahead and do your twists before you move on to the next section.

How to refresh curly hair between washes

That’s it! This tutorial on how to keep natural hair moisturized between washes is very straightforward, but it feels very nice.

Let me know what you do to refresh hair between washes down below!