The order matters more than the products

The order, once, before the detail

Almost every curly routine sold online is a list of products. The list is the least important part. Two people with the same bottles get completely different results depending on the order, how wet the hair is, and whether they leave it alone while it dries.

1. Cleanse. Shampoo on the scalp, not the lengths.
2. Condition, and detangle while it is in. Never dry, never after.
3. Deep treatment, weekly or fortnightly, in place of the conditioner.
4. Leave-in, on soaking wet hair.
5. Styler, on top, while it is still dripping.
6. Dry without touching it. Diffuse on low, or air dry and leave it alone.
7. Protect at night. Satin or silk, every night.

That is the whole thing. Everything below is why each step is there and what to use.

How often to wash

There is no universal answer, and the number people quote at you usually comes from someone with a different texture. Coilier hair is drier because sebum struggles to travel down a tightly coiled strand, so it needs washing less often than wavy hair does.

If your scalp is itching or flaking, you are washing too little or using the wrong thing on it. If your hair feels like straw the day after washing, you are washing too often or using something too stripping.

Cleanse: scalp, not lengths

Shampoo belongs on the scalp. The lengths get cleaned by the suds running off them, which is enough. Scrubbing shampoo through the ends is a reliable way to make them dry and rough.

Sulphate-free is worth having if your hair is coloured or very dry, but sulphates are not the villain they are sold as. What matters more is how often you use them and whether you follow with enough conditioner.

Get your matched routine

Condition and detangle, in that order

This is the step people get most wrong. Detangling belongs in the shower, with conditioner in, on soaking wet hair, working from the ends upward. Not dry. Not after towelling. Not from the roots down.

Dry detangling snaps curls. So does starting at the scalp, because you drag every tangle in the length into one knot at the bottom.

• Fingers first if your hair is fragile or you are between wash days.
• A seamless wide-tooth comb for anything more stubborn. Seamless means no moulding ridge between the teeth, and you can feel that ridge with a fingernail on a cheap comb. It is what catches and breaks strands.
• Work in sections. Four is plenty for most people, more if your hair is dense.
• If it is not sliding, add more conditioner rather than more force.

Deep treatment, and which kind

Once a week, or once a fortnight if your hair is fine or low porosity, swap the conditioner for a deep treatment and leave it on for twenty to thirty minutes. Heat helps: a cap, a warm towel, or just a shower cap and the residual warmth of the bathroom.

The choice that actually matters here is protein or moisture, and using the wrong one makes things worse rather than doing nothing. Protein on hair that does not need it feels straw-like and snaps. Moisture on hair that needs protein feels mushy and stretches without springing back.

Protein or moisture?

Leave-in and styler, on soaking wet hair

Dripping wet. Not towel dried, not damp. Water is the moisture; the product only holds it there. Applying to damp hair traps less water and is the second most common cause of frizz after touching it while it dries.

1. Leave-in first, raked through with your fingers or a brush.
2. Styler on top, immediately, while everything is still soaking.
3. Rake or scrunch, then stop. Every extra pass separates clumps that had formed.
4. Squeeze upward once or twice if you want more definition, then leave it.

Porosity decides how much product your hair can hold and how heavy it can take. Low porosity hair is coated by heavy creams and needs lighter layers; high porosity hair drinks everything and needs sealing.

Find your porosity

Drying: the step that undoes the rest

Touching curly hair while it dries is what causes frizz. Not humidity, not the wrong product, not genetics. Every touch separates a clump that had formed and there is no putting it back.

• A microfibre wrap or an old cotton T-shirt, never a terry towel. Terry roughs the cuticle open before you have styled anything.
• Squeeze, do not rub.
• Diffuse on low heat and low speed, or air dry. A bare dryer nozzle blasts clumps apart, which is the entire reason a diffuser exists.
• If you air dry, accept that it takes hours and do not touch it during them.
• A cast, that crunchy shell a gel leaves, is a good sign. Scrunch it out with oiled hands once the hair is bone dry and the definition stays.

Night, and the day after

Cotton grips hair and pulls moisture out of it. A satin or silk pillowcase, or a bonnet, is the cheapest meaningful upgrade in the whole routine, and it is the difference between restyling every morning and restyling twice a week.

For day two and three, wet your hands or use a fine mist bottle and scrunch. Adding product on top of dry hair usually makes it heavy rather than refreshed. Water is what reactivates a styler.

If your edges are thinning, that is a separate problem and this routine does not address it. Tension from styles and elastics is the usual cause and it is reversible early.

Thinning edges, explained

What to skip

Most curly routines sold online are longer than they need to be. You can drop the following without losing anything.

• A separate curl cream and gel, if one product already gives you the hold you want.
• The curly girl method as a rulebook. Silicones and sulphates are not poison, and treating them as forbidden makes the routine harder to keep up without making it better.
• Protein treatments on a schedule. Use them when the hair asks, not weekly by default.
• Anything you are using because someone with a different pattern recommended it.

What to buy

Products in the directory that fit what this guide describes. Every one has its own page with who it suits and what to consider instead.

Ordered by how directly each one addresses the problem, then by price. Some links earn a commission, which has no bearing on what appears here or in what order.

Questions people also ask