How I’m currently refreshing my hair for the summer (2019)

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When it comes to washing my hair, I only wash it once a week. Therefore, in between washing I need to refresh my hair so I can keep it healthy, shiny, defined and moisturised.

This is how I’m currently refreshing my hair in the summer in Korea. I have to keep in mind that Korea gets humid in summer, so based on my research I need to use products with protein, gels with a lasting hold and curl enhancers to fight the humidity. 

What is refreshing?

In between washes you can refresh your hair to maintain its moisture and protein levels. This helps to keep your hair healthy and your curls defined.

You can do a full wet hair refresh, which is what I do Tuesday – Thursday.

You can do a quick dry refresh which is what I do Monday morning before work.

You could potentially refresh on damp hair if that’s something you want to experiment with.

The main point is, you want to be adding your stylers to your hair throughout the week so your hair looks refreshed and healthy each day.

Here is Honest Liz showing you her minimal day 2 refresh routine:

Why should you refresh your hair?

Our hair is constantly being ‘attacked’ by various environmental factors like heat, pollution, UV rays and humidity and because it’s curly, it is more prone to being damaged by these factors.

So when you refresh your hair, you are restoring your hair back to health after it was damaged during the day. Essentially, you are building the hair back up again with the nutrients and moisture it craves.

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See the difference. The beneficial ingredients in my refresh products brought my hair back to life again. It’s like giving your hair a great meal. Before refresh: dry, damaged, undefined hair. After refresh: moisturised, repaired and defined hair.

What do I use to refresh and how do I do it?

Dry refresh

So, it’s Monday morning, it’s the day after wash day, all I really need to do is graze and scrunch a little curl cream into my hair, seal it all in with a few drops of hair oil, fluff my hair to add volume and I’m done and ready to go.

The curl cream I’m currently using is from DevaCurl. It is the SuperCream Coconut Curl Styler and it’s pretty amazing. I recently purchased this and so far it hasn’t disappointed me.

Next is my oil to seal. You may have seen me mention this oil in other hair posts. It is the Extra Virgin Olive Oil Premium Natural Hair Oil by Difeel. It’s a great multipurpose hair oil.

Lastly, to fluff my hair I will either, quickly and briefly flip my hair forward and massage my scalp with my fingers to add some volume at my roots. Or, use a hair massage tool and use it like an afro comb to pick my hair at the roots to add more volume.

Wet hair refresh

Now that the weather is getting hot and humid in Korea, I need to prime my hair each night with adequate products so it can withstand the beating it will get during the next day. This means protein and a good gel that holds in humidity.

Using a spray bottle with warm water, I wet my hair thoroughly until when I scrunch it, it makes a squishing sound and water drips out from between my fingers. Warm water is best to use if you have low porosity hair like me.

Next, I flip my hair forward and apply my regular leave in conditioner. I’m currently using Too Shea! Extra Moisturising Conditioner from JessiCurl.

Using a wide tooth comb, I brush out all the tangles and make sure the leave in is distributed evenly. I then rake my hands through each section of my hair to REALLY make sure the conditioner is in there.

Now onto curl cream. I mentioned the curl cream earlier. It is the SuperCream Coconut Curl Styler from DevaCurl. I use 3 pumps of this and rake it all throughout my hair so every strand is coated.

I initially started with 2 pumps because this product has protein in it and it could have potentially been too much for my low porosity hair. However, 2 pumps wasn’t enough, and I’ve discovered that 3 pumps is the perfect amount for my hair. My hair seems to need protein to withstand the humidity during the day.

After applying my leave in conditioner and my curl cream, I scrunch my hair with my hands. Make sure you can hear your hair squelch in between your fingers whilst doing this. This lets you know that you have an adequate amount of product in your hair.

Then I scrunch with a microfiber towel to remove any excess product and water. This also encourages the hair to curl.

It’s time for gel. I just bought Spiralicious Styling Gel from JessiCurl and it’s doing wonders for my hair. It doesn’t weigh my hair down like other products can do and it holds up really well in humidity.

With a dollop of this gel spread around my palms, I use the praying hands method and glide the gel all over my hair, being careful not to break apart any curl clumps that may have started to form. I then scrunch my hair towards my scalp to encourage my hair to curl.

Next I diffuse my hair on low heat and low speed, again, with my hair flipped forward. I do this for about 15-20 minutes, or however long it takes for the curls to really start to take shape and begin to set.

Then I stand upright, let my curls settle a little into the position they want to go into, then root clip the top layers of my hair for about 30 minutes to add volume to my roots.

Now it’s time to air dry my hair until it is fully dry and a cast has formed around my curls from the gel I put in it.

To break the cast to reveal soft and defined curls, I rub a few drops of my Difeel Extra Virgin Olive Oil Premium Natural Hair Oil into my hands and scrunch my hair until I can no longer feel a crunch, only soft curls. I would then quickly and briefly scalp massage to add some volume, and that would be it.

This is my current summer refresh routine. It might look totally different come autumn and winter time when my hair needs are different, but for now, this is what is currently working for me. I hope this was informative. Sound off in the comments if you liked this routine or if you use some of these products yourself. Have a great day!