Best Products for Men's Curly Hair by Length

The best products for curly hair on men come down to two things: a cream that puts moisture in, and a gel if you need the shape to hold all day. Almost everything else on the shelf is a version of one of those. Which one you need, and how much, depends on how long the curl on top is, and that is the part the product lists never tell you. Put it in wet, not dry, and leave it alone while it sets.

The best products for curly hair, by length

We have not named brands here on purpose. Shelves change, formulas change, and the same tub can suit one head of curls and flatten the next. The type and the amount matter more than the label, so this is sorted the way we would sort it in the chair: by how much curl you actually have on top.

Curl on top	Main product	Roughly how much	What to skip
Under 3cm (short top, faded sides)	A light curl cream	A pea-sized amount	Gel, oil, leave-in
3 to 7cm	Curl cream, gel over it if it drops by lunchtime	A fingertip of cream, the same again of gel	Clay, wax, pomade
7 to 12cm	Leave-in, then cream, then gel	A palmful in total, split between them	Anything matte
Over 12cm	Leave-in and cream, gel for definition, oil on the ends	More than you think, worked through in sections	Dry shampoo, hairspray

Two notes on that table. The amounts are a starting point, not a recipe: thick, tight curl drinks more product than loose waves of the same length. And the lengths are measured with the curl pulled straight, which is a good deal longer than it looks sitting on your head.

Cream first, gel only if you need it

Curl cream is moisture with a little weight. It helps curls clump together into proper ringlets instead of separating into frizz, and it gives a soft finish you can run your hand through. On most short curly tops it is the only product needed.

Gel is the hold. It dries into a thin shell around each clump so the shape survives the wind, a hood, a long day. The shell feels stiff once it is dry, which puts men off, but that is what the next step is for.

If you use both, the cream goes in first and the gel goes over it. The other way round, the cream breaks up the gel before it sets and you get neither the hold nor the softness. Too much cream under gel is also a common cause of white flakes in curly hair by mid-afternoon, so if that is happening, halve the cream before you blame the gel.

How to put it in

The order and the timing matter more than the product. When someone in the chair tells us nothing works on his curls, the first thing we ask is whether it went on dry.

1. Wash and condition, or just rinse and condition on a non-shampoo day. How often curly hair wants shampoo is its own question, and the answer for curls is less often than you would guess.
2. Skip the towel rub. Squeeze the water out with your hands, then press the hair with an old T-shirt or a microfibre towel. A rough towel is a frizz machine.
3. While the hair is still properly wet, rub the cream between your palms and smooth it over the top, then scrunch upwards from the ends towards the scalp.
4. If you are using gel, put it on now, the same way. Smooth, then scrunch.
5. Leave it. Air dry, or use a diffuser on low heat if you are in a hurry. Do not touch it, and do not comb it.
6. Once it is completely dry, scrunch again with dry hands. That breaks the stiff gel shell and leaves soft, held curls underneath. Curls that stay crunchy all day mean step 6 got skipped. Curls that go fuzzy mean it happened too early.

Day two is a refresh, not a restart. Mist the top with water from a spray bottle until it is damp, not soaked, scrunch in a small amount of cream, and let it set.

The tubs to stop buying

Clay, wax and matte paste all fight a curl. They are made to give grip and separation to straight hair, and on curls they break the clumps apart and leave the top dry and crunchy. We set the three side by side in another post, and for curls the honest verdict on all three is no.

Heavy pomade is the other one. It will hold a short curly top flat if that is the look you want, but it builds up on curls fast and takes more than one wash to get out.

Dry shampoo and hairspray are not disasters, just wasted money on curls. Water and a little cream do the refresh better.

When product is not the problem

Product can only hold the shape the cut gives it. If your curls frizz the day after a haircut no matter what you put in, the most likely cause is a top that has been thinned out too much. That breaks up the clumps before any cream can help. The curly fade post explains why we cut curls dry on top and what to tell a barber who reaches for the thinning scissors.

Your first fortnight

If you own nothing, buy one curl cream and nothing else. Use it on wet hair, the pea-sized amount, every day for two weeks. Then judge it:

• Curls fall flat or go fuzzy by lunchtime: add a gel over the cream.
• Curls look greasy or limp: use less cream, not a different one.
• Ends feel dry and rough, and your top is past about 7cm: add a leave-in underneath.

Make one change a week. Swap two things at once and you will not know which one helped.

If you would rather see the amount on your own head than guess from a table, the Wash & Cut is £18 and takes 40 minutes. Book it and ask whoever is cutting to put the product in at the end while you watch, rather than leaving your curls dry.