Sometimes second day curls just don’t want to behave and curl properly. In today’s post I want to address exactly this problem and show you with what heatless trick I can still get my curls to look nice.
On good hair days I can get bouncy second day curls by using the pineapple method overnight and refreshing my curls

My curls after putting them into a pineapple overnight and refreshing with a water-conditioner-mix in the morning.
with a water-conditioner mix in the morning (read the whole post here), but on other days my curls don’t want to look like I’d like them to. You can’t only use today’s tip to revive second day curls, but also if you have some spots where your curls are too frizzy and don’t want to clump nicely.
You’ll need:
- a styler – it’d best be a gel like the DevaCurl AnGel (which is what I used)
- some bobby pins
Depending on how many hair strands / clumps you’d like to be curlier and more voluminous on second days, my method can take from about 5 to about 15 minutes. As always, I’ll show you some how-to pictures, but today I also added a short video (I’m super-excited about it!) in which I can better show you what I mean by twisting the hair strand around your index finger – I hope you like it!
How I revive my second day curls:

1. Take a small amount of your styler

2. Take a small hair strand you’d like to be more voluminous and cover it with your styler.

3. Coil the hair strand up around your index finger …

4. … until your finger reaches your scalp and the hair strand is fully wrapped around your finger.

5. Fix the hair strand with a bobby pin and repeat it with as many hair strands as you like.
The following video shows steps 2. -5.:
The longer you keep your hair strands fixed in the bobby pins, the curlier your hair strands will be afterwards. I usually leave them in for about 5 minutes before taking them out:

6. You can easily see the hair strands I wrapped around my finger. If you like how this looks, you’re already done!
In case the hair strands are too curly compared to the non-treated curls you can make the curls looser by gently pulling them (it’s the same movement with which I spread the styler). If your curls aren’t as curly as 3a, I suggest you to coil up the hair strands around two fingers.
Finish with the following two steps if you prefer a more natural look:

7. Split each of the “new” clumps once.

8. Shake your curls by moving your hand back and forth along the scalp.

My after photo
And you’re done!
This is my after photo, please note that it doesn’t look that much different because today pineappleing and refreshing them with the water-conditioner-mix already worked pretty well. On bad second hair days or when applying it to frizzy spots, I notice a huge difference after this heatless method!
March 17, 2015
Great tip, I’ll have to try that. My 2nd day curls are so hit or miss and it’s about 90% miss so I end up giving em a rinse and condition on my no-poo days in the morning shower. Kind of a hassle but otherwise it’s off to the pony tail they go on day 2.
March 17, 2015
Trying my method to revive second day curls can definitely save some time compared to rinsing your curls on second days. I therefore hope my tip also works for your curls!
June 3, 2015
I always have a hard time with 2nd day hair. My main problem is my hair underneath. By the next morning they are more of a beach wavy style or a little straight (My hair is extremely fine so it has a hard time holding the curl). Any suggestions? I also do the pineapple method.
June 3, 2015
Have you tried braiding your hair overnight? This might help with your hair underneath! If this doesn’t help, I suggest you to try the method I’ve described above – you could also wrap your underneath hair around your finger to make it curlier. Hope this helps!
August 25, 2016
I have just tried this for the first time and it’s great! I used curl cream instead of gel and I used paper clips as I didn’t have any Bobby pins. The result is amazing-thanks Sandra!