Unsuccessful wash day - can the curls be saved?

WonderfullyKam

I wash my hair at night and usually have good results the next morning but today is very different!

Last night instead of just air drying or plopping for 15 mins I plopped for about 45-50 mins while I cooked dinner. I noticed immediately upon removing the t-shirt that my curls weren't as tight or defined as they usually are but by then the gel had already started to stiffen so I left it. Air dried the rest of the way, scrunched out most of the cast, pineappled and went to bed, my usual routine. (I don't know if it's actually the length of time I plopped or that I did it wrong that's to blame but the only difference last night was the time)

This morning my curls aren't as bouncy and defined as they usually are and one side in particular is quite frizzy.

Apart from throwing hair up into a bun what do you guys do after an unsuccessful wash day? Can the curls be saved without washing again?
x

WonderfullyKam

Oh and I spritzed with a bit of water and applied a tiny amount of gel this morning to try to fix it and this didn't help. I think the excessive scrunching may have exacerbated the issue

Therese1

If you don't mind using heat tools, you can touch up your hair with a curling iron. I either do that or else put it up.

RafterBat

If my hair decides to be difficult, there is no saving it - the only choices are to ponytail/bun or start over entirely. Grrr.

Starmie

Unfortunately I'm with RafterBat, there's no saving mine.

curly01

If re-spritzing didn't help. probably need to start over. I rarely get away with the re-spritzing if I'm trying to fix an issue. Sometimes it works ok - not perfect but ok.

WonderfullyKam

Yes it became painfully apparent later that day that it could not be saved. I was at work and going out straight afterwards so all i had was water & gel (and hope! haha). I tried scrunching downwards which reduced the frizz but as you're all saying there's no revitalising the curls sadly. That was my first bad/subpar hair day since getting my curly cut last month! A shock to the system definitely.

Therese1, I'm trying to do a year of no heat but I could adapt that and instead try spritzing with a bit of water, using bendy rollers and hoping it dries enough before I need to leave the house.

Apart from french braid pigtails when I've gone too long without washing my hair I haven't worn my hair up to go outside since I was 12/13 years old (I'm now 26) - so that's another mountain to climb!

Wavycat

I'm so in awe that you never wear your hair up. I have enough bad hair days that it is up more than I care to admit. That is just awesome. I sometimes can get away with wetting and wrapping it around a straw, hold it for a moment then slide it out. I never have luck wrapping it around my fingers like Lorraine Massey does.

WonderfullyKam

Wavycat, I only got my curly cut 5 weeks ago so there's definitely still a chance for more bad hair days! =D

Before that I wore it curly for 3 weeks but was using all the wrong products/techniques so it was dreadful, & before that I was straightening with flat irons for 13 years. I've definitely had my fair share of bad hair days over the years but I feel so exposed with my hair up that I would just do what I could to reduce the hair horror (a lot of dry shampoo and mini french braids across the front of my hair like a headband).

Yes I've tried wrapping the hair around my finger but I seem to lose even more definition!

Gaby.Vintimi

Today I had a bad refreshing day and lots of frizz, I tried everything like applying styling product and oil and just when I gave up, I decided to take each messy curl twisted with a round brush then I wet my hands and did some rope scrunching. To my surprise it worked, hopefully you can try something similar and make it work.
You should try different styles of putting your hair up, I like to do a half up do if my bottom curls are nice to be left out, if your hair is long enough a french braid is nice to do and helps keeping the curls. On those bad days, play around with it you will be surprise of the styles you come up with

WonderfullyKam

Thanks Gaby. =] - can I ask for a bit more information?
Potentially silly questions but did you wrap your hair around the actual bristles? Are they the plastic type or boar bristle? How wet/damp does your hair need to be for this to work? How did you get your hair out (unwrapping the curl? Pulling downwards?)

Thanks for the advise. Maybe I'll try some up dos on a day I don't need to go out. I can see myself crying in frustration if I do this and fail right before work haha

Gaby.Vintimi

You are welcome, don't worry they are not silly questions. I use any round brush I have at hand, and what I do is take one curl from the root, place the brush and twisted all the way down so it falls off naturally. I usually do it on wet hair but yesterday it was on dry hair and did it in a desperate attempt to save them, and it worked.
The direction you do the twist is very important, it has to be the same direction your natural curl goes, so if you are unsure take your finger first and twisted either direction and release if it holds that's the right direction if it bounces back and goes on the opposite direction then you have to do it in that way. Most of curls go clockwise except for a couple that go counter clockwise.
here are some pics that I did on wet hair and only did one curl that time.
Making a curl - Album on Imgur
End result - Album on Imgur
Hope this is helpful for you

WonderfullyKam

That's wonderful, thanks so much Gaby - great tip and the results are amazing. I think I may have one of those brushes hidden somewhere in my room so I'll dig it out for emergencies!