The complete wavy hair routine

Wavy hair sits in an awkward middle. It is curly enough to frizz, tangle and dry out, but light enough that the rich creams and butters made for coils will flatten it into limp, greasy-looking strands by lunchtime. Most people with waves have been told to use products designed for a texture that is not theirs, decided their hair 'does not hold a curl', and gone back to blow-drying it straight. It almost always does hold — it just cannot carry the weight.

This is the routine we walk through with wavy clients at Curepipe and Beau Bassin. It takes a couple of weeks to see the real pattern, because hair trained flat by heat and heavy products needs a few washes to spring back.

Start by washing less aggressively, not less often

There is a persistent idea that curly and wavy hair should be washed rarely. In Mauritius, with the humidity, the sea and the dust, that advice ages badly — a scalp left unwashed for a week here is an itchy scalp. Wash as often as you need to. What matters is what you wash with.

Harsh sulphates strip the scalp and the lengths at the same rate, and waves have no coil structure to hold on to what little oil remains. A gentler shampoo lets you wash twice a week, or more, without that squeaky, tight feeling that is your hair telling you it has been stripped. Focus the shampoo on the scalp and let the run-off clean the lengths; the ends are the oldest part of your hair and need the least.

Once every few weeks, use a clarifying wash. Gels, creams and silicones build up, and on fine wavy hair that build-up shows as limpness long before it shows as residue. If your usual routine suddenly stops working, a clarifying wash is the first thing to try — before you buy anything new.

Condition generously, then rinse more than you think

Conditioner is where waves are made or lost. Apply it from the mid-lengths down, then detangle in the shower while it is in — fingers first, then a wide-tooth comb or a detangling brush, working from the ends upwards in sections. Detangling dry wavy hair breaks it and pulls the pattern out for the rest of the day.

Then rinse properly. Under-rinsing is the single most common cause of 'my hair goes greasy by the afternoon' in this texture. You want the lengths to feel slippery, not coated.

If your waves look good wet and disappear as they dry, the problem is almost never the conditioner. It is what happens in the next ten minutes.

Style on soaking wet hair, and use less than you would think

Waves clump while they are heavy with water and separate as they dry. Everything you apply should go on hair that is genuinely dripping, not towel-dried. A light leave-in first if your hair needs it, then a gel or a mousse.

• Mousse or a light foam for fine waves that flatten under anything heavier
• A soft gel for medium waves that need hold without stiffness
• A leave-in only if your hair is dry or coarse — many wavy heads do better skipping it entirely
• Cream and butter last, if at all, and only on the ends

Apply by scrunching upwards from the ends towards the scalp, in sections, with your head tipped forward. Do not rake product through with your fingers, which separates the clumps you are trying to keep. Then leave it alone. Touching drying hair is what creates frizz.

Dry without disturbing it

Squeeze the excess out with a microfibre towel or a cotton T-shirt — never rub with a terry towel, which roughs up the cuticle and frizzes the whole head. Then either let it air dry untouched, or use a diffuser on low heat and low speed, cupping sections upwards rather than blasting them.

A gel will dry to a firm cast. That cast is doing its job: it is holding the wave shape while the water leaves. Wait until your hair is completely dry, then scrunch the cast out gently with your palms. Skipping that wait is why some people conclude gel makes hair crunchy — it does, until you break it.

Living with humidity

Mauritian humidity is not the enemy of wavy hair so much as an amplifier of whatever your hair already is. Well-moisturised waves get fuller and springier in humidity. Dry, damaged waves get frizzy. If humidity ruins your hair, the honest fix is a deep conditioning treatment once a week for a month, not a stronger gel.

Sleep on a satin or silk pillowcase, or in a satin bonnet. Cotton drags moisture out of the lengths and grinds the cuticle flat while you turn over. It is the cheapest single improvement most people can make.

The mistakes we see most

• Using products made for coils, which are simply too heavy for waves
• Brushing dry hair, which pulls out the pattern until the next wash
• Applying styler to damp instead of soaking hair, so the clumps never form
• Giving up after four days — retraining takes a few weeks
• Never clarifying, then blaming the products for a build-up problem

If you are not sure where your hair sits, come and see us. A diagnostic in the salon takes twenty minutes, and it is far cheaper than a shelf of products bought for the wrong texture.