diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ee90f77..3c6a395 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -65,10 +65,13 @@ Additional actions:
 * After the deployment is complete, orca will validate that the environment is in a healthy state.
 * You can skip the validation using the `--skip-validation` flag.
 
-#### Get the "stable" environment and deploy the same configuration to a new environment, with override(s)
+#### Get the "stable" environment and deploy the same configuration to a new environment, with override(s) and environment refresh
+
+Useful for creating test environments for a single service or for multiple services.
+Handy for testing a single feature spanning across one or more services.
+This will deploy the "stable" configuration to a destination namespace, except for the specified override(s), which will be deployed with version `CHART_VERSION`. In addition, it will set an annotation stating that `CHART_NAME` is protected and can only be overridden by itself.
+If the reference environment has changed between environment deployments, the new environment will be updated with these changes.   
 
-Useful for creating test environments for a single service or for multiple services. Handy for testing a single feature spanning across one or more services.
-This will deploy the "stable" configuration to a destination namespace, except for the specified override(s), which will be deployed with version `CHART_VERSION`.
 The following commands will be a part of all CI\CD processes in all services:
 
 ```
@@ -76,17 +79,23 @@ orca get env --name $SRC_NS --kube-context $SRC_KUBE_CONTEXT > charts.yaml
 orca deploy env --name $DST_NS -c charts.yaml \
     --kube-context $DST_KUBE_CONTEXT \
     --repo myrepo=$REPO_URL \
-    --override $CHART_NAME=$CHART_VERSION
+    --override $CHART_NAME=$CHART_VERSION \
+    --protected-chart $CHART_NAME
 ```
 
-* If the environment already exists, only the specified override(s) will be deployed.
-* After deploying from (for example) 3 different repositories, the new environment will have the "stable" configuration, except for the 3 services which are currently under test, which will be deployed with their respective `CHART_VERSION`s.
+* When the first service's process starts, it creates the environment and deploys the configuration from the "stable" environment (exactly the same as the previous example).
+* When the Nth service's process starts, the environment already exists, and a previous chart that was deployed is `protected`. The current service will also be marked as `protected`, and will update the environment, without changing the previous protected service(s).
+* After deploying from (for example) 3 different repositories, the new environment will have the latest "stable" configuration, except for the 3 services which are currently under test, which will be deployed with their respective `CHART_VERSION`s (protected by `--protected-chart`)
+* You can add the `--protected-chart` flag even if this service is completely isolated (for consistency).
 * Orca also handles a potential race condition between 2 or more services by "locking" the environment during deployment (using a `busy` annotation on the namespace).
 
-#### Get the "stable" environment and deploy the same configuration to the same new environment from multiple CI\CD processes with environment refresh
+#### Get the "stable" environment and deploy the same configuration to a new environment, with override(s) and without environment refresh
+
+Useful for creating test environments for a single service or for multiple services.
+Handy for testing a single feature spanning across one or more services, when you want to prevent updates from the reference environment after the initial creation of the new environment.
+This will deploy the "stable" configuration to a destination namespace, except for the specified override(s), which will be deployed with version `CHART_VERSION`.
+If the reference environment has changed between environment deployments, the new environment will NOT be updated with these changes.
 
-Useful for creating test environments for a single service or for multiple services, when you have a rapidly changing reference environment.
-This will deploy the same configuration to a destination namespace, except for the specified override(s), which will be deployed with version CHART_VERSION. If the reference environment has changed between environment deployments, the new environment will be updated with these changes.
 The following commands will be a part of all CI\CD processes in all services:
 
 ```
@@ -95,14 +104,13 @@ orca deploy env --name $DST_NS -c charts.yaml \
     --kube-context $DST_KUBE_CONTEXT \
     --repo myrepo=$REPO_URL \
     --override $CHART_NAME=$CHART_VERSION \
-    --protected-chart $CHART_NAME \
-    --refresh
+    -x
 ```
 
-When the first service's process starts, it creates the environment and deploys the configuration from the "stable" environment (exactly the same as the previous example). In addition, it will set an annotation stating that `CHART_NAME` is protected and can only be overridden by itself.
-When the Nth service's process starts, the environment already exists, and a previous chart that was deployed is `protected`. The current service will also be marked as `protected`, and will update the environment, without changing the previous protected service(s).
+* When the first service's process starts, it creates the environment and deploys the configuration from the "stable" environment (exactly the same as the previous example).
+* When the Nth service's process starts, the environment already exists, so only the specified override(s) will be deployed.
+* Assuming each process deployes a different chart (or charts), there is no need to protect them using the `--protectec-chart`.
 
-* You can add the `--protected-chart` flag even if this service is completely isolated (for consistency).
 
 ### Create and update static environments
 
diff --git a/docs/commands/README.md b/docs/commands/README.md
index eeef9c9..cca873b 100644
--- a/docs/commands/README.md
+++ b/docs/commands/README.md
@@ -91,23 +91,23 @@ Aliases:
   env, environment
 
 Flags:
-      --annotations strings       additional environment (namespace) annotations (can specify multiple): annotation=value
-  -c, --charts-file string        path to file with list of Helm charts to install. Overrides $ORCA_CHARTS_FILE
-      --helm-tls-store string     path to TLS certs and keys. Overrides $HELM_TLS_STORE
-      --inject                    enable injection during helm upgrade. Overrides $ORCA_INJECT (requires helm inject plugin: https://github.com/maorfr/helm-inject)
-      --kube-context string       name of the kubeconfig context to use. Overrides $ORCA_KUBE_CONTEXT
-      --labels strings            environment (namespace) labels (can specify multiple): label=value
-  -n, --name string               name of environment (namespace) to deploy to. Overrides $ORCA_NAME
-      --override strings          chart to override with different version (can specify multiple): chart=version
-  -p, --parallel int              number of releases to act on in parallel. set this flag to 0 for full parallelism. Overrides $ORCA_PARALLEL (default 1)
-      --protected-chart strings   chart name to protect from being overridden (can specify multiple)
-      --refresh                   refresh the environment based on reference environment. Overrides $ORCA_REFRESH
-      --repo string               chart repository (name=url). Overrides $ORCA_REPO
-  -s, --set strings               set additional parameters
-      --timeout int               time in seconds to wait for any individual Kubernetes operation (like Jobs for hooks). Overrides $ORCA_TIMEOUT (default 300)
-      --tls                       enable TLS for request. Overrides $ORCA_TLS
-      --validate                  perform environment validation after deployment. Overrides $ORCA_VALIDATE
-  -f, --values strings            values file to use (packaged within the chart)
+      --annotations strings                  additional environment (namespace) annotations (can specify multiple): annotation=value
+  -c, --charts-file string                   path to file with list of Helm charts to install. Overrides $ORCA_CHARTS_FILE
+  -x, --deploy-only-override-if-env-exists   if environment exists - deploy only override(s) (avoid environment update). Overrides $ORCA_DEPLOY_ONLY_OVERRIDE_IF_ENV_EXISTS
+      --helm-tls-store string                path to TLS certs and keys. Overrides $HELM_TLS_STORE
+      --inject                               enable injection during helm upgrade. Overrides $ORCA_INJECT (requires helm inject plugin: https://github.com/maorfr/helm-inject)
+      --kube-context string                  name of the kubeconfig context to use. Overrides $ORCA_KUBE_CONTEXT
+      --labels strings                       environment (namespace) labels (can specify multiple): label=value
+  -n, --name string                          name of environment (namespace) to deploy to. Overrides $ORCA_NAME
+      --override strings                     chart to override with different version (can specify multiple): chart=version
+  -p, --parallel int                         number of releases to act on in parallel. set this flag to 0 for full parallelism. Overrides $ORCA_PARALLEL (default 1)
+      --protected-chart strings              chart name to protect from being overridden (can specify multiple)
+      --repo string                          chart repository (name=url). Overrides $ORCA_REPO
+  -s, --set strings                          set additional parameters
+      --timeout int                          time in seconds to wait for any individual Kubernetes operation (like Jobs for hooks). Overrides $ORCA_TIMEOUT (default 300)
+      --tls                                  enable TLS for request. Overrides $ORCA_TLS
+      --validate                             perform environment validation after deployment. Overrides $ORCA_VALIDATE
+  -f, --values strings                       values file to use (packaged within the chart)
 ```
 
 `helm-tls-store` - path to directory containing `<kube-context>.cert.pem` and `<kube-context>.key.pem` files
diff --git a/pkg/orca/env.go b/pkg/orca/env.go
index 683423c..e68750e 100644
--- a/pkg/orca/env.go
+++ b/pkg/orca/env.go
@@ -45,9 +45,9 @@ type envCmd struct {
 	annotations                   []string
 	labels                        []string
 	validate                      bool
+	deployOnlyOverrideIfEnvExists bool
 	protectedCharts               []string
 	refresh                       bool
-	deployOnlyOverrideIfEnvExists bool
 
 	out io.Writer
 }
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ func NewDeployEnvCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 				if e.chartsFile == "" {
 					return errors.New("either charts-file or override has to be defined")
 				}
-				if !e.refresh {
-					return errors.New("override has to be defined when using not using refresh")
+				if e.deployOnlyOverrideIfEnvExists {
+					return errors.New("override has to be defined when using using deploy-only-override-if-env-exists")
 				}
 			}
 			if e.chartsFile != "" && utils.CheckCircularDependencies(utils.InitReleasesFromChartsFile(e.chartsFile, e.name)) {
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ func NewDeployEnvCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 
 			log.Print("initializing releases to deploy")
 			var desiredReleases []utils.ReleaseSpec
-			if nsPreExists && !e.refresh {
+			if nsPreExists && e.deployOnlyOverrideIfEnvExists {
 				desiredReleases = utils.InitReleases(e.name, e.override)
 			} else {
 				if e.chartsFile != "" {
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ func NewDeployEnvCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 				log.Fatal(err)
 			}
 
-			if e.refresh {
+			if !e.deployOnlyOverrideIfEnvExists {
 				log.Print("getting currently deployed releases")
 				installedReleases, err := utils.GetInstalledReleases(utils.GetInstalledReleasesOptions{
 					KubeContext:   e.kubeContext,
@@ -303,11 +303,11 @@ func NewDeployEnvCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 	f.StringSliceVar(&e.annotations, "annotations", []string{}, "additional environment (namespace) annotations (can specify multiple): annotation=value")
 	f.StringSliceVar(&e.labels, "labels", []string{}, "environment (namespace) labels (can specify multiple): label=value")
 	f.BoolVar(&e.validate, "validate", utils.GetBoolEnvVar("ORCA_VALIDATE", false), "perform environment validation after deployment. Overrides $ORCA_VALIDATE")
+	f.BoolVarP(&e.deployOnlyOverrideIfEnvExists, "deploy-only-override-if-env-exists", "x", utils.GetBoolEnvVar("ORCA_DEPLOY_ONLY_OVERRIDE_IF_ENV_EXISTS", false), "if environment exists - deploy only override(s) (avoid environment update). Overrides $ORCA_DEPLOY_ONLY_OVERRIDE_IF_ENV_EXISTS")
 	f.StringSliceVar(&e.protectedCharts, "protected-chart", []string{}, "chart name to protect from being overridden (can specify multiple)")
-	f.BoolVar(&e.refresh, "refresh", utils.GetBoolEnvVar("ORCA_REFRESH", false), "refresh the environment based on reference environment. Overrides $ORCA_REFRESH")
 
-	f.BoolVarP(&e.deployOnlyOverrideIfEnvExists, "deploy-only-override-if-env-exists", "x", utils.GetBoolEnvVar("ORCA_DEPLOY_ONLY_OVERRIDE_IF_ENV_EXISTS", false), "if environment exists - deploy only override(s) (avoid environment update). Overrides $ORCA_DEPLOY_ONLY_OVERRIDE_IF_ENV_EXISTS")
-	f.MarkDeprecated("deploy-only-override-if-env-exists", "this is now the default behavior. use --refresh to deploy all")
+	f.BoolVar(&e.refresh, "refresh", utils.GetBoolEnvVar("ORCA_REFRESH", false), "refresh the environment based on reference environment. Overrides $ORCA_REFRESH")
+	f.MarkDeprecated("refresh", "this is now the default behavior. use -x to deploy only overrides")
 	return cmd
 }