Here's how the story goes: Freshly washed, painstakingly diffused and expertly styled, curls always look brilliantly bouncy on day one.
By day two? They're often limp, lifeless and absolutely nothing like their former glory.
It's a curly hair conundrum many of us face every morning, and the products we reach for to revive them are super important. Opt for another whip of mousse and those spirals, tousles and waves could end up crispy, crunchy and uncomfortably rock hard. Splash them with water and you're likely to find yourself wearing a halo of frizz...
Luckily though, haircare brands are listening. From OUAI to Tigi, there are heaps of unsung curl activators out there, all promising to save you a wash and breathe life into your curls in a single scrunch.
Click through for R29's pick of the best curly hair products.
Pull a 10p piece-size dollop of this silky cream through your hair and gently scrunch upwards. Star ingredient glycerine helps define curls without crispiness, while clever co-polymers give them gravity-defying bounce until your next wash. It's basically like scaffolding for your hair.
TIGI Bed Head On The Rebound Curl Recall Cream, £15.50, available at Look Fantastic
This salon-approved hair spritz does exactly what it says on the tin. Distributed throughout the mid-lengths to ends, it makes limp curls vivacious and, thanks to the added polymers, leaves hair feeling soft to the touch, not rock hard and rustly. For added volume, tip your head upside down while you spray.
KMS Curl Up Bounce Back Spray, £17, available at Look Fantastic
It might not look like much, but hairstylists all over the globe swear by this spritz – and for good reason. Curly hair is typically quite dry (cue frizzy bits and rough ends), but this harnesses vitamins B and E to hydrate from the inside out, giving curls movement. Simply spray on to either damp or dry hair, give it a ruffle and go.
Davines Love Curl Revitaliser, £23.50, available at Amazon
Best known as a post-shower treatment, this lighter-than-light hair milk works just as well on dry hair, so if your curls look shrivelled and lustreless the next day, rake a 20p-size puddle through and use your fingers to twist them back into shape. P.S. It smells like a beach holiday – divine.
Shea Moisture Coconut Curl Milk, £10.99, available at Boots
A megamix of shea butter and coconut, avocado and almond oils sculpts and nourishes thick waves and coarse curls, without weighing hair down at the ends. If you're using it on dry hair, spray evenly from root to tip until damp and use your fingers to shape.
Twisted Sista 30 Second Curl Spray, £5.89, available at Superdrug
Okay, we said we weren't going to go there, but this mousse – formulated by celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin, no less – is totally different from any other product we've tried, and the clue's in the name as to why. Run a little water through your hair, follow with a pump or two of mousse and watch your curls spring back into action sans any stiff bits, thanks to strand-softening keratin and ama oil. Infused with OUAI's fragrance #2, it makes hair smell salon-fresh every time.
OUAI Soft Mousse, £22, available at Cult Beauty
The clever ingredient in this curl reviver is wheat protein, which swells up when hair is damp and shrinks as it dries, giving second day curls their structure back. The addition of baobab, babassu and macadamia nut oils work together to minimise the appearance of frizz, split ends and broken hair.
Aveda Be Curly Style Prep, £22, available at Aveda
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