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I recently updated my 10 mousses compared on my wavy hair blog post to include another mousse. In the past, my go-to solution for day 2 hair has been to get wavy hair to last longer by just getting really hard hold on wash day, to avoid refreshing. With a new mousse that I’ve been using lately (Cake mousse) I’ve found refreshing to give me decent results.
For me, the key to refreshing with mousse without your hair feeling really producty, is using a mousse that is really light so that you can use it on wash day, and add more in to refresh the next day without your hair feeling heavy, “producty”, sticky, weighed down, etc. For me, Cake Mousse has been that mousse!
How To Refresh Wavy Hair With Mousse
- Dispense some mousse and spread it across both hands.
- Glaze the mousse over the exterior and underside of your hair, then scrunch.
- Diffuse hair until nearly dry.
- Once your hair is 100% dry, squeeze your hair to break the cast.
It’s really that simple! If you wish, you could also air dry instead of diffusing. Diffusing will likely result in more volume, while air drying will result in less frizz.
Can you refresh hair without water?
You can refresh hair without water. Adding more mousse to your hair can be done without adding additional water. If your hair gets frizzy when you add water, refreshing with just mousse is a better option.
Part of why I dislike refreshing with water is because it can make my hair frizz more if I only get it slightly wet. Yet if I get it really wet, it will take forever to dry.
Mousse has some water in it, of course, but it doesn’t seem to add additional frizz to my hair the way that spritzing my hair with water does. Plus, it doesn’t soak my hair as much as adding a lot of water would, so it dries faster.
How often should I refresh wavy hair?
You can refresh every single non-wash day if you wish, but you don’t have to. I like to see how long a style will last me without refreshing, and then I use that to estimate how often to refresh for future uses.
Cake Mousse looks pretty good when I wake up on day 2, but if I don’t refresh, it will fall apart a lot by the end of day 2. I find that it’s way more successful to refresh your hair before it falls apart too much, rather than trying to refresh it after it’s fallen a lot.
For this reason, if I use Cake Mousse on wash day, I refresh the morning of day 2 even though it still looks decent. This will help it to last another day.
I find that this mousse works well as a refresh for definition, but not as much for frizz. However, I do diffuse when I refresh. If frizz is a big concern for you, air drying instead of diffusing may produce less frizz.
How much mousse should you use when refreshing?
Just like how the amount of product you need on wash day will vary from person to person, how much you need to refresh will, too. I use about half a handful of mousse on the left, right and back of my hair. So about 1.5 handfuls total to refresh, vs 3 handfuls on wash day. So, I guess I refresh by using about half the amount I use on wash day.
My goal is to cover all of my hair, but lightly. Where on wash day, I want to really saturate all of my hair. Remember, your mousse from wash day is still in your hair, and the dampness from the added mousse will help re-activate that mousse that is in there. This is part of why you don’t need to use as much when refreshing.
How many times can you refresh before washing?
You can refresh daily for as many days as you want. If your hair starts t feel heavy, “producty”, weighed down, I’d take that as a sign that it’s time to wash again. Or, if your scalp itches or burns, that’s another sign that it’s’ ready to be washed. I personally have only refreshed twice between washes, but everyone will have a different tolerance level.
Before and After Refreshing Wavy Hair
I thought I’d show you my before refreshing and after refreshing for days 2 and 3. Of course, this is just two days, and each day may vary some. Still, you can see how my hair regained definition. My refresh on day 2 was definitely more successful than day 3, because even with refreshing on day 2, my day 3 hair had lost a more noticeable amount of definition.
This collage is my day 2 refresh. The photos on the left are before refreshing, the photos on the right are after refreshing. I lost volume but gained definition.
I find that refreshing causes me to lose volume. I believe this is in part due to gaining definition. Definition and volume seem to exist on somewhat of a spectrum. If you want maximum definition, you sacrifice volume a bit, and vise versa.
However, I also think part of why my hair loses volume is just from the weight of the water/liquid from the mousse weighing my hair down. Anytime my hair gets damp, it flattens. This is why refreshing wavy hair with just water is not my favorite, as a volume-lover. Even refreshing with mousse has this effect to some degree.
This was my day 3 refresh. Both photos on the left are before refreshing, the photos on the right are after. Again, lost volume but gained definition.
My day 3 refresh still helped, but left me with hair that was a bit sub-par. The worse my hair is before refreshing, the less likely the refresh is to really give good results. This is why I recommend refreshing before you think you really need to, to preserve definition rather than trying to regain it after it’s gone.
More blog posts that may interest you:
The best way to refresh wavy hair – 8 refresh methods compared.
If I typically shower at night, should I put mousse in my hair only to sleep on it and have to refresh it first thing in the morning? Or should I just do everything but the mousse at night and then refresh with mousse first thing in the morning?
I did the wavy routine last night with mousse and slept with my hair in a pineapple. But my waves were almost gone and not very noticeable by the time I woke up this morning.
Thanks! 🙂
I find that if I don’t apply a styler with hold (gel or mousse) when my hair is wet, then it’ll dry a lot straighter than it does with support from gel or mousse. And of course, gel/mousse basically help hold the shape that your hair is in, so if I were to apply it the next morning after my hair had dried fairly straight, it would just hold that mostly-straight shape from there on out. However, there is a styling technique called “wash now, style later” which is to wash and let your hair dry, then add stylers later. I think it probably works best on people who have a hair type that supports itself well. So if you use no products and just let your hair dry and it dries wavy/curly then you could probably do wash now/style later without a problem. But if your hair is pretty straight without stylers then it wouldn’t work as well.
Some ideas that may help your hair to hold up better overnight:
Make sure your hair is 100% dry before you go to bed. If it’s even a tiny bit damp when you go to sleep, it can disrupt your hold.
Make sure you got a good cast from your mousse, and leave it crunchy overnight rather than scrunching it out before bed. Sleeping in the cast will likely result in your cast scrunching itself out as you sleep, but it may still hold better vs if you scrunch out the crunch before bed.
Maybe consider how tight your pineapple is – could it be too tight and flattening/misshaping your waves?
Maybe consider a harder-hold mousse or gel if it just isn’t a strong enough hold to last overnight.
Thanks, Emily! I saw your post on the Medusa clipping technique and think I might try that.
I’ve been using Not Your Mother’s Curl Talk Mousse and use about two handfuls because my hair is typically weighed down. I’m thinking I might start experimenting with using more to see if that helps too.
I also ordered the Shea Moisture power protein treatment to start using on my hair once per month and seeing from there. I’ve never used protein on my hair and am curious to see how it reacts.
There is so much information out there, so I really appreciate your blog posts and how you’ve shared a lot of tips and tricks that have worked for you. 🙂
I’m currently working on getting better curl clumps and watched the video from Swavy Curly Courtney. My just below shoulder-length hair tends to be a bunch of small not very defined curl clumps, but part of that might just be the “transitioned phase”. I’m pretty sure I have low porosity hair, and it’s fine, and not very thick either.
It’s been about 10 years since it’s been color treated. But prior to starting the wavy girl method last week, I did wash it every day, brush it out straight while it was wet and then blow dried the heck out of it. I’m excited to see what time will do, and hoping I can figure out what my hair needs along the way! 🙂
Now that I think about it, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a cast that lasted overnight. So that makes me think I’ll need to use more mousse and see how that works. Hoping the protein will help too! 🙂
I found your blog yesterday, and dang is it full of great information! I’ll probably commenting on several other posts too. I’m trying to read as much as I can before my haircut Saturday. I’ve never heard of “wash now, style later”. It probably wouldn’t work for me, but it sounds like you know a ton of great techniques. Real glad I found your site! Thank you!!
So glad you’ve found it helpful so far! Hope your haircut goes great!