MONAT for Curly Hair: A Complete Routine

Wash day, step by step

1. 01Pre-poo with REJUVENIQE® Oil Intensive on dry hair for 20 minutes.
2. 02Cleanse with RENEW Shampoo, concentrating on the scalp only.
3. 03Condition generously with RENEW Conditioner and detangle in the shower with fingers or a wide-tooth comb.
4. 04Once a week, use REPLENISH Masque instead and leave it for ten minutes.
5. 05Rinse, then apply RESTORE Leave-In Conditioner to soaking wet hair.
6. 06Scrunch in REJUVENIQE® Oil to seal, then diffuse on low or air-dry undisturbed.

Between washes

• ,Refresh curls with water in a spray bottle plus a little leave-in.
• ,Never brush dry curls.
• ,Sleep with a satin bonnet or pineapple your hair on top of your head.
• ,Skip heavy root products, curls need lift too.

Common mistakes

• ,Applying product to towel-dried hair instead of soaking wet hair.
• ,Touching curls while they dry, which creates frizz.
• ,Washing too often and stripping the moisture you just added.
• ,Using so much product that curls dry stiff and dull.

Why curls behave the way they do

A curly fibre is not round in cross-section, it is elliptical, and it grows from a curved follicle. That shape has two consequences that dictate the entire routine. First, sebum cannot travel down a spiral the way it slides down a straight fibre, so curly hair is naturally drier at the ends no matter how oily the scalp is. Second, the cuticle scales sit slightly lifted around every bend of the curl, which means moisture escapes faster and the surface catches light unevenly, which is what we call frizz.

Porosity matters more than curl pattern for product choice. Low-porosity curls have tightly packed cuticles that resist water going in and coming out, so they prefer lighter products and warmth to help absorption. High-porosity curls, usually coloured or previously heat-damaged, drink product and lose it just as fast, so they need heavier sealing and more frequent treatments.

The practical takeaway is that curls need moisture applied to wet hair and then sealed immediately, in layers, in one continuous process before the hair dries. Nearly every curl problem traces back to breaking that sequence.

The wash day sequence, step by step

Detangle before you wash, with a wide-tooth comb and a spray of water or leave-in, working from the ends upwards in sections. Detangling dry, unprotected curls is a leading cause of breakage.

Cleanse the scalp with RENEW Shampoo, using fingertips in circles and letting the suds rinse through the lengths. Curly hair does not need scrubbing along the lengths and it does not benefit from it.

Condition generously with RENEW Conditioner, then finger-detangle or comb through while the conditioner is in. This is the moment when the hair is most slippery and least likely to snap.

Once a week, swap the conditioner for REPLENISH Masque and leave it on for twenty minutes with a shower cap. Warmth from your scalp is enough to improve absorption noticeably.

Rinse cooler than you washed. Cool water helps the cuticle lie flatter, and flatter cuticles mean less frizz and more shine on exactly the hair type that struggles with both.

Referenced hereRENEW ShampooRENEW ConditionerREPLENISH Masque

Layering on soaking wet hair, in the right order

Do not towel-dry first. Curl styling happens on hair that is dripping, because water is the ingredient that lets everything else distribute evenly and it is what forms the curl clump.

Layer one is RESTORE Leave-In Conditioner, applied in sections and raked through, then smoothed down the length. This is the moisture layer and it is doing the majority of the definition work.

Layer two is a hold or smoothing product depending on your pattern. Looser waves usually prefer the Styling Cream, while tighter curls and coils often want a firmer hold to keep the clump intact while it dries.

Layer three is the seal. One to four drops of REJUVENIQE Oil Intensive, warmed in the palms and scrunched in rather than raked. On high-porosity hair this step is not optional, it is what stops the moisture you just applied from evaporating within the hour.

Then scrunch upwards with a microfibre towel or cotton t-shirt, and stop touching. Every touch during drying breaks the cast and creates frizz.

Referenced hereRESTORE Leave-In ConditionerStyling Cream & Taming WandREJUVENIQE® Oil Intensive

Drying: diffuse, air-dry or plop

Air-drying gives the softest result and the least frizz, but it is slow, and curls that are still wet after two hours often dry limp because gravity has pulled the pattern out.

Diffusing is faster and adds volume if you do it correctly: low speed, medium heat, bowl cupped up to the roots, hair pressed into the diffuser rather than blown around. Move slowly and stop while the hair is still slightly damp, then let it finish in the air.

Plopping, which means wrapping the hair up into a t-shirt on top of the head for fifteen to twenty minutes, removes surface water without disturbing the clumps and encourages root lift. It suits looser curls that tend to drop.

Whichever you choose, the cast is your friend. Hair that feels crunchy when dry is hair that held its shape. Scrunch the cast out with dry hands and a drop of oil at the very end and you get definition without stiffness.

Referenced hereREJUVENIQE® Oil Intensive

Refreshing between washes and protecting curls overnight

Curls are washed less often than straight hair, which makes the refresh routine as important as wash day. A spray bottle with water and a small amount of leave-in, misted section by section and scrunched, revives most of the pattern. Add one drop of oil to the ends if they look dull.

Sleep protection is the difference between a two-day style and a four-day style. Pineapple the hair loosely on top of the head with a fabric scrunchie, or use a silk or satin bonnet or pillowcase. Cotton pulls moisture out of the hair and creates friction frizz overnight.

For scalp comfort on a longer wash cycle, a pre-wash massage with REJUVENIQE Oil Intensive once a week keeps the skin comfortable, and if the scalp gets oily or flaky between washes the BE BALANCED routine is the scalp-focused option to alternate in.

Referenced hereRESTORE Leave-In ConditionerBE BALANCED™ Routine

Troubleshooting the six most common curl complaints

Frizz with no definition: you are applying product to hair that is too dry. Go back to soaking wet application.

Limp, weighed-down curls: too much product, too heavy a formula, or conditioner left at the root. Halve the amount and keep the masque off the scalp.

Crunchy hair that stays crunchy: you skipped the scrunch-out at the end. Wait until fully dry, then scrunch with dry hands.

Dry ends with an oily scalp: this is the classic curl profile, not a contradiction. Cleanse the scalp properly and treat the ends separately with masque and oil.

Curls that drop by lunchtime: usually under-hydration or not enough hold. Add a leave-in layer and let the hair dry more fully before touching it.

Straight roots, curly ends: root lift is a drying technique problem. Clip the roots while drying or diffuse upside down.

Adjusting the routine for porosity

Low porosity: use warmth to help absorption, apply lighter layers, and avoid piling on heavy products that will simply sit on the surface. A masque with a shower cap for twenty minutes does far more than a heavier product applied cold.

High porosity, usually coloured or previously heat-damaged: expect to hydrate more often and seal more firmly. Leave-in on every wash, oil on every wash, and a period of bond care if the curls stretch and stay stretched when wet.

Mixed porosity down the same strand is extremely common on long curly hair, with healthier roots and porous ends. Treat the ends as high porosity and the roots as low, which in practice means keeping the heavy products below the ears.

Referenced hereREPLENISH MasqueMONAT BOND IQ™ ShampooRESTORE Leave-In Conditioner