If you are blessed to have a wavy, curly, or natural curl pattern, learning to preserve your curls overnight is essential to establishing a healthy hair routine. And not only because of the flattened mess you will need to deal with in the morning. Tossing and turning at night leads to hair breakage, frizz, and nasty tangles. Read on for an ultimate guide on how to sleep with curly hair and wake up with shiny, bouncy locks in the morning.

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Is It Better to Sleep with Hair Up or Down?

It is better to pull hair up for the night. When you place your curls on top, you will not literally lie on your coils, and the weight of your head won’t smash curls in your hair while you sleep. This will also make curls have the same definition on all sides, even if you prefer sleeping on one side only. You may also sleep on a silk or satin pillowcase without doing any additional bedtime hairstyles.

When you wear curly hair to bed in an updo, make sure that you do not wrap or tie up your hair too tightly – this may cause hair friction and headaches. Below are the protective hairstyles for sleeping with curly hair along with our step-by-step guidance.

#1: Wrap Your Hair in a Silk Scarf

Wrapping curly hair in a silk scarf is one of the best overnight hairstyles a curly girl can style (as well as the best way to sleep on curled hair without messing it up).

Advertisement Here is how to wrap curly hair for sleeping:

1. Take a silk or satin scarf and fold it into a triangle. Keep the shiny side out, as it is softer and gives even more gentle care to your curls.
2. Flip it over and lay it on your shoulders like a shawl.
3. Get your hair back, bring the ends of the scarf up and tie them around your head. Your curls shouldn’t stick out.
4. Take the triangular piece at the back and pull it up. Hold the end of the scarf with one hand and use a free one to push all of your curls into a hair buff you have just created.
5. Now, pull the end to the front and tuck it under the knot to secure it in place. Then, tuck any other sticking ends or sections.
6. Take two ends and tie them at the back. Do not make the wrap too tight to avoid any headaches.

Note that this method helps to retain moisture, protect curls, and prevent overnight damage from rubbing your hair against a pillowcase. Thus, you might want to wrap a soft shawl around other nighttime hairstyles too.