How to Pineapple Hair To Save Your Curls While You Sleep

Nothing like a good night’s sleep to put a bad crimp in the curls you so lovingly perfected the day before.

Arrrrghhh!

So if you’re looking for sure fire ways to sleep without messing up your curls you’re in the right place.

Because if you don’t do the right thing, more often than not you’ll wake up with curls that are sadly stretched or flattened.

The trick is figuring out how best to protect them overnight.

Now a popular way to wake up with near flawless curls is by pineappling your hair.

How to pineapple your hair? Basically you flip your head upside down, gather all your curls up into a tight little ponytail high on your head and wrap that loosely at the base with a thick, silk scrunchie. Wrap once with thick hair maybe twice with finer strands. BUT…you don’t want this wrapped too tight to avoid creasing. This technique keeps the curls up and off the back of your head keeping them from getting crushed. It’s a killer way to keep your curls ultra defined and frizz free.

Of course that’s the Cliff Notes version of how to preserve curls overnight. So if your second day curls are strung out and just … meh and you want to know more keep reading.

Quick Section Navigation

• What is pineappling again?
• Why are satin or silk scrunchies best for this?
• Can you pineapple short hair?
• How to pineapple long hair
• What about sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase?
• Related Content

What is pineappling again?

Think of it as a loose high ponytail at the front of your head a.k.a. an easy way to keep your curls out of harm’s way. In other words no more bedhead woes!

Because one often overlooked way to get two, three, even four days out of your curls is to take special care of them while you sleep.

This is all the more important if you find you like your how your second day curls look more than your just shampooed ones.

This is also critical if you’re a “wild and reckless” sleeper and in the process of tossing and turning you create unspeakable amounts of frizz or otherwise wreck your curls at night.

You see since you’re gathering your hair to the verrrry top and front of your head pineappling is simple yet effective way to style your hair before bed so you wake up with your curls from the day before still intact.

It helps to maintain second or third day curls while avoiding the need to shampoo to keep your hair looking amazing. Even if it means sleeping with that hair that reminds you of Sideshow Bob.

Next morning just let your hair down, fluff, and viola you’re good to go.

Well, in theory anyhow! 🙂

Just remember to keep the base loose. The silk or satin scrunchie only needs to hold things in place nothing more.

Oh and just don’t think it’s limited to girls with curls.

If you do this with waves you’ll roll out of bed with plenty of casual wave action still happening.

While straight hair will hold its day-before style better too.

Now since a (moving) picture is worth a thousand words here’s a very quick, less than a minute video, that shows how simple this is:

Notice that since her hair is a little longer than short she doesn’t pull it all the way through the scrunchie the second time leaving a bit of a bun.

Note too the use of some super tiny no slip jaw clips from Scunci to hold things in place.

Then like I said, in the morning simply remove the scrunchie, fluff and shake out.

To revive beyond that you might try a light conditioner and water mix spritzed to bring the curls back to life.

Why are satin or silk scrunchies best for this?

Three reasons:

1. The idea with a slippery silk or satin scrunchie is your hair will glide through it.
2. Unlike cotton, they won’t create friction that can lead to breakage.
3. Plus they tend to leave no creases or dents in your hair and when removed they usually don’t snag yanking out any strands.

All that makes them ideal for pineappling when the clock strikes beddy-bye time.

Just be sure to get the fat ones.

There are also some that are called “loose tension” which have a loose grip on your hair. When fully stretched out they might measure 6-8 inches across. They would be best if you are trying to pineapple thick curly tresses.

Can you pineapple short hair?

Okay so many want to know how to pineapple short hair. Here’s three ways to go about it:

Approach #1: If you don’t have enough length for one pineapple ponytail then divide and conquer to crush it.

Yeah split your strands into sections.

Think something like Bantu knots.

Some find two works. Others go with four tiny buns.

Given you’re working with less hair you won’t want to use a scrunchie. So go with normal hair elastics just keep ‘em loose.

Approach #2: Or maybe all you need is a satin cap or satin lined beanie and a bit of refresh in the morning with a water spritz.

Approach #3: Saving the best for last …

Another way short stranded curlies can avoid stretched out curls is something called the Medusa Method.

You’ve heard of it, right?

No?

Well, it’s a way to clip your shorter curls up and off your scalp using clips instead of gathering them all into a scrunchie.

The idea is to you wake up to awesome curls the next morning – no refresh required.

If that’s news to you, check out this video for the 411.

In addition to walking you through it she shares her first-hand experience of what to do and not to do to give you the best chance of great second day curls.

Plus around the five minute mark or so you can see what her curls look like the next day and judge for yourself if this approach is worth a try.

Tip: The key is to have the spikes of your clips facing to the side rather than down towards your scalp. This way the side of the clip is resting on your scalp, not the spikes themselves.

If you pay close attention you’ll see that’s exactly what she does.

How to pineapple long hair

Some are under the mistaken impression that you can’t pineapple long hair.

So while it’s certainly true that this technique works best with hair that’s short to medium length that doesn’t mean it can’t be done with long hair.

Yes, it’s harder.

Yes, it may not stay on the top of your head.

But there are things you can try.

One would be not pulling all your hair through the scrunchie. Leaving a voluminous curly bun sitting on the top of your head.

Another approach would be to use claw clips like this to clip the ends to the front hair so nothing is crushed.

Admittedly how well these work depends on how passive of a sleeper you are.

What about sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase?

This is always a good idea whether you are into pineappling or not. Again because the slipperiness of silk or satin helps keep your hair from frizzing up.

Remember cotton = friction = frizz.

Plus unlike cotton the silk or satin won’t suck your hair dry while you sleep.

So even if you’re skeptical about how much difference this can make you should give a satin pillow case a try and find out.

Plus guess what? You can even get pillow cases that are silk on one side and cotton on the other which keeps your pillow from “walking” all over the place at night.

I don’t know about you but I’d call that the best of both worlds!

RELATED CONTENT

Some find pineappling their hair isn’t possible. Either the scrunchie comes out or there are some other problems.

To get some protection you might consider a silk or satin scarf?

How to wrap your hair in a scarf overnight. This is little more than stashing your curls inside a scarf for safe keeping. Fold the scarf on the diagonal to form a triangle. After pineappling your hair slip the longest side along the nape of your neck draping the scarf up and over to your face. Tie under your hair and viola!

And this doesn’t have to be an expensive solution. Some report finding these at various dollar stores while if you’re a thrift store shopped you can find satin scarves there from time to time.

You can use one while you pineapple your hair or just by itself.

It’s just another way to sleep with curls and not ruin them, know what I mean?

Anyway here’s how to wrap pineappled curly hair in a scarf overnight.

Just watch this an follow what she does. Not a lot to it but it can make a big difference in your hair.

Tip: Just be sure to get a scarf like this that’s large enough. That would be at least 3 feet by 3 feet believe it or not.

Now you may find they slide around a ton. Yet something that size gives you plenty of material to work with to snug it up, just not too snug. Just follow her lead in the video for doing that.

How do you plop curly hair? Basically when you plop you’re folding wet hair into an old tshirt or micro fiber towel overnight to encourage nicely defined curls and discourage frizz. Plopping overnight helps your natural curl pattern to develop as your hair dries by keeping your curls up, compact and intact.

Okay but at times there is confusion about the difference between plopping vs pineappling. Maybe this will help.

• Think of plopping as the technique that gives you curls to die for while you sleep.

Pineappling is a way to keep them safe for day two or beyond.

If you would like to learn more this article lays out how to plop your hair including 11 tips that make getting frizz free, better defined curls much easier.

Want your locks, happily curled or otherwise, to constantly turn heads? Our Pinterest curly hair board likely has the ideas to make that happen.