Building a curly routine with Les Secrets de Loly

Les Secrets de Loly is a French brand, founded by Kelly Massol, built specifically for wavy, curly and coily hair. It has a following here for a straightforward reason: the range is designed to be layered. Products are made to sit on top of one another in a particular order rather than compete, which is exactly how curly hair holds moisture.

That is also what makes it confusing to start with. Walk up to the shelf and you are looking at three different shampoos, two leave-ins, four masks and several creams. This is how we would put a first routine together — and, more usefully, what you can leave out.

Start with two products, not seven

If you are new to the brand, buy a cleanser and a conditioner and nothing else. Live with them for three or four washes. You will learn more about what your hair actually needs from that than from a full set bought at once, and you will not have four unopened jars if it turns out the range is too rich for you.

PERFECT CLEAN is the everyday shampoo. SUNSHINE CLEAN is the gentler option if your scalp is easily irritated. If your hair is dry, or if you wash frequently, CARE FUSION is a co-wash — a cleansing conditioner that washes without foaming, so it removes far less oil. Co-washing suits coilier textures and dry lengths; it does not suit an oily scalp, and no amount of enthusiasm for the method changes that.

For the second step, CREAM CONDITIONER or PINK PARADISE. Apply generously through the lengths, detangle while it is in, and rinse. That is a complete routine. Everything below is refinement.

Add a treatment before you add a styler

The most common mistake we see is people buying a third styling product to fix a problem that is actually dryness or damage. If your curls are frizzy, dull or breaking, a weekly mask will do more than any gel.

• REPAIR TIME — a repairing, moisturising mask for hair that feels rough or is breaking
• PINK POWER MASK — a restructuring treatment for hair that has been coloured or heat-damaged
• HYALU FUSION MASK — a curl activator, aimed at definition and hydration rather than repair
• TROPICAL DÉTOX — a clarifying treatment, for when build-up has flattened everything

Use one, once a week, on clean damp hair, and leave it the full time on the label. Protein-containing treatments are the exception to 'more is better': used every wash they can leave hair stiff and brittle rather than strong. Weekly is plenty.

Layering: the part that actually matters

This is where the range earns its reputation. On soaking wet hair, straight out of the shower, you apply in order of weight — thinnest first, thickest last. Each layer seals the one under it.

• A leave-in first — KURL NECTAR or KURL POTION. This is the hydration layer.
• Then a milk or cream — the SMOOTHIE range, or MAGIC TWIST if your hair is very dry. This is the softness and nourishment layer.
• Then a gel — BOOST CURL, or KURL FUSION if you want a gel-cream hybrid with less hold. This is the layer that holds the shape while it dries.
• CLOUD FUSION, a mousse, replaces the gel on finer hair that a gel would weigh down.

You do not need all four. Most people settle on two: a leave-in and a gel, or a milk and a mousse. Coilier, drier hair tends to want three. The order matters more than the number — a cream applied over a gel will break the cast and undo the definition you just created.

Thinnest first, thickest last, all on hair that is still dripping. Almost every layering failure is one of those three.

How much, and how often

Be more generous than feels sensible with leave-in, and meaner than feels sensible with cream. Curly hair is usually under-hydrated and over-creamed. If your hair feels coated, greasy or limp the next day, cut the cream layer before you cut anything else.

COCKTAIL CURL REMEDY is a hydrating and fortifying treatment that sits between a mask and a leave-in; it is useful as a mid-week refresh rather than part of the wash day itself. The growth serum is a scalp product — it goes on the scalp, not the lengths, and like all such products it needs months rather than weeks before any judgement is fair.

If you want to try before committing

The brand does travel kits in three versions — one for wavy hair, one for curly, one for coily — with four products at 100ml. For a first attempt at a full routine, that is a far better purchase than four full-size bottles, and it tells you whether the range suits your hair before you have spent much.

And if you would rather not work it out alone, book a diagnostic at the salon. We will look at your actual hair — its porosity, its condition, how it behaves when wet — and tell you which two or three products are worth your money. Often it is fewer than people expect.