5 Reasons Your Curls Look Wet After Drying + How to Fix it

You can’t understand why your curls look wet after drying.

They don’t become fluffy and voluminous and instead look stringy and wet after styling.

In this post, I’ll quickly cover all the possible reasons your curls look like this:

And how you can fix it immediately.

Let’s begin.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may make a commission at no extra cost to you if you decide to click on a link and purchase something. Click here to read the full disclaimer.

1 You are using too much product

As a curly girl myself, I have watched a lot of videos on Youtube on how to take care of curly hair.

But that’s the thing, everyone’s hair is different.

Your curl pattern is not the only factor that you need to consider when you’re applying products to your hair.

You also have to consider what kind of hair you have.

If you have very fine hair (thin strands), then too much product can overwhelm your hair and not let it breathe.

The product if applied too generously will coat all the hair strands and glisten too much.

If your hair is looking extremely shiny and you can feel a heavy product cast on your hair, you are applying too much product.

A way to combat this is to dilute the product with water in your palms and then apply it to your hair.

You’ll notice that the product spreads more evenly and it will do a good job – this is also called emulsifying.

Here’s how you do it: Apply a bit of product onto your palm and then add some water to your palm. Rub the product and the water – this will warm the product and mix it with the water creating a more diluted hair product.

Then apply to your hair gently and it will absorb better.

If you are doing this with oils, you don’t need to add water.

But I do this with my hair cream (I only use Cantu because I haven’t found a better hair cream in the market) because my hair is fine even though I have 3B curls.

2. You are using a very drying shampoo

If your hair is extremely dry after showering, chances are you are using a very drying shampoo that is removing all the moisture from your curls.

Why is this bad?

Because if your shampoo is drying, you will tend to use more hair products to add more moisture to your hair.

Your hair won’t feel healthy and won’t retain curls, so you’ll keep adding more hair cream and more hair lotion to make your curls look healthy and moisturized.

Instead of over-compensating with hair products.

Use a better shampoo.

The best way to tell if a shampoo is overdrying your hair is to look at your hair after you come out of the shower.

This used to happen to me when I used to use bad shampoos in college. I won’t name them because I don’t want to be sued.

If you notice that your curls are not clumping together when wet and look frizzy even when it’s wet – chances are your shampoo is not doing a good job.

It’s overdrying and overcleaning your hair and removing even the good oils like hair sebum.

So, my suggestion to fix this is to use good shampoo for curly hair.

My top recommendations are:

Both of these shampoos are amazing for all curly hair types.

I highly recommend them as I personally use them. Both of these shampoos smell amazing and leave your hair soft and non-frizzy after shampooing.

By using the right shampoo, you are making sure that you are only eliminating product build-up and not overdrying your hair or robbing it of its moisture.

3. You’re not using the right hair gel

Again, if you have very fine hair, you can’t use a very strong curly hair gel – it is going to leave a very strong cast and your curls will look wet.

You need to use a light hair gel that is suited for your hair.

One of my friends had very fine curls and her curl pattern was 2C and 3A.

Her hair did not look good with a strong curly hair gel. I highly recommend emulsifying the hair gel when you’re using it or shifting to something that doesn’t leave a very strong cast like Miss Jessie’s Jelly Soft Curls.

This particular gel doesn’t leave any residue like most other curly hair gels and it smells amazing.

Yes, if you haven’t noticed, I’m very particular about smell because I want my hair to smell good.

Now, if you notice that your hair is too scrunchy after it dries, then there is a chance that you are using too much gel or a very strong-hold gel that your hair just doesn’t need.

I noticed this with my hair.

And instead of reducing hair gel I completely cut it out. I now make do with just hair cream. I use the Cantu Curl Activator and I’m very happy with it.

4. You are not scrunching out the crunch or you’re scrunching when your hair is wet

Scrunching out the crunch otherwise known as SOTC is very important if you want soft, bouncy curls that don’t stick together and look stringy.

It’s a tedious process for some but if you want good results, you have to do it.

After applying the gel, you need to scrunch out the gel cast in order for your hair to look softer and lose that hard, shiny gel cast.

But you need to do this only after your curls are 100% dry.

Do not scrunch out the cast when your curls are still wet – this could lead to your curls not clumping and breaking or splitting.

Watch this video to understand how you should be scrunching out the gel cast.

Notice how her curls went from stringy and wet to soft and fluffy after scrunching out the cast.

5. You are not letting your curls clump

you are not letting your curls clump together

Make sure that you detangle your curls in the shower after you’ve applied your conditioner.

After applying your conditioner, the curls should become easy to detangle with your fingers.

Do not brush your hair when it’s wet because it will lead to breakage and hairloss.

Detangle gently and make sure that all the tangles are out before you leave the shower.

Once your hair is slightly damp, get it to a little wet stage by using the curly hair spray bottle. This spray bottle sprays out a uniform mist that coats the curls evenly and doesn’t let them become sopping wet.

It’s easy to apply curly hair products this way.

Now, when applying your curly hair product, you want to mix the product with a little water and apply it to your hair in a preying motion.

If you are using a comb, use a Denman brush with only 3-5 rows (I took out about 4-5) because this gives me thick curls) and then make sure that the product is evenly distributed.

If you use a narrow comb with more teeth, you are going to break the curl pattern and not give a chance for your curls to clump together.

This can cause your curls to look wet.