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Bed head?

Runcarla

Veteran

Short or long - do you do anything to your hair before sleeping? Do you use a special pillow case? Do you plait it or put it in a high ponytail? Do you set it in rag curls or some other treatment?

After a night of sleep does your hair come out looking okay, or do you have to re-style it? Do you wash (and style) your hair every morning?

General

28 replies

Latest reply was from Joy

Staysfit

Veteran

This is a great question! I never had to think about my hair when it was pixie length. It was easy to manage and always looked fine as long as it was cut regularly (every 3 weeks). For reference, the back of my hair reaches the nape of my neck and in front it goes to the tip of my nose. It’s probably someplace between short and medium, and it is very thick, and wavy/curly. The nice curls and waves that form after I wash and air dry (or diffuser dry) my hair flatten out when I sleep. I like them, so I have been looking for ways to preserve them without washing my hair daily since it easily becomes dry and brittle.

1. I purchased silk like pillow case but it did not have a zip closure so it slid off my pillow...a feature to think about if anyone else wants to make such a purchase. I think my hair looked less frizzy in the morning, but still flat and it still had an odd crease at the nape of my neck which made it look like I deliberately curled/flipped up my hair 50’s style.

2. DD has very long hair, similar in texture to mine...slightly more curl...and she wears a T Shirt on her head, turbin style, when she sleeps. Her hair always looks beautiful. I do not have many tees, and none that I could spare for this purpose. With that thought, I purchased a silky turban for sleep, which has done a better job in eliminating the hair crease line that forms at the bottom of my neck when I sleep. I may borrow one of DH’s tees to try DD’s tee method to see if there is a difference between the two.

3. I have a sprayer bottle with water, and I lightly spritz my hair and scrunch it back into form in the morning. I wear a shower cap in the shower on days when I do not wash and condition. I also add a small amount of my hair gel or a curly shine product when I scrunch.

4. I have never tried to use a pony tail at the top of my head, is that comfortable for people? What function does it serve?

LaPed

Veteran

A silk pillowcase was transformative for me. I have very fine, straight strands, and my hair is prone to tangles/rats nests, especially in the winter when the air is dry. The silk pillowcase completely eliminated that for me. I'll wake up with a small cowlick occasionally, but as long as my hair gets damp in the shower, those usually straighten themselves out as they dry. I don't do anything special to my hair. Wash and condition about once every four or five days, and brush it when I think of it.

LeandraofBleuAvenue

(website)

I do my hair on a three day rotation. The first day I wet set curls into an updo that I can hairnet and sleep on that night. Day two I take down the curls and wear them loose. Day three when they're looking a little disheveled I wear them in a curly ponytail or messy bun.

nemosmom

Veteran

I don’t wash every day - usually twice or 3x a week. My hair is thick, coarse, and on the curly side of wavy.

I sleep with my hair in twists sometimes, so the poofiness is tamed during the day. I will put anti-frizz serum in it the next morning, shake it out with my fingers, and let it do it’s own thing. I use dry shampoo in-between washes, and will sometimes smooth my fringe with a flat iron, but otherwise the nighttime twists are all I need to have some semblance of a ‘do the next day.

JAileen

Veteran

When I get up in the morning, I look a bit like the professor from Back to the Future. When I take a shower my hair gets slightly damp, and I comb it with my fingers, and it settles down. If I shower at night, then it really looks crazy in the morning. I just dampen it a little, and it settles down. And that’s it. I wash my hair at most once a week.

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Anonymous

My hair is the polar opposite to yours. It's a rare morning when I wake up with even semi-presentable hair . I've been intrigued by silk pillowcases - but because I sleep on my side, the idea of a silky polyester thing on my face all night bothers me. I've trying to wash my hair every second day for the past 2 months, but it admittedly looks pretty bad by mid-afternoon that second day. Oh well!

The Cat

Veteran

No, I don't do anything to my hair before going to bed. Normally, my hair comes out looking ok in the morning. Very rarely, I have to make a little part of it wet and give it a quick blow-dry and perhaps some hairspray.

Usually, I wash my hair every 4th to 7th day, depending on my plans and how it looks and feels.

I am blessed with a thick, healthy and fast-growing hair--and rely heavily on 3 things: regular, precise haircuts; conditioner after every wash; a hairspray that gives firm, but flexible hold (necessary when my hair has just been washed and blow-dried--after that, I don't need hairspray every day).

slim cat

Veteran

I run my wet fingers through the morning hair to give it more shape and volume. Since I did my experiment with coloring - I do leave-in conditioner every evening.
My hair usually looks flat and unsightly in the morning - washing every day still works the best.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I find that the longer my hair is, the better it looks in the morning, LOL.

These days I’m washing it almost every day because I’m being very active with biking, hiking, etc. I’m also not hear styling or blow drying it much to try to save the ends from more damage, since I’m going so long without a haircut.

When my hair gets long, it sort of annoys me on my pillow at night — it’s hot and itchy. So many nights I end up putting it in a loose high ponytail to keep most of it off of my face and neck while I sleep. In the morning it’s usually not embarrassing to just take it down, in fact sometimes it actually looks relatively good! But again, I think that’s a benefit of long hair. My absolute worst hair mornings all occurred back in the days when it was short. My husband has had some truly epic morning hair lately!

Helena

Veteran

I am laughing at JAileen's image!

My hair ... I'm sooooooo lazy with it. I tie it in a ponytail at night. I wash it every second day and then slather some argan oil into the ends (dry shampoo on the in-between days). It air dries almost completely, then I blowdry the last bit and sometimes either straighten or curl. Usually it's back in a ponytail before long because it aggravates me when it's in my face!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I don't. I just brush it and that's that!

When my hair is very short, I don't get bed head. NOW......with this longer hair - my bed head is hilarious.......

Liesbeth

Veteran

I only get bed head if I wash my hair in the evening. So normally I wash and style in the morning and get a second day of okayish hair out of it without anything other than a quick comb and some smoothing light hold product to tame flyaways and frizzy ends. My hair looks slightly more voluminous when freshly washed, but since it's still fine on day two I enjoy the extra minutes of sleep and imagine that this routine is healthier in the long run.
I did notice with my perm that the difference between freshly washed and slept on hair was way bigger. Either my curls were too pronounced on day one and 'perfectly loosened' by day two, or day one would be good and day two a flattened out mess.

Echo

Veteran

lisa p. that would be a worry with a satin pillowcase, but 100% silk is breathable and doesn't feel like polyester to me.

I use a silk pillowcase, but more for my face/skin than for my hair. In order for me to feel presentable, I need to wash it every morning, but it LOOKS fine if I go two days between washing. I just get uncomfortable because hair retains scents, and I cook a lot, so if I saute onions or if there are other strong scents in the kitchen, my hair picks it up and I can smell it later. So during everyday life I wash daily, but during isolation, not as much.

LaPed

Veteran

For the silk-curious, definitely get a real Mulberry silk one, not a synthetic satin. Synthetic sounds like a hot, staticky mess. The idea with silk is that it won’t strip the natural oils out of your skin and hair the way plant fibers do. Synthetics can be very wicking and might have the opposite effect. I have two pillowcases, both purchased off Amazon a couple years ago. One is “Lilysilk” brand and the other is “Fisher’s Finest”. They have an envelope style closure, no zipper. I’ve never had a problem with the pillow sliding out. I think a zipper would drive me batty at night. And yes, it’s helped my skin’s moisture balance too. I would switch all my sheets to silk but DH doesn’t like the texture.

Ginger

Veteran

This is a fun discussion! There's lots of variety in answers.

Until recently slept with my hair loose but put back over the pillow. I really dislike laying on it. For about a month I've been experimenting with putting argan oil (!) on it (from mid-back down) every couple days. (I'm washing once a week) It's only a couple drops, and it's amazing how my hair seems to absorb it by morning. But since I was doing that, I decided to go ahead and braid it, so maybe the oil would spread and absorb even better. I sleep on my back (to start) so I just put the braid beside my shoulder. I haven't woken up on it yet. The braid is pretty wispy in the morning, and my head is a bit fuzzy; but that's normal! It smooths as well as it ever does with a quick brush.

cindysmith

Veteran

Since I have to be at work so early, I don't do anything in the morning except put my hair in a ponytail. I'm too concerned with 1) coffee and 2) eye makeup.
I'm actually very fortunate, in that my hair looks better the next morning AS LONG AS it was dry when I went to bed. If it was wet when I went to bed, I generally have a stinking cowlick the next morning

Minaminu

Veteran

I use a Kardoune, it's a long textile strip that wraps around the hair and helps reduce breakages. I am curious about the silk wraps, bit hesitant as they are quite pricey. I tried asilk scarf but it quickly fell off.

DonnaF

Veteran

Gravity or lack thereof makes my hair stand straight up and become extra poufy when it's missed a haircut or two or three. Think Little Richard; may he rest in peace. I rinse my hair after exercise rather than shampoo each time. My hair is so thick and coarse I never have to worry about breakage and the like so I tend to abuse it.

rachylou

Veteran

My hair is so long now and it’s so hot to sleep with down and gets so tangled... to quote someone on Twitter... I’m doin’ like Ma Ingalls before bedtime...

Echo

Veteran

rachy, I'm right there with you. My hair is normally to my shoulders, but just slightly too short to braid. I was overdue for a haircut before shelter-in-place, and now I almost can't reach far enough to braid it all the way down. My hair hasn't been this long in ages.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

I connect with Jaileen's morning hair image. I shower and co-wash my hair every morning. Once in a while I use a silver brightening shampoo, but mostly I use conditioner. If I go to bed with wet hair it tends to get crazy, and if I don't rewet my hair in the morning it tends to get super frizzy. Have been thinking about a silk pillowcase, so interested to see people like them.

Gretchen

Veteran

My hair routine got much easier when I stopped washing it daily. It’s not needed, and my fine hair needs weight to mange flyaways.

My normal routine is:
Day 1: wash, light product, dry w revlon roller brush, light hairspray
Day 2: smooth ends w straightener if needed
Day 2 evening: dry shampoo
Day 3: set w hot rollers
Day 4: dry shampoo, light brush to keep the curl
Day 5 : wash again, or baseball cap day!

I should note, at some point almost everyday, I end up w my hair up. I’ve found that if I default to a soft/messy bun, it doesn’t require as much touch up as a ponytail (even if I sleep in it, which happens with some frequency).

Gigi

Veteran

I have fine wavy hair that fluctuates between a chin-length bob and shoulder length. I used to clip my hair up at night, when my hair was to my shoulders, but that would just straighten my hair out. I find I have better results just sleeping with it in its natural state.

I do use a real silk pillowcase. That helps a lot with the frizzies.

I wash my hair every other day. On day 2, I normally have to wear my hair up when it is closer to shoulder length. If it's shorter, I can get away with wearing it down, by lightly moistening my hands and smoothing the frizz and adding a bit of a volumizing hairspray at the roots.

If I truly want my hair to look good, I really have to either wash it or at the very least completely wet it down, then add styling product and diffuse. "Day 2 hair" is not really a thing for me.

Your hair looks to be on the coarse side. I would be curious to see what would happen if you took a couple of drops of argan oil (which isn't very greasy) and smoothed it into your hair at night, at least during the drier seasons. When my hair was very porous and dry, it acted like Ginger's and would soak the oil up overnight, leaving my hair looking better in the morning.

Anonymous

I'd get silk pillowcases, but the cats would quickly ruin them :/
I wash my hair every other morning, and don't bother doing anything to it at night- so bedhead it is. Not as bad as DHs though, since his hair is many inches longer than mine!

lindalu

Like you, I am a curly girl. I wash twice a week. I sleep on a satin pillowcase... it does cut down on my frizz. I refresh with a spritz of water in the morning and scrunch it in. Sometimes I will scrunch in a bit of gel.

Staysfit

Veteran

@Echo, I have the envelope style mulberry silk pillow cases but they definitely slide off my pillows. Maybe it is due to the type of pillow? I am thinking about trying some Velcro closures. I would have to hand sew them since I don’t have any silk needles for my sewing machine.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

I’ve been meaning to get my son a silk/satin pillowcase for ages! It would be much better for his very curly hair.

Joy

Veteran

Great question. I like silk pillow cases. They can be hard to find so I order them from Soft Surroundings. I wash in a lingerie bag in the washer, cold water, normal or permanent press setting with like colors. Remove from bag, line dry and iron on second highest setting. Because my skin will not tolerate shampoo, I wash my hair every other day or every day with cream rinse and blow or let it air dry. Sometimes I use a hot curling brush or flat iron but Staying at Home has meant skipping this step. On the days I do not wash it, a quick brushing will usually be enough. Sometimes it gets the roller hot brush to be less straight and have more body. That’s it. Occasionally I will use hair spray to help hold a style if it is windy.
Silk pillow cases are rather fragile and more work than regular ones. Bed Bath and Beyond sold me some polyester satin pillow cases calling them silk. They are less fussy but cause static. I use them as pillow covers under a pillow case. They can go directly into the washer and dryer and do not need to be ironed, but can feel too warm.