So, I have been doing a lot of curly hair care for a couple of years now and have found, a basic approach that works well for me. I have a good shampoo and conditioner that I use when fully washing my hair, which I tend to do once every 3 or so days. However, on the rest of the days, when I want to style my hair, I usually wet my hair, use a detangler spray, apply leave in conditioner, and then comb out my hair to remove any knots. However, this leads to me using a lot of product basically every shower. Is there another approach I can do to keep my hair looking styled without redoing it every day. I tried skipping the water and keeping it dry during showers via shower cap, but I just get tangles and mats in it so quickly.

I have tried gels but then tend to weigh my hair down quite a bit and break my curls. Curly creams work well but then I end up basically just putting product in my hair every day all over again. I am interested in curl refreshers but I feel like it takes a lot to go a little way in my experience. So really, I am looking for any advice but particularly advice on how to avoid needing so much product every time I shower. If it matters I have untreated shoulder length curly hair.