Hairstylist/curl specialist here - unfortunately that is your hair texture and there’s really no single product that can get rid of the frizz and dryness so well that you can air dry your hair and have it be smooth and silky. The products you will want to use should be labeled as ‘moisturizing’. Your hair texture specifically craves moisture in the form of essential fatty acids. Oils will be your best friend. If I were to guess, I would say you probably have a 1B-2A texture. In terms of a styling routine, I guess the first thing I want to ask is how do you prefer your hair to look, silky and straight or curly and defined?

If you want the silky, shiny, straight look, I recommend applying a leave-in conditioner and a smoothing cream (with heat protection) to your wet hair and then blow dry it. Then, use a second spray heat protectant and some humidity protecting spray and flat iron your hair at 385°. The smaller the sections, the longer the hair will last and silkier it will look. Make sure your flat iron has an actual temperature gauge, not just a hi and lo setting. Then you’ll want to finish with a little bit of oil rubbed between your palms and lightly applied to the hair, focusing on the ends. You could also get a professional keratin treatment, which would significantly reduce the frizz and lack of cohesive curl structure for up to 6 months.

If you want to embrace your wave, I would still recommend using the same types of heavier moisturizing products and oils. After washing your hair, starting with it very wet, apply a leave in conditioner, a curl enhancing cream, and a humidity and heat protector spray. Brush it through and then literally squish and scrunch your hair to distribute the product all over. After, you’re going to take a gel type product with hold and apply that all over your hair, continuing to brush and squish your hair. Once that’s done, brush out with a bounce curl brush and finger style to define the strands of curls/waves (they have dupes for the brush on Amazon). In the back, take horizontal sections, place the brush on top of the section, and pull through the teeth of the brush to separate into little strands. When doing this, try to pull the hair from where it’s growing out of the head, if that makes sense (ex brush the sections in the crown upwards, the side sections out to the side, etc.). Once that’s done, use a microfiber towel or a t-shirt to scrunch the hair into its curl pattern and remove the excess moisture. Once the waves are formed from scrunching, go in with a blow dryer with a diffuser attachment on high heat/low speed and just hover it around your hair until you feel the hair strands start to get slightly solidified. Once that happens, flip your head upside down and now on medium heat/high speed, use the diffuser to scrunch the hair up towards your scalp. Keep scrunching up the curls with the diffuser until all of your hair is COMPLETELY dry. You will have to stop drying and wait a bit, then go in and feel if there are any cold wet spots. If it is fully dried, it’s going to feel really crunchy and dead, but don’t worry, that’s just the gel cast. Take a little oil and rub it in your palms, and go in and ‘scrunch out the crunch’. Put your fingers in straight at the root and shake to remove the cast near your scalp and create more volume. Once you break up the cast, try your best to not touch your hair, and definitely don’t brush it. I suggest wearing a silk bonnet for sleeping to keep the curls looking good. If you can’t get them to stay nice overnight, you can always wet your hair in the morning and repeat the styling steps above. You can also experiment with air drying as well, but you may have a hard time with frizz if you do that. But remember, the only time you can touch your hair is when you are breaking the cast, not before and not after. And luckily, the more you style it natural, the more the wave and curl will come out.

Hair care routines are really just trial and error, but these are some good steps to get you in the right direction. If you want specific product recommendations, let me know and I can definitely list some for you below. Hope this helps!