Moisture plays an integral part in hair health and appearance. Hydrated locks tend to be soft and shiny with less breakage.

To help your strands remain hydrated, try to avoid using hot styling tools and use heat protectants when styling them. Furthermore, drink plenty of water and treat yourself to a weekly moisturizing hair mask treatment.

Air-Dry Cream

No matter the texture of your locks, choosing an air-drying product that best suits them can help create a sleek, polished look without heat. OUAI provides this one-and-done scrunch-and-go cream which quickly smoothes frizz while emphasizing waves. Packed with moisture-boosting panthenol and kale protein extract for enhanced hydration protection against humidity and static, its formula promises results you can count on every time!

This lightweight spray is more of a leave-in conditioner than styling product, yet still delivers major hydration and helps prevent color fading. Formulated from babassu, jojoba, castor oil plus shea and murumuru butters leaves curls soft, shiny, and more defined than ever. Our tester loved how it helped tame frizz while creating soft natural-looking waves!

Curlsmith Curl Booster

Curl Booster is a lightweight styling product intended to work alongside other stylers for added hold and definition. Containing ingredients such as linseed, ivy leaf and plant stem cell complex, it enhances definition while adding bounce, banishing flatness from your coils for a healthy-looking halo of curls.

Combining this product with curl gel provides the ideal combination for long-term frizz control. Stronger hold stylers may create a “cast” around your curls which may feel crunchy while drying, however after your hair has completely dried simply gently scrunching will break this cast and reveal soft bouncy coils!

Use it in place of your usual leave-in conditioner for an easy low maintenance styler!

Crown Affair Beach Wave Mousse

Light-to-foam formula that creates texture and volume without stiffening strands, this mousse delivers. Packed with pink Bolivian salt and Tsubaki meadow oil – two key components in creating waves post beach swim – our tester with fine, wavy hair found that this enhanced her curl pattern, kept frizz at bay, and only minimally weighed down her locks.

For maximum versatility, select a formula that can be applied both damp and dry strands, meeting you wherever your styling journey may lead. NYC hairstylist Shab Caspara suggests opting for one with no or low alcohol levels as this helps “protect the scalp against over-drying and heat damage”. Also keep hold level in mind; for thick, full blowouts look for firmer mousse; otherwise softer hold might work best to define curls or waves.