Shortcuts to ‘second day’ texture for people who hate freshly-washed hair

WORDS BY GIULIA BRUGLIERA

So that’s all of us, right?

You know that feeling when you’ve just washed your hair and it’s fluffy, flat and near impossible to style? Of course you do, it‘s a terrible feeling. It happens to me each time I go out, because I’ve been too lazy to wash my hair the night prior (I also have the same problem with fake tan, but that’s another story).

Yet ‘day one’ hair is something we all have to endure each time we wash, as we wait a full 24 hours before we reach day two. Ah, day two. The proverbial holy grail of hair texture. On day two, your hair is perfect. Your scalp’s natural oils have just started to reattach to the hair, giving you a little bit of texture, a little bit of hope and that sexy ‘lived in’ look your ‘day one’ hair could only dream of.

If I could get my hair to stay in a permanent state of ‘day two’, I would. Actually, I did. With a lot of free time on my hands these past few months, I’ve been trialling many different ways to quickly hit that ‘day two’ texture. My reasoning was once restrictions lifted, future me would be thankful for the time invested, as I could quickly turn a fluffy mop to something dramatically voluminous and defined in a matter of minutes (not a whole day).

Turns out, there are a lot of theories on the Internet for how to achieve ‘day two’ hair, not all of them sound. So behold, the fruits of my questionable labour. Below are the techniques that tried and failed to catapult me to that elusive day-two texture, and the one that succeeded.

Add oil to your hair

‘Day two’ texture is achieved by the gradual return of your hair’s natural oils, so it makes sense that adding oil would be an appropriate shortcut. Great in theory, terrible in practice. I have a repairing hair oil in my bathroom that I sometimes apply to my ends post-wash. One to two drops is usually enough for my whole head, so I know to use it sparingly.

Armed with the knowledge that applying one drop of oil, evenly, across my whole scalp, would likely be highly difficult, I came prepared. One of my ‘mistier’ face sprays had neared its end, so I emptied it out and filled it with a little hair oil. I then also added a little bit of water in a misguided attempt to dilute it because apparently, I’m an idiot. Suffice to say my plan did not go to plan.

If you can devise a way to evenly spread a single drop of oil across your scalp, evenly, with success, hit me up. Otherwise, I’m giving the addition of hair oils a flat zero for the results, and also because I had to wash my hair again immediately after.

Rating: 0/5

Sea salt spray to damp hair

People have loved sea salt spray after it became a ‘thing’ sometime back in the year 2007. But the tricky thing with sea salt spray is you’ve got to use it right, applying it to damp hair before blow-drying it out. The other thing about sea salt spray is it leaves your hair feeling dirty.

I love the still-clean feeling ‘day two’ hair offers when you’ve got a bit of texture but no greasiness or grit. So despite my best and varied attempts at incorporating sea salt spray into my routine, I can’t get past this final hurdle. My hair just feels gritty.

I’d rather wait a full 24 hours than feel I need to wash my hair almost immediately after having done just that. For this reason, I give it a relatively low rating. Sorry y’all.

Rating: 3.5/5

Blow drying ‘up’

My mum first taught me this technique when I was young and very curly. I would blow dry my hair upside down because it was easier to get through the masses of thick curls and reach that wet patch at the base of my scalp. Then, I would complain it was boofy.

“If you dry your hair upside down it’s going to create more volume,” my mum would patiently explain – albeit in simpler terms because from memory, I was about seven at the time.

Now I’m older, know my way around styling tools, and routinely ask my hairdresser to remove the “weight” from my hair, I like adding a bit of volume. I’ve tried powders and sprays and mousses, but they tend to land me at the same troubling point as the above-mentioned sea salt spray. My hair always ends up feeling prematurely dirty.

Blow drying up seems like a good solution. And it is until it’s not. It might be my deftness of hand (or lack thereof) but any volume achieved via my hairdryer seems to fall flat in a few short hours.

This, of course, can be overcome by hairspray, but do I need to remind you of my key gripe? All in all, it’s a solid approach, but I can’t seem to make it stick.

Rating: 3/5

Apply dry shampoo liberally to roots

Dry shampoo is the cure-all of all hair ailments. Need hold? Dry shampoo. Need texture? Dry shampoo. Need shampoo? Dry shampoo. I’m yet to encounter a hair problem the right dry shampoo couldn’t fix.

Nonetheless, I’m more of a talcum powder girl myself. It seems to trump dry shampoo for longevity and that soft, clean feeling, which – in case you hadn’t picked up by now – is very important to me. Dry shampoo looks great, sure, but emotionally it transports me straight to ‘day five’ hair. It’s the equivalent of ‘breaking the seal’ when you go out drinking, or open a tube of Pringles. Once you start, good luck trying to stop. Personally, I don’t think I can stand a full week of daily dry shampoo use. It gets points for efficacy, but we can do better kids.

Rating: 4/5

Hairspray

LOL. You can probably guess.

Rating: 0/5

Eleven Australia Dry Finish Texture Spray

And here we arrive at the pièce de résistance. As a member of the Fashion Journal team, I’m in a uniquely privileged position to call in products on a whim, whenever I feel like trying them. It’s a power I use frequently and often abuse. But I’m only human and in this instance, I was offered the chance to trial Eleven Australia’s Dry Finish Texture Spray. The timing couldn’t have been better, as I was mid-way through my pet project to enable my own inherent laziness. Here, I was offered yet another shortcut to ‘day two’ texture, but this one on a silver platter, and with expert backing.

“This is the perfect blend of a volumiser and a texturiser to give that lived-in natural look that almost every one of my clients asks for but thinks they can’t achieve on their own,” says Joey Scandizzo. And who am I to question Joey Scandizzo?

Of course, that’s not to say I haven’t trialled other similar products, promising lived-in texture with expert backing before. They’re often great, but none have yet crossed the final frontier that is entering my weekly hair care routine.

Yet here we have it. A product that I now regularly use. It takes seconds to apply, leaves my hair clean and soft, is virtually weightless, and yet it has impeccable hold. After having tried so many other products (they that must not be named), I am genuinely surprised to have found a product that works so well. And at only $24.95 a pop.

After asking Joey for further advice, he told me to combine the spray with the aforementioned blow dry ‘up’ technique, saying over email: “For ultimate texture and added root lift, tip your head upside down and blast hair dry. Spray Dry Finish Texture Spray to roots and mid-lengths and continue to layer working the product through with your fingers to create lived-in movement.”

I was also directed to a series of other styling tips, which you can view here. All in all, this one’s a winner

Rating: 5/5

So there you have it, kids. How to shortcut to ‘day two’ texture and keep your hair feeling clean. If you have any other tips, I love hearing from my fellow lazy people. Email me via the Fashion Journal Contact page or DM @fashionjournalmagazine on Instagram and let’s chat tips.