It’s not a secret that curly hair can be difficult to manage. Curly hair will never look the same fantastic way twice, but it will gladly and repetitively mold itself into an homage to the Bride of Frankenstein, on the Friday of your important interview and the Saturday of your wedding.
Terrific.
I’ve always struggled with my piles of thick, curly hair. I’ve tried shellacking it with gobs of gel, growing it way, way out hoping the weight would drag it down to tame it a bit (it never did). I tried relaxing (terrible), re-texturizing (terrible) and even nuking my head with expensive Japanese thermal reconditioning treatments (recommendation coming). None of these options met my two mandatory requirements for a long-term hairstyle.
Attractiveness
Products/treatments must make hair glossy, defined and malleable while remaining soft to the touch.
Reliability
Products/treatments must produce hair that is attractive every day, no matter the weather.
Sustainability
Products/treatments must make styles repeatable, be affordable and not make me sick or my make my hair fall out.
Recently I hacked off all my thermally straightened hair and returned to my curly roots. But this time, I vowed, I was going to “do” curly hair differently. I was going to work WITH my curl pattern and use products that improved its condition, rather than just trying to “tame” them into an impossible ideal. In order to style a thick, slightly coarse, curl pattern, products are a necessity. However, because these products will be handled and applied to the head daily, I also wanted to try to eliminate as many unnecessary additives and scents as possible.
After years of (more) embarrassing trial and error, I found a combination of three products that meet my requirements and produce reliably beautiful hair . These are the products (combined with a filtered shower head, if you have hard water) that I like the best for their ability to make my curls sustainably and reliably attractive. If you have fine curls I would omit the second product and use a dime sized amount of the third.
Neutrogena Triple Moisture Silk Touch Leave-in Cream ($7.50) to provide additional moisture. For my short but very curly hair, a quarter-sized amount is perfect.
Aveda brilliant Universal Styling Creme ($17 at the Crasstalk Amazon store!) to provide definition without the awful crunchy feeling. I use a silver dollar sized amount.
For humid days, Garnier Fructis Pure Clean ($3.50) styling gel provides additional, necessary hold without the “crunch.” I use a nickle-sized amount. 
The Garnier gel is a new product. I have only been using it for the last couple weeks, but I’m impressed with its ability to maintain hold and additional definition, without stiffness, flaking or an overpowering scent .
So, you can see how this regimen holds up to stress, here’s a recent photo taken on a rainy night, after a day of classes, cocktails and dancing.
- The face is pretty tired, but the hair held up!
If you are a curly haired guy and want shiny, soft curls but don’t want to clutter up your bathroom with too many products, you could get away with using an excellent in-shower conditioner (I recommend Aveda’s Dry Remedy) and just the Aveda brilliant styling cream.
Between 1-5 Glitter Unicorns I give this triumvirate of products
