Keeping curly hair looking good between washes

[purplecheesecat]

Hi all
I have naturally curly hair which I wash about every four days; after washing and using leave-in conditioner my hair dries naturally into tight ringlets. However after the first two days of my hair looking good, the curl pattern tends to drop and my hair looks, for want of a better word, ‘ratty’, i.e. scruffy and kind of tangled, with thin strands of wavy hair over the top of the curls.
I don’t brush my hair between washes as this would just pull out the curls and make my hair puffy. And I don’t want to wash my hair more often as it’s already quite dry, and also washing it is a faff!
Do any of you ladies with curly hair have any tips on how to keep the curl pattern looking well-groomed for more than a couple of days? I tie my hair back in a ponytail to sleep but I feel this may be doing more harm than good.

Have you got some layers in it? That'll help in bounce up.

Also do you put on leave on conditioner daily and scrunch it up ?

I dampen mine down each morning with some splashes of water and then add a little curl gel to my wet hands, smooth that over the curls (which seems to help clear any frizz) and then gently scrunch to revive the curl (but only a little as excessive scrunching makes the frizz recur).

This.

I also pin it up at night. Too short for a pony. Have you tried a sleeping cap?

watching with interest ...mine doesn't respond well to 'refreshing' and just looks shite

@Talapia No layers but am definitely considering some. I usually only use leave-in after washing, so every four days. Do you wet your hair before reapplying leave-in between washes?

What curl gel do you use?

Try the only curls mega hold gel, it’s magic stuff and I recommend it to everyone. I’ve recently embraced my curls after 20+ years of straightening and have never ever had so many compliments about my hair!

I thoroughly wet mine, without shampoo and conditioner, then run my fingers through to restyle it and leave it to dry. Sometimes use a little product if it was looking very dry beforehand. I can manage a week or more between washes doing this and my hair responds best when only washed infrequently.

Only curls mega hold gel doesnt work in my hair. I use John frieda leave in conditioner in-between washes after I have sprayed water on it. Also you could condition (without washing) your hair inbetween washes. Also use a satin pillow case.

I only use shampoo every few months. I wash with conditioner (usually coconut) daily in the morning seeing I'm in the shower each day, and then condition with something a bit heavier like Pantene repair and protect and put leave in Garnier hair food, twist up and few curls on the ends and leave it to dry. The hair dresser said it always looks good, the condition is great and I have no split ends.
I tried all sort or routines and conditioners till I found what works for me. You just have to keep trying different things.

Day 2 I clip the sides up in a sort of 1940s style with grips or hair clips as that’s the bit that tends to get frizzy. Leave the rest down as it is still curly. Day 3 ponytail.

I know it’s not helpful but I have to wash my hair every day if I want to wear it down as I just can’t get away with refreshing it. I think it’s because my hair is fine and curly. Just looks a complete mess if I try to refresh it. I just bung it up in a bun for a day or so if I don’t want to wash it everyday.

@purplecheesecat I use boucleme curl defining gel.

It’s not overly heavy so doesn’t weigh my hair down between washes but gives a good cast to scrunch out once it’s dried (which doesn’t take long when I’ve only hand-dampened my hair).