Australia
Curl & Wave Care
Curls and waves are not a different kind of hair, they are a different shape of fibre. Every bend is a point where the cuticle lifts, moisture escapes and the strand is easier to break. Here is how to read your own pattern, build the routine around it, and pick the right product for each job.
Hyaluronic acid, ceramides and niacinamide. Skincare actives, built for curls.
Most curl routines fail because they were written for somebody else's pattern. The type number is useful shorthand, but it is a starting point rather than a diagnosis. Find the closest match below, then adjust.
Type 2A - 2C
An S-shape that travels along the length rather than coiling. Waves clump the least of any textured pattern, so they need help grouping, and they are also the easiest pattern in the world to flatten with weight.
Start with these
READ THE WAVY HAIR ROUTINEType 3A - 3C
A defined spiral, from loose loops to tight corkscrews. Clumps form readily once the hair is wet enough. The two real battles are moisture loss along the lengths and keeping the shape intact through the day.
Start with these
SHOP KEEP MY CURLType 4A - 4C
Tight coils or zig-zags, with more bends per centimetre than any other pattern. That geometry makes it the driest and the most fragile of the three, and it shrinks dramatically as it dries.
Start with these
SHOP TREATMENTSThe number is shorthand, not a prescription. Strand thickness, density and porosity change what your hair needs more than the letter does. Fine 3B hair often behaves more like coarse 2C hair than like another head of 3B.
A quick read on porosity: if your hair takes a long time to wet through and hours to dry, treat it as low porosity and go lighter on everything. If it soaks instantly, dries fast and still feels rough, treat it as high porosity and lead with moisture and sealing. Still unsure which way to go? Take the hair quiz.
What each one actually does, side by side
| Product | Hydrates | Defines | Adds Hold | Humidity Shield | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KEEP MY CURL MOISTURE SHAMPOO 300ML |
$34.95 | View Product | ||||
KEEP MY CURL MOISTURE CONDITIONER 300ML |
$34.95 | View Product | ||||
KEEP MY CURL DEFINING CREAM 150ML |
$31.95 | View Product | ||||
FRIZZ CONTROL SHAPING CREAM 150ML |
$32.95 | View Product | ||||
I WANT BODY VOLUME FOAM 200ML |
$31.95 | View Product | ||||
GIVE ME HOLD FLEXIBLE HAIRSPRAY 300ML |
$32.95 | View Product |
Almost every rule in a curl routine traces back to physics rather than preference. Six mechanisms explain most of it, and one explains the rest.
Hydrogen bonds inside the fibre break when hair is wet and reform as it dries. That is why a wet curl can be reshaped with your hands and a dry one cannot, and it is why every decision that matters happens while the hair is still soaking.
Once the hair is dry, the shape is fixed until it is wet again. No product applied afterwards will group strands that dried apart. So application happens wet, drying happens untouched, and anything you do to dry hair is cosmetic.
Curly and wavy fibres have a more elliptical cross-section than straight hair, and they grow from a curved follicle. The flatter the cross-section and the more curved the follicle, the tighter the pattern.
Your pattern is structural. Products shape it, they do not change it.Sebum slides down a straight shaft easily. On a coiled one it stalls near the scalp, which is why so many people with curls have an oily root and dry ends on the same head of hair.
Cleanse the scalp, condition the ends. Never the reverse.The cuticle lies flat along a straight shaft. At each curve it has to open slightly, creating gaps where moisture escapes, humidity gets in, and the fibre is mechanically weaker.
Seal with conditioner and a leave-in rather than chasing frizz afterwards.Those same bends concentrate stress along the strand. Research on textured hair finds it more prone to breakage than straighter hair, and dermatologist guidance specifically advises against combing curly hair while it is dry.
Detangle wet, with conditioner in, working from the ends upward.Strands clump because surface water pulls them together. Product locks the clump in place once it exists. Apply to towel-dried hair and most of the definition is gone before you start.
Apply to dripping hair, not damp hair.Water moves into the fibre and swells it, then leaves and shrinks it again. Repeated often enough, that cycling fatigues an already lifted cuticle, which is part of why daily washing suits textured hair so badly.
Wash less often. Refresh with water between washes instead.This page summarises the mechanisms. The supporting articles go further on each: definition versus hold, what is actually in each product format, and a routine built for waves rather than curls.
Seven steps. Most of them take seconds, and the order matters more than any single product in it. Each step carries its own note for waves and for curls, because the technique is the same and the quantities are not.
Work shampoo into the scalp with your fingertips and let the suds rinse down through the ends on their own. Scrubbing the lengths roughs up a cuticle that is already lifted at every bend.
KEEP MY CURL MOISTURE SHAMPOO cleanses with hyaluronic acid, ceramides and niacinamide, so the wash step adds hydration instead of stripping it. For a sensitive scalp, GENTLE CLEAN BALANCING SHAMPOO is soap-free and pH balancing.
Waves Waves build up faster than curls. Wash more often, and skip heavy pre-shampoo oils.
Curls & coils Two to three washes a week is usually enough. Tighter patterns suit longer gaps.
Cleanse
KEEP MY CURL MOISTURE SHAMPOO 300ML
$34.95
View
Conditioner belongs where sebum never reaches. Apply from the mid-lengths to the ends, and use it as your detangling slip rather than rinsing it straight out.
KEEP MY CURL MOISTURE CONDITIONER is the matching step. For drier, climate-stressed hair, HYDRATE MY HAIR MOISTURE CONDITIONER adds cucumber extract, hydrolysed quinoa and avocado oil.
Waves Ends only, and less than you think. Conditioner at the root is the classic limp-wave mistake.
Curls & coils Be generous. Rake it through in sections until every strand feels slippery.
Condition
KEEP MY CURL MOISTURE CONDITIONER 300ML
$34.95
View
Never on dry hair. With conditioner still in, work from the ends upward in small sections using fingers or a wide-tooth comb. Starting at the roots drags every knot the full length of the strand.
For stubborn tangles, DETANGLE MY HAIR LEAVE-IN SPRAY adds slip with pear extract and no weight.
Waves Fingers are usually enough. A comb can pull a loose wave straight.
Curls & coils Section properly. Four sections minimum on dense hair, more on coils.
Detangle
DETANGLE MY HAIR LEAVE-IN SPRAY 200ML
$31.95
View
Alternate a moisture treatment with a protein one. Moisture alone leaves hair soft and shapeless. Protein alone leaves it stiff and brittle. Together they keep the fibre both flexible and strong.
MIRACLE HAIR MASK covers the moisture side with aloe vera and white mulberry leaf. 3 MINUTE REPAIR RINSE OUT TREATMENT covers the protein side in three minutes.
Waves Once a fortnight is usually plenty. Weekly masks will flatten a loose pattern.
Curls & coils Weekly, with a longer processing time on coils. Ten to fifteen minutes.
Treat
MIRACLE HAIR MASK 200ML
$34.95
View
This is the step most people get wrong. Not towel-dried, not damp, dripping. Surface water is what pulls strands into clumps; product locks the clump in place once it exists.
KEEP MY CURL DEFINING CREAM is the definition layer and defines without leaving a crunchy cast. For looser waves, FRIZZ CONTROL SHAPING CREAM is the lighter option.
Waves A ten-cent piece of foam or light cream. More than that and the wave drops out.
Curls & coils More than feels sensible. Under-application is the usual cause of frizz on dense hair.
Define
KEEP MY CURL DEFINING CREAM 150ML
$31.95
View
Cup sections in your palm and push up toward the scalp. Stroking downward pulls the pattern straight. Then leave it entirely alone, because every touch while it is damp splits a clump and creates frizz.
If you want hold over the top of the definition layer, add GIVE ME HOLD FLEXIBLE HAIRSPRAY once the shape is sitting the way you want it.
Waves Scrunch with a soft cotton t-shirt rather than a towel. Rubbing destroys the clumps.
Curls & coils Plop or wrap in microfibre for ten minutes, then leave it completely alone.
Hold
GIVE ME HOLD FLEXIBLE HAIRSPRAY 300ML
$32.95
View
Air drying is gentler. Diffusing on low heat and low speed shortens the wet window and lifts the root, which matters on dense hair where the weight of water drags the pattern down. High heat and high airflow blow the clumps apart.
If you are using heat, protect first with SMOOTH ME NOW THERMAL SPRAY or MIRACLE SPRAY HAIR TREATMENT, which carries heat protection and UVA and UVB filters. When the hair is completely dry, scrunch with open hands to break any cast. The curl stays, the stiffness goes. Break it early and the shape collapses.
Waves Air dry to about eighty per cent, then diffuse the roots only.
Curls & coils Low and slow. Hover rather than press, and resist rotating the diffuser.
Protect
MIRACLE SPRAY HAIR TREATMENT 125ML
$32.95
View
That is the full routine. If you would rather follow a set sequence than assemble it yourself, the ELEVEN routines lay the steps out in order, and Build Your Own lets you put the exact products together in one go.
The difference between styling formats is not marketing, it is the ratio of hold polymers to softening ingredients. Work out which of the two you are short on and the choice makes itself.
Swipe to compare
The definition layer
KEEP MY CURL DEFINING CREAM 150ML
$31.95
Structure without weight
I WANT BODY VOLUME FOAM 200ML
$31.95
The sealing layer
SMOOTH & SHINE ANTI-FRIZZ SERUM 60ML
$31.95
The hold layer
GIVE ME HOLD FLEXIBLE HAIRSPRAY 300ML
$32.95
Worth being straight about this: the ELEVEN range does not include a curl gel, so the hold layer here is a flexible hairspray applied over the defining cream. If you are weighing gel against the alternatives, the full breakdown, including why the crunchy cast is supposed to happen, is in the article.
The two words get used interchangeably, which is why so many curl routines only half work. Definition creates the shape. Hold keeps it. Different ingredients, different moment in the routine, and completely different failure modes.
Getting strands to group into a clear, visible shape.
Keeping that shape in place once it exists.
Fluffy and undefined all day. The strands never grouped in the first place. That is a definition problem: more water, more product, less handling.
Looks great, dropped by lunchtime. The shape formed and then collapsed. That is a hold problem: add a hold layer over the top of your definition layer.
Soak it. Dripping, not damp. Everything after this depends on it.
Definition layer first. Cream or leave-in, scrunched up into the hair rather than combed through.
Hold layer second. Over the top, applied the same way, so the film forms where it can protect the shape.
Dry without touching. Air dry, or diffuse on low heat and low speed.
Break the cast last. Only once the hair is genuinely bone dry. Scrunch with open hands until it softens.
The same routine behaves differently in a Brisbane February and a Melbourne July. That is not your technique failing. It is the air changing, and it is predictable enough to plan around.
Relative humidity is the number on the forecast, but dew point is the one that predicts your hair. It measures how much water the air actually holds, independent of temperature, which is why 70% humidity on a cold morning feels nothing like 70% on a hot afternoon.
Humectants such as glycerin are hygroscopic: they attract and bind water, and the direction that water travels depends entirely on the air around them. In humid air they pull moisture into the fibre and it swells. In very dry air they can draw it back out.
Lead with moisture and sealing. Go heavier on conditioner and defining cream, finish with SMOOTH & SHINE ANTI-FRIZZ SERUM, and ease off humectant-heavy leave-ins, which have nothing to draw on.
Run your standard routine. Cleanse, condition, define, hold. No seasonal adjustment needed.
Dial up hold, dial down humectants. Add GIVE ME HOLD FLEXIBLE HAIRSPRAY over your definition layer, and keep the cast intact until the hair is fully dry.
Maximum hold, minimum moisture-attracting product. Seal with FRIZZ CONTROL SHAPING CREAM, hold with hairspray, and keep a protective style in reserve for the worst days.
Dew point is published alongside humidity in most weather apps and on the Bureau of Meteorology observation pages. The bands above are practical guidance rather than a precise formula. Use them as a starting point and adjust to what your own hair actually does.
Curly hair attracts more confident bad advice than any other hair type. These six come up constantly, and all six have a straightforward answer.
It should never be brushed dry. Detangling itself is essential, it just belongs in the shower, with conditioner in, worked from the ends upward. The dermatologist guidance people are quoting is about dry combing, not about detangling at all.
The cast is the film doing precisely what it was formulated to do, holding the shape while the hydrogen bonds finish setting. Scrunch it out with open hands once the hair is bone dry and the curl stays while the stiffness goes.
It needs water. Oils seal moisture in, they do not add it, and applied to dry hair they can lock dryness in instead. Lead with water and a conditioning layer, then seal.
Neither is universally a problem. Sulphate-free options genuinely suit frequent washers and colour-treated hair, which is why ELEVEN runs a sulphate-free range, but the bigger variables are how often you wash and how well you rinse.
Waves fail on curly routines because those routines were built for denser, coarser hair. Less weight, lighter hold, conditioner on the ends only. The wavy hair routine sets it out step by step.
More water means more definition. Product locks a clump in place, it cannot create one. If your hair is fluffy and undefined, the fix is usually wetter hair and less handling, not another layer.
The ones that come up most often in salon, with the reasoning behind each answer.
Curls and coils generally do well on two to three washes a week. Waves usually need more, because there is less texture to disguise build-up and an oily root flattens a loose pattern quickly.
The deciding factor is your scalp, not your lengths. If the scalp feels heavy or itchy, wash. Between washes, re-wet and reshape rather than re-washing.
Waves form an S-shape along the length of the strand. Curls form a spiral. The practical difference is clumping and weight tolerance: waves clump far less on their own, so they need help grouping, but they also collapse under products that curls handle comfortably.
If a curly routine has left your hair flat and greasy rather than defined, you most likely have waves. The wavy hair routine is built for that.
Usually the weather. Dew point changes how much water moves between the air and the fibre, so the same products behave differently from one week to the next. Humid air fights your hold and helps your definition; dry air does the reverse.
The humidity playbook above sets out what to change in each band.
Both work and they fail differently. Air drying is gentler and the most natural looking, but the longer hair stays wet the more the weight of the water drags the pattern down, which is why dense hair often dries flat at the root.
A diffuser on low heat and low speed shortens that window and supports the root. High heat and high airflow blow clumps apart. The common compromise is to air dry to about eighty per cent and then diffuse the rest.
Water first, product second, and far less of both than you think. Hydrogen bonds reform as hair dries, so a refresh is a small controlled re-wetting rather than a fresh application.
Wet your hands rather than your whole head, cup the sections that have dropped, squeeze upward, and leave them to dry untouched. Add a little MIRACLE SPRAY HAIR TREATMENT only if the hair feels dry rather than just flat.
Yes. The range is formulated for all curl types with hyaluronic acid, ceramides and niacinamide, and the shampoo and conditioner are both tagged for wavy as well as curly and coily hair.
The adjustment for waves is quantity rather than product. Keep conditioner to the mid-lengths and ends, and use the defining cream sparingly, or swap it for a foam if your waves flatten easily.
If your hair is colour-treated, heat-styled or feels stretchy and limp when wet, yes. Moisture alone leaves the fibre soft and shapeless.
Alternate a moisture treatment such as MIRACLE HAIR MASK with a protein one such as 3 MINUTE REPAIR RINSE OUT TREATMENT. If hair starts feeling stiff or straw-like, you have tipped too far toward protein; go back to moisture.
It is a film of styling polymer that has dried around the strand, holding the curl in position while the hydrogen bonds set. It is intentional, not a sign you over-applied.
Once the hair is completely dry, scrunch with open hands until it softens. The shape stays and the stiffness goes. Breaking it while any dampness remains is what makes curls drop.
You can, but use far less than the instructions suggest, and apply it only from the mid-lengths down. Fine hair is where creams most often produce defined curls lying flat against the head.
A foam is usually the better starting point: it uses film-forming polymer rather than emollients, so you get structure without the weight. Cream versus gel versus mousse goes through the trade-off in detail.
Three things, in this order. Stop brushing it dry. Apply your products to soaking wet hair rather than damp. Stop touching it while it dries.
Those three alone change most people's results before they buy anything. When you are ready to build the shelf, start with a matched shampoo and conditioner, add a defining cream, and only then consider a hold product.
Still working out where to start? The hair quiz narrows it to a routine in about a minute, or find your nearest salon through the store locator and ask in person.
