Curly Hair Routine: Six Steps From Wash Day to Day Two
A good curly hair routine comes down to six steps: cleanse the scalp gently, condition the hair along its whole length and detangle it while wet, put leave-in and styling product on wet hair, let the curls dry without touching them, gather them loosely at night on a smooth surface, and revive them the next day with water instead of a brush. Every step has the same aim: keep strands that coil together from being rubbed, pulled or pressed apart.
- Cleanse: a gentle cleanser on the scalp.
- Condition and detangle: conditioner through the whole length, knots worked out from the ends up.
- Style while wet: a leave-in, then a gel, cream or mousse.
- Dry without disturbing: squeeze, then air-dry or diffuse, hands off.
- Protect at night: gathered loosely, soft ties, a smooth surface.
- Refresh on day two: water, scrunched in, no brush.
The order is the same for all curly hair types, from waves to coils; learning how to care for curly hair is mostly finding out how much product yours wants.
Why curly hair needs its own routine
Knowing how to manage curly hair starts with its shape. A curly strand turns on its way from root to tip, and every turn is another place where it can touch a neighbouring strand, a towel or a pillow, so there is more friction and more chance of knots. A curl clump is a group of strands that coil together and move as one; the opposite is a curl broken up into single strands, which looks fuzzy and loses its outline. Most of the routine below is about forming clumps while the hair is wet and leaving them alone afterwards.
Sebum from the scalp travels down many turns less easily than it travels down a straight length, so curly and coily hair tends towards drier lengths. Frizz is a condition, not a hair type, and what sets it off is explained in our guide to frizzy hair. How it shows up in curls, and at which step it tends to start, is the subject of our guide to frizzy curly hair.
Step 1: Cleanse
Work a gentle cleanser into the scalp with your fingertips, where oil, sweat and product collect, and let the lather rinse down through the lengths. Many people with curls find that piling the hair on top of the head and scrubbing it tangles it before the routine has started.
There is no fixed number for how often to wash curly hair. Your scalp and how long your style holds decide: wash when the scalp needs it, or when a refresh no longer brings the curls back. Many curly routines wash less often than straight-hair ones.
Step 2: Condition and detangle
Put conditioner through the whole length, making sure the ends are coated. Detangle now, while the hair is wet and the conditioner is still in: it gives the strands slip, so they slide apart instead of catching. Loosen the biggest knots with your fingers, then detangle gently: work from the ends up to the roots with a wide-tooth comb, never the other way round. Starting at the roots pushes the small knots down into one large knot at the ends, which takes far more pulling to undo.
Go slowly: wet hair stretches further under a pull and copes with being pulled less well than dry hair. How repeated pulling adds up to snapped strands is the subject of our guide to hair breakage.
Step 3: Style while wet
Apply your products before the hair starts to dry: a leave-in conditioner first, then a styling product, such as a gel, a cream or a mousse; many people use gel for a firmer hold, cream for a softer finish and mousse for fine hair. Wet hair keeps the shape it dries in, so product put on now holds the clumps together while the water leaves.
- Raking means drawing your fingers through a section from root to tip, like a wide comb, to spread product evenly.
- Praying hands means smoothing a section flat between both palms, which coats the curls without pulling them apart.
- Scrunching means cupping the ends in your palms and pressing them up towards the scalp, so the strands spring back into clumps.
Step 4: Dry without disturbing
Squeeze, do not rub. Press the water out with a microfibre towel or an old cotton T-shirt; rubbing drags wet strands across each other and undoes the clumps you have just formed. Plopping is a drying method in which you lay styled curls onto a flat cotton T-shirt, fold it around them and tie it loosely on top of your head while the hair dries.
Then let the curls dry in the air or under a diffuser, a bowl-shaped dryer attachment that spreads the airflow, on a cool or low setting. On wash day, many people with curls keep their hands off until the hair is completely dry, because touching it while wet tends to separate strands before the clumps have set. Many gels dry to a firm coating, often called a cast; once the hair is fully dry, scrunch it gently between your palms to soften it.
Step 5: Protect at night
Before bed, gather your curls loosely on top of your head or tuck them under a bonnet, so the lengths are not pressed flat under you for hours, and keep any tie soft enough to hold rather than grip. Lie on a smooth pillowcase, which gives turning coils less to catch on than a textured one. If yours is silk, the terms on its label are explained in our guide to mulberry silk. The pineapple method, other overnight styles and what to do with damp curls at bedtime are covered in our guide to how to sleep with curly hair.
Step 6: Refresh on day two
On the second day, mist the flattened or fuzzy parts with water, or water with a little leave-in, until they are damp rather than wet. The water softens the dried product, so scrunch those parts back into shape with your hands instead of brushing or combing, then leave them to dry without touching them further. If the curls are still flat or tangled after that, washing and restyling is quicker than adding more product.
What to skip
- Brushing dry curls. A brush dragged through dry curls pulls each clump apart into separate strands, which looks fuzzy rather than defined.
- Rubbing with a towel. A towel worked back and forth over wet curls tangles them and breaks up the clumps in one go.
- Tight elastics. A tight band pulls at the hairline and presses a dent into the curls; a soft scrunchie or spiral tie holds without gripping.
- Going to bed with dripping hair. Our rule of thumb: overnight curl routines are for damp hair with product in it, not for hair that is still dripping. The wider question is covered in our guide to sleeping with wet hair.
What a curly hair routine cannot change
A routine looks after the curls you have; it does not change your curl pattern. Your curl pattern comes from the shape of the hair as it grows, and no step in this routine turns loose waves into tight coils. On a humid day curls will still frizz. A split or snapped strand cannot be restored: care products can only hold a split together or smooth it down for a while, and the lasting fix is to cut it off. If your hairline is thinning, or gaps appear where a tie usually sits, that is a question for a doctor.
Our silk bonnet and pillowcases
Our silk bonnet has two layers of 22 momme Grade 6A organic mulberry silk, silk inside and out, and closes with an adjustable buckle band over a soft, densely woven elastic edge, 1.5 cm across. Its silk is GOTS certified, and the bonnet carries the OEKO-TEX MADE IN GREEN label. Our silk pillowcases are 100% organic mulberry silk at 22 momme and Grade 6A, with silk on both faces and a hidden YKK zip. Their silk is GOTS certified as well, and the pillowcases carry the OEKO-TEX MADE IN GREEN label under the label ID M27MNB1V9, which can be checked on the OEKO-TEX website. The pillowcases carry the Dermatest 5-Star seal and the Dermatest Sensitive Skin seal, dermatologically tested for sensitive skin.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good curly hair routine?
A good curly hair routine keeps friction, tangling and pressure off the curls at every stage. Products and amounts vary from head to head; the order of the six steps stays the same.
What are the steps of a curly hair routine?
The steps of a curly hair routine are cleanse, condition and detangle, style while wet, dry without disturbing, protect at night, and refresh on day two.
How often should you wash curly hair?
There is no fixed number of times to wash curly hair; your scalp and how long your style holds decide. Many curly routines wash less often than straight-hair ones, with a water refresh on the days in between.
Should you brush curly hair?
Curly hair should not be brushed dry, because a brush separates the clumps into single strands that look fuzzy. Detangle it wet instead, with conditioner in, using your fingers or a wide-tooth comb and working from the ends up.
How do you take care of curly hair?
You take care of curly hair by handling it gently: wash the scalp rather than scrubbing the lengths, detangle only when the hair is wet and conditioned, and squeeze the water out rather than rubbing. A lot of curly hair care is about what you stop doing to it.
How do you keep curls defined overnight?
To keep curls defined overnight, gather them loosely on top of your head or under a bonnet, keep any tie soft, and lie on a smooth pillowcase so the coils have less to catch on as you turn.
RENESSY · Updated September 2026