Dermatologists Agree: These Shampoos Can Give You Wavy Hair

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If you have wavy hair, you know it never looks the same two days in a row. One day, it’s perfectly defined with tons of volume and the next, it’s flat, greasy, and stringy. The problem might be the hair products you're using. Enter the best shampoos for wavy hair, which moisturize your wavy locks without weighing them down or stripping your hair of its natural beneficial oils.

Best shampoos for wavy hair

Finding the best hair product for wavy hair is a bit of a Goldilocks issue. Not straight but definitely not curly, wavy hair has completely different needs, making it tricky to find the best shampoo for wavy hair that brings out its relaxed wave pattern. Caring for wavy hair is a delicate balance between definition and hydration. Too much of either will iron out those beautiful loose, barely-there waves or encourage frizz.

What to consider

Ingredients

"Look for sulfate-free formulas that retain moisture and prevent your waves from becoming overly dry or frizzy," suggests dermatologist Dr. Lauren Penzi, MD. "Because wavy hair is usually more prone to dryness, look for moisturizing ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, panthenol, and shea butter."

Hair texture

Thin hair gets greasy faster than thick hair, so shampoos that provide a deeper clean will give your waves a new life. Thick hair needs a shampoo with more moisturizing properties to enrich its waves. Make sure to pick a shampoo that's right for your hair type and texture.

How we selected

No two waves are the same, which is why we asked multiple editors and writers with wavy hair to share the shampoos they swear by to keep their waves in place. We’ve tried and tested more than 50 formulas—including drugstore shampoos, fragrance-free shampoos, and keratin shampoos—and narrowed it down to the ones that combat frizz and bring out our natural texture. To ensure the health of your hair, we also consulted with two board-certified dermatologists to get their top picks.

Read on to discover the best shampoos for wavy hair that can enhance your natural texture and add some oomph to your mane.

CurlHeights Volume + Body Boost Cleanser

This shampoo for wavy hair cleanses without stripping your hair of its natural oils, leaving your curls feeling moisturized and incredibly soft. We liked the fruity fragrance, but it may be too strong for those who are sensitive to fragrances. The gel-like consistency doesn’t lather up like traditional shampoos, which is actually a good thing if you have wavy or curly hair. The primary cleansing agents in shampoos can dry out your strands, causing frizz. This shampoo helps maintain moisture without weighing the hair down, and gave our roots a much-need lift at the root, increasing volume and bounce.

Read more: Best Volumizing Hair Products

Love Curl Shampoo

Sometimes curl shampoos can weigh down wavy hair, but you don’t have to worry about that with this shampoo. It’s lightweight and gives your hair a thorough clean while depositing just enough moisture to define your waves without leaving them looking stringy. We found that we can go upwards of four days in between washes without sacrificing your style. That’s right; no ponytails or buns, just soft, smooth waves. This shampoo is highly concentrated, which means a little goes a long way. Unlike other natural sulfate-free shampoos, this shampoo lathers like crazy but rinses clean without leaving any residue.

Ghost Shampoo

Wavy hair goes flat fast, and it can be tricky to find balance in your washing routine. It’s a Catch-22; if you wash it too much, you run the risk of drying out your waves, leading to frizzy waves. Wash it too little, and you’ve got greasy roots. This shampoo takes the guesswork out of finding the perfect wash routine. It weightlessly cleans and hydrates your scalp and hair, giving you soft, touchable waves from the very first use. It brings your waves back from the dead if they’ve gone limp and lifeless due to oil buildup on the scalp. We love this shampoo because it brings out the best of our natural hair texture, blocking frizz and leaving it looking full and bouncy for days.

Lightweight + Coconut Fine Curls Shampoo

Moisture overload is a very serious threat to wavy hair. While it’s important to hydrate your strands, too much moisture can make your waves go limp. If this sounds familiar, we recommend trying this affordable option from OGX. Formulated for fine curls and waves, this non-oily shampoo uses coconut water and flaxseed to gently cleanse and tame frizz without completely flattening your locks. The thin consistency lathers up nicely and provides a deep clean. Perfect for those who like to air dry their wavy hair, this lightweight shampoo rinses out clean, allowing your natural waves to form and flourish.

Weightless Hydration Shampoo

Fine hair falls if you even look at in the wrong way. This sulfate-free shampoo cleanses and moisturizes without doing too much, leaving your hair feeling clean and refreshed. Plus, it gives your hair a boost of volume from root to tip for added bounce and body. It left our hair consistently soft for days without getting oily at the roots. Gentle on fine hair, it’s our preferred shampoo in the summer to control oil at the roots without drying out the ends. Long locks will love how this shampoo hydrates all the way down the hair strands without weighing it down, thanks to a blend of natural yucca extract, witch hazel and aloe.

Farewell Frizz Smoothing Shampoo

When you have wavy or curly hair, there’s a very fine line between cascading waves and unruly, fluffy frizz. If frizz is your hair’s number one enemy, this shampoo should be in your arsenal of hair care products. It uses a powerful blend of natural oils (including rosehip oil, argan oil, coconut oil, and vitamin E) to coat your frizzy strands in a blanket of hydration. The formula also acts as a shield against humidity, coating each strand in a protective veil of moisture.

If you live in a hot and humid climate like Texas or Florida, we can’t recommend this shampoo enough. We noticed a visible difference in the softness and sleekness of our hair after using this shampoo for a few weeks. The most shocking part was that it actually stayed that way all day, despite the high humidity level.

Dede Shampoo

This shampoo suds up nicely and smells incredible. The main ingredient is red celery extract, which nourishes your hair with vitamins and minerals for optimal hair health. Sensitive scalps will love washing with this gentle cleanser, and they'll be able to do so daily without causing irritation. This shampoo makes your hair look shiny and voluminous, and your waves look beautiful with zero frizz.

"It’s light, gentle, and doesn’t weigh my hair down or make it super greasy like other products I’ve tried," says Tianna Soto, I Associate Health and Wellness Editor. It also smells crisp and fresh and brings out my natural waves in such a beautiful way. I bring the travel-size version with me everywhere!

Cleansing Shampoo

Need a deep clean? This shampoo removes product buildup and residue while maintaining your scalp's natural moisture. It has all the deep cleaning benefits of a clarifying shampoo without leaving your hair feeling dehydrated or stripped. Featuring antioxidant-rich matcha green tea, aloe vera and panthenol, this shampoo soothes as it cleans, leaving your hair feeling soft but balanced. Low-porosity hair types can benefit from the occasional deep cleaning to keep the hair cuticles open to receive moisture. Our scalp felt squeaky clean without being stripped after using this shampoo.

Be Curly Co-Wash Shampoo

Washing thick, wavy hair can be an arduous process, but this shampoo makes it easy to bring those waves back to their full glory. This shampoo saturates your hair from root to tip with natural moisturizing ingredients, including certified organic babassu oil, to cleanse and moisturize your waves. One of the best things about the shampoo—besides its incredible smoothing and frizz-taming benefits—is that it helps maintain our waves for up to three days. We constantly get compliments on our hair after using this shampoo, even if it's been a few days since we last washed our hair.

Hydro Rush Intense Moisture Shampoo

For maximum moisture and frizz-reducing benefits, we love this silicone-free shampoo from Amika. Infused with hyaluronic acid and squalane, this shampoo drenches dry hair with lightweight moisture that's never heavy or weighed down.

Fine Shampoo

Flat hair is a common complaint among people with wavy hair, but it's easy to fix with the right shampoo. This lightweight shampoo from Ouai has keratin, biotin, and chia seed oil to nourish and strengthen hair at the root. It left our fine hair feeling clean and full of body. If you use a lot of products in your hair to bring out your natural waves and control frizz, this shampoo works well to thoroughly cleanse the scalp, removing all the grease and buildup.

Black Vanilla Shampoo

The right balance of moisture makes all the difference when you have wavy hair. Formulated for dry, dull or brittle hair, this shampoo delivers moisture to the mid-lengths and ends where it's needed most. The main ingredient, aloe leaf juice, is packed with nutrients that are beneficial for hair hydration, making your strands softer, stronger, and more manageable over time. Rose extract gives your hair a natural luster and shine.

Scalp Soothing Fresh Greens Blend Shampoo

Sensitive scalps will love that this shampoo names colloidal oat extract as the first ingredient. It helps to soothe inflamed skin as it cleanses and conditions hair. Infused with fresh greens, this naturally nourishing formula adds body to limp waves while rosemary and peppermint provide a deep, restorative clean that also encourages hair growth. We like the tingle that these natural ingredients leave on the scalp, but it's not for everyone.

Essential Moisture Cleanser

Dry, frizzy waves are a sign that your hair needs a boost of moisture, and this shampoo does exactly that. One of the main ingredients (that you don't typically see in other formulas) is the resurrection flower, a desert plant that is known for surviving up to three years without water. It lends its moisture-retention properties to your roots, allowing your natural waves to flow freely without frizz. Gentle enough to use every day or every other day, we can really feel a difference in the softness of our waves when we use this shampoo.

Shampoo

Dr. Penzi loves this vegan shampoo for people with wavy locks because it's formulated without sulfates, silicones, phthalates, parabens, dyes, or gluten. "It helps detangle, soften, and enhance shine while reducing frizz and breakage," she says. Developed by dermatologists specifically for sensitive skin, this soothing shampoo reduces tames frizz without clogging your pores with harmful, heavy ingredients.

Olive Fruit Oil Nourishing Shampoo

Dermatologist Dr. Ariel Ostad, MD, believes that the best shampoo for wavy hair is Kiehl’s Nourishing Olive Fruit Oil Shampoo. "It contains nourishing ingredients like olive fruit oil and avocado oil, which is why it’s great for dry or frizzy wavy hair," he says. Dry hair will soak up all the beneficial oils in this shampoo like a sponge, which will help improve your hair's manageability, locking in moisture for a soft, shiny finish.

Smooth Shampoo

Dr. Ostad likes that this shampoo lathers well and gives the hair a soft, smooth finish. "Formulated with proprietary keratin proteins, this shampoo acts as a powerful in-shower daily smoothing treatment for hair," he says. "It re-paves rough cuticles and reduces friction between each strand, tackling frizz at the source for haircare that goes lightyears beyond basic cleansing."

Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Shampoo

Dry hair detangles easily, and this shampoo uses a blend of six hydrating oils (coconut oil, argan oil, grape seed oil, macadamia oil, sweet almond oil, and safflower seed oil) to detangle and provide conditioning benefits. It doesn't leave a film or make your hair feel greasy, and it makes your strands feel silky smooth from the very first wash.

Ocean Mist Volume Shampoo

Waves falling flat? We love this volumizing shampoo from Sachajuan because it uses natural vegetable proteins to give your limp strands the structure and volume they need. Perfect for fine hair types looking for added volume and texture, this lightweight shampoo adds fullness and body to your hair without adding weight, for hair that looks healthy, shiny, and strong.

7Seconds Shampoo

Regularly using styling tools can fry wavy hair, depleting moisture and causing frizz. For dry, damaged hair, we recommend this shampoo because it contains pro-vitamin B12 and vegetable proteins to help increase shine and strengthen damaged strands. Coconut gently cleanses hair while maintaining moisture, imparting a beautiful shine on the surface of your waves. We like that this shampoo provides thermal and UV protection, which is important if you use hot tools on your hair as part of your daily styling.

Bel Air Smoothing Shampoo

Thick hair will love the smoothing properties smoothing properties of this shampoo, which works wonders on all-over frizz. Plum seed oil and broccoli seed oil will leave your roots feeling squeaky clean while also conditioning the hair and scalp. It also features artichoke extract, which is an antioxidant bursting with minerals that protect your hair from free radicals and UV rays.

How do you wash wavy hair?

The best wash routine for curly hair depends on your hair type. If you have greasy roots that tend to make your wavy hair fall flat, you may want to wash your hair every day or every other day to prevent build-up from piling onto your scalp and clogging hair follicles. Focus on the roots, treating your scalp with a gentle massage to get the shampoo into your scalp.

If your hair is thick, you can likely get away with washing your hair less often, but you'll need to use more shampoo whenever you do wash to ensure a deep, effective clean. A twice-weekly wash schedule gives the scalp a chance to build up its natural oils, which can be beneficial for thick, wavy hair. Always follow with a moisturizing conditioner to reduce frizz.

How can I make wavy hair less frizzy?

Wavy hair is a happy medium between straight and curly hair, but it isn't always easy to tame. The leading cause of frizz is a lack of moisture in your hair. When your hair doesn't have enough moisture, it looks for it in the air, which explains why when the air is humid, your frizz gets out of control. By providing your hair with enough moisture, you can effectively reduce the amount of frizz, and it starts with your shampoo. Make sure you're using a shampoo and conditioner that promotes moisture retention, which helps your hair stay hydrated after styling.

Meet the experts

• Dr. Lauren Penzi, MD, is a board-certified dermatologist with MDCS Dermatology in New York, New York.

• Dr. Ariel Ostad, MD, is a board-certified dermatologist in New York, New York.

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