The struggle has been real for many women who are forced to wake up early and spend an hour or more fixing their hair before work.
To save you some time, we’d like to introduce you to 6 overnight hairstyles to sleep in that look fantastic the next day.
The Best Hairstyles for Sleeping: Our Favorites
These overnight styles will work for women with various hair lengths (e.g., short hair, long hair) and hair types, including naturally curly hair, wavy hair, and straight hair.
By the end of this article, you’ll have some great ideas you can use to shave some time off your morning routine and look flawless all day long!
Table of Contents
Two Strand Twists
We’re going to kick things off with one of the easiest styles of all – two-strand twists. If you go to bed with two-strand twists, you’ll wake up with a style that you can leave as-is or take down for a twist-out.
After washing, conditioning, and moisturizing your hair, create as many sections as you’d like, apply your favorite styling cream, and get to twisting.
What’s great about two-strand twists is that absolutely everyone can do them.
The twist-out results you’ll get will depend on the texture of your hair and how large you make the twists. Small twists will create tighter curls, while bigger twists result in chunkier curls and sometimes waves.
If your hair is super curly, the curls may be more cylindrical, while straighter hair or looser curls will end up wavier.
If you want your twist-out style to be as long as possible, twist your hair while it’s dry. If you twist it wet, your twists will shrink up. You can also stretch your hair beforehand with a blow dryer for some extra length.
Braids
If you know how to braid, this one is for you. The magic of braiding your hair at night is that it leaves you with stunning kinks and waves by morning (instead of bedhead).
If you’re not a braider, you may be tempted to skip over this one, but not so fast! If you want to learn how to braid, all you need to do is watch this video.
Braids are possibly the most versatile styling technique of them all, and this means that you’ve got a lot of options for night-to-day styling, including the following:
- Do two side French braids at night and take them down in the morning for some sultry waves. Separate your hair as much or as little as you’d like after taking the two braids down. You can also wear a single loose braid (or one french braid) while you sleep.
- Try sectioning your hair into 10 or more sections and braiding each one from roots to ends. In the morning, take them down and fluff with your hands or a pick.
Braids are not easily disturbed by tossing and turning, which is why they’re great for an overnight set. They also work great for ladies with short natural hair as well as for those with longer hair.
Bantu Knots
Bantu knots are another great option to consider. They require you to twirl sections of your hair into mini buns. After sleeping on your Bantu knots, you’ll wake up to the same mini buns that you did at night, provided that you secured each bun with an elastic.
If you plan on keeping your buns intact the following day, you won’t have to do anything to your hair, which is ideal.
But many people opt to unravel and separate the buns to reveal gorgeous, bouncy spiral curls. The choice is yours!
To get the best results with Bantu knots, try not to overapply styling products while you’re creating your mini buns.
That way, the resulting curls will have body and movement. You can do your Bantu knots on damp or dry hair.
*There’s one thing that you should be aware of when it comes to this style. Bantu knots can be tricky to sleep with, causing pulling at your scalp and a general feeling of unease. But you may be able to manage by sleeping on super fluffy pillows or resting your face on your arm.
High Bun
If you like to wear your hair stretched or straightened, a high bun can be your best friend in more ways than one. Not only does it elongate your face and elevate your look, but it also gives you effortless waves/curls in the morning.
The key to this style’s versatility is in the wrapping technique. At night, detangle your hair, lean forward, and gather all your hair into a high ponytail.
Then, wrap your hair firmly in a clockwise direction - wrap until your hair begins to buckle on top of itself and form a bun.
Then, secure the bun with a hair tie or some bobby pins. Your hair will be set by morning, and when you take your hair down, you’ll have beautiful waves you can enjoy all day.
Note: It’s important not to sleep with your hair in a high bun often because it puts tension on your edges.
Repetitive hair strain can cause traction alopecia around your edges, which can sometimes be irreversible. This risk is amplified if you put your hair in a tight ponytail.
Pineapple
The pineapple is a universal curly girl fave. It’s basically a big mess of curls that resembles a pineapple. To do a pineapple, pile all your curls on top of your head using a stretchy headband or elastic.
With your curls up and out of the way, you can sleep comfortably, knowing that they’ll remain intact. While most use the pineapple to protect their curls at night, many don’t consider the fact that they can wear their pineapple all day long.
You can take your pineapple down in the morning and wear your natural curls loose and free or keep the pineapple in and rock the style as is!
Make sure to pick an elastic with plenty of stretch, so your curls will fit in the elastic without any problems.
Side Buns
Like the high bun mentioned earlier, side buns can stand alone as a chic style and also be used to give you some gorgeous overnight curls.
You can experiment with different types of parts (middle, side, and deep side parts) based on your preference.
To do side buns/side bun curls, part your hair how you’d like, put it in two ponytails, and then twirl the leftover hair into buns and secure with elastics or bobby pins.
When you wake up, you'll be greeted with beautiful curls.
Overnight Styling Tips to Keep in Mind
While most of these hairstyles are straightforward, there are many ways that things could go awry. So, to help you get the best results possible, we’d like to give you some helpful tips:
- Don’t pull your hair too tight. Wearing your hair too tight is a surefire way to cause hair thinning and breakage. So, we recommend that you take extra care not to braid too tightly or wrap your elastics too many times. If your head hurts when you lay down, your hair is too tight.
- Don’t sleep on wet hair. It’s never good to sleep on wet hair because it can damage your hair follicles, kickstart skin irritation, encourage infection, and lead to hair breakage. It can also leave your scalp itchy and irritated. For these reasons, make sure that your hair is at least 50-70% dry before you lay down for the night.
- Switch up your overnight styles. Once you find your go-to overnight style, you may be tempted to wear your hair in the same style every night. But this is a big no-no, as it can cause damage to your hair shaft from over manipulation and repeated mechanical stress. Switch up your overnight styles every few days to stave off damage.
- Wrap your hair properly at night: As you incorporate more protective "night" hairstyles into your regimen, we also recommend wearing a silk scarf, satin bonnet, silk pillowcase, or alternative headwrap to cover (and "protect") your hair overnight. These nighttime hairstyles coupled with wrapping your hair at night are ideal for ladies who wish to sleep well without having to worry about their hair being dry or unmanageable the next day.
With the information in this article, you’ve got all you need to save valuable time in the morning through smart nighttime styling. We hope that these hairstyle ideas, tips, and tricks are helpful to you in your natural hair journey!
