The phrase "after first refusing" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to indicate that an action was taken following an initial refusal or rejection.
Example: "She agreed to participate in the project after first refusing due to her busy schedule."
Alternatives: "after initially declining" or "after initially saying no."
After first refusing, she gave in.
After first refusing to meet with Mugabe, Tsvangirai relented.
After first refusing him water, the snake then offered to trade it for the contents of the ass's load.
Mrs. Atkins demanded an apology, and after first refusing to do so, the mayor issued one through his press secretary.
After first refusing to work in the camps, she changed her mind, seeing the work assignments as the only means of survival.
She also joined the Communist Party, but only after first refusing to because she did not consider herself sufficiently worthy, according to a published biography.
Nearly two months after Kaepernick first refused to stand during a 49ers preseason game in protest of the mistreatment of people of color in the U.S., football players from youth school up to the NFL have joined him in silently protesting before games.
Attempts were made to encourage those individuals who initially refused to participate by calling them at least once after they first refused.
Foster told reporters in December she offered to resign three times after the auditors first refused to sign off on the company's accounts, but she agreed to stay in the job as long as the president trusted her.
First, the Bad Stuff Sometime in my childhood after first being refused I learned to get what I wanted by sneaking.
The journalists are protesting after the police at first refused to open an investigation into an incident in which a journalist and a photographer were injured while covering an opposition rally.
