Yes, Shampoos for Wavy Hair Totally Exist—and These Are the Best Ones (2024)

If you have curls or any sort of texture or waves in your hair and you don't know about Reddit's R/CurlyHair or R/WavyHair, let me put you on. It's basically a community of people with the same hair type who are straight-up honest about their experiences with hair products, sharing which ones work, which ones don't, and which ones are total BS. A holy grail favorite of R/WavyHair? The Aussie Miracle Volume Shampoo that's loved for its hydrating formula that adds a ton of volume and lift.

• Size: 26.2 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Gentle cleansers, grape seed extract, citric acid

Glowing Customer Review: "First off the price is amazing on this product. Works great with thick, wavy, frizzy hair. After washing its easy to brush and not greasy at all. So impressed with it. Will order again."

Celebrity hairstylist Castillo Bataille suggests using a sulfate-free shampoo to prevent your waves from getting dried out on wash day. This sulfate-free shampoo for wavy hair is formulated with liquid proteins that help dry and brittle hair prevent breakage and frizz.

• Size: 10.1 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Hydrolyzed wheat, corn, and soy proteins

Glowing Customer Review: "Shampoos tend to strip my hair down way too much and it can get frustrating. This shampoo, on the other hand, is fantastic. It's gentle and repairing but makes my hair feel clean too."

Frequent styling—whether you're trying to extend the life of your look by working in a dry shampoo or refining your waves with some curl cream and curling iron—can lead to build-up on your hair and scalp. Enter: this detoxifying shampoo for wavy hair. It's designed to deeply cleanse while helping maintain the integrity and strength of your hair with keratin.

• Size: 10 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Keratin, chelating agents, apple cider vinegar

Glowing Customer Review: "This smells soooo good and cleanses my hair well without stripping it. I have fine, wavy hair that gets oily easily and this extends my time between washes but also makes my hair shiny and soft after every wash."

Whether you have fine waves or an almost-curly texture, this shampoo for wavy hair cleans your hair without stripping it of its natural oils. But the reason I love it so much is because it doesn't contain potentially icky ingredients, and instead uses a natural formulation to gently (yet effectively) remove buildup.

• Size: 8.45 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Aloe, squalane, moisturizing alcohols

Glowing Customer Review: "'I'm just shocked at how clean it feels and how my wavy hair is styled naturally. I’m obsessed! My hair feels smooth and soft—I see a big difference."

NGL, sometimes it's hard to find oil-infused products that don't weigh hair down, but this moisture-rich shampoo for wavy hair from Moroccanoil does wonders for my fine, color-treated, and wavy hair. The hero ingredient argan oil adds moisture to my roots and protects from hair breakage without leaving my scalp feeling greasy.

• Size: 8.5 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Argan oil, vitamin A

Glowing Customer Review: "Beautiful! This makes your hair so soft and silky without becoming lifeless."

Refresh day three or day four hair with a clarifying shampoo like this one from Pattern. Fresh-looking waves come from a good base, so reviving your hair with a clarifying shampoo actually helps improve its ability to retain moisture while making sure you're not stripped of your hair's natural oils.

• Size: 7.8 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Botanical extracts and oils, panthenol, chelating agents

Glowing Customer Review: "My scalp has never been cleaner—no joke. I was feeling like I had a lot of buildup but had been nervous about clarifying shampoos just destroying my hair, but my hair is smooth, soft, and my scalp is spotless after using this."

If your hair is chemically processed, or bleached, or you heat style a ton, you might need a heavy-duty bond-building shampoo like this one to keep your wavy hair looking healthy. Olaplex's patented technology re-links broken strands to minimize breakage and split ends. I use this one in my haircare routine to support bond repair (my hair is wavy but super fine), keep my ends moisturized, and improve my hair's texture.

• Size: 8.5 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Patented Olaplex bond-repair, gentle cleansers, panthenol

Glowing Customer Review: "I have oily, bleached hair. My stylists recommended this to help with color protection and damage control and it does exactly that. The smell is lovely too!"

"Sulfates strip the hair of its natural and unnatural oils leaving it extremely clean," says Bataille, which is why you should consider a sulfate-free shampoo like this one. You want to get the gunk out of your hair, not leave it feeling dry and dull. Bonus points for the sea buckthorn—it's rich in the fatty acid omega-7, which helps moisturize and prevent hair breakage.

• Size: 9.2 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Gentle cleansers, sea buckthorn

Glowing Customer Review: "I have wavy hair and I use a lot of dry shampoo, so this is a must for me. I use it at least twice a week to get rid of product build-up."

I'm truly obsessed with this volumizing shampoo for wavy hair, especially for my fine texture. I need a 'lil oomph to get my waves into a slinky, S-shape bend, and this formula does wonders to moisturize and strengthen my hair so that I can support each strand whether I heat-style or air-dry.

• Size: 10 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Squalane, caffeine, aloe vera

Glowing Customer Review: "I used this shampoo a couple of times now and it leaves my hair full of body and super clean. It’s got a great scent that is fresh and not overpowering! Can’t wait to use it some more to see long-term effects."

When I tell you this honey-scented shampoo almost makes me want to drizzle it atop a piece of toast, I'm not joking. Honey is a natural humectant that assists in hydrating your hair and restoring its moisture levels. What does that mean for you? Lots of shine, strength, and a lightweight feel to really help those waves stand out. Did I mention the founder, Negin Mirasalehi, and her family make the hero ingredient (that sweet, sweet honey) themselves?

• Size: 11.5 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Honey, argan oil

Glowing Customer Review: "I have wavy hair that is prone to frizz—this gives my hair more shine and I do see a difference in the level of frizziness too. The smell is also divine!"

I know this is *technically* a shampoo for curly hair, but it works wonders for waves, too. Whether you have coily hair or thick waves, the manuka honey and ceramide combo in this shampoo gently cleanses your hair while leaving it feeling/looking soft and smooth.

• Size: 8.5 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Honey, ceramides

Glowing Customer Review: "Kérastase products are my go-to. My hair honestly looks so much better now that I am using this regularly."

Just as pollution can damage your skin, it can also wreak havoc on your hair. That's why my favorite thing about this silicone-free, sulfate-free, and paraben-free shampoo is the star ingredient—rosehip oil. It smooths and adds shine while protecting your hair from free-radical damage.

• Size: 8 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Rosehip oil, argan oil, coconut oil

Glowing Customer Review: "This product instantly transformed my hair to make it way less fizzy and prone to breakage. The conditioner also made it soft and gave nice overall shine. I definitely recommend it."

I don't know about you, but my scalp gets dry pretttty often, so ensuring my shampoo for wavy hair has flake-fighting ingredients is kind of, sort of a non-negotiable. Along with protein-building tiger herb and shine-delivering coconut, Fable & Mane's formula is spiked with aloe vera to soothe any scalp irritation you may have.

• Size: 8.5 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Tiger herb, coconut oil, aloe vera

Glowing Customer Review: "'I use this shampoo with a pre-shampoo and a scalp oil and I'm obsessed. It did not leave my hair dry or oily and my hair felt very soft after washing."

Let me fill you in on something super cool: Your hair has a microbiome. Yes, I know—wild, right? Just like your gut, your hair (and your skin) needs to have a balanced ecosystem of healthy bacteria to thrive and live their best lives. This shampoo for wavy hair from IGK uses prebiotics to do just that—plus, it's got some red sea algae to boost your wave's shine and moisture levels, too.

• Size: 8.0 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Prebiotics, red sea algae

Glowing Customer Review: "This provides the perfect amount of moisture for my wavy hair. The shampoo has a light scent that is pleasant and not overpowering, and the formula keeps my waves shiny and bouncy."

Here's the thing about wavy hair: it can be difficult to maintain its shape throughout the day. That's where a texturizing shampoo can come in handy. It'll help build grip so you can easily style your hair with or without heat tools. The hydrolyzed vegetable protein in this product is a styler and strengthener at the same time. "These proteins help strengthen and maximize each hair strand by filling in the gaps in the cuticle," says Bataille.

• Size: 6.0 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Hydrolyzed pea protein, gentle cleansers, sunflower seed extract

Glowing Customer Review: "This is my go-to shampoo for my fine, wavy hair. It gives me just the right texture without my hair feeling heavy. I wish they made a small, medium, and large size bottle. And maybe a Cactus conditioner!"

"For damaged or color-treated hair, it's best to look for ingredients that add moisture and also protect the hair from breakage and color fading," says dermatologist Iris Rubin, MD. This purple shampoo does exactly that—plus, it neutralizes brassiness and yellow tones with purple pigments, making it a perfect option for color-treated hair and/or blondes.

• Size: 10 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Gentle cleansers

Glowing Customer Review: "I loved this anti-brass shampoo! I've been struggling to find a great shampoo for my blonde, wavy hair and I have finally found it. I could tell the difference since the first use and my hair has a shine and glow that I have never had before."

A shampoo doesn't have to be pricey to get the job done. Dove created this haircare line specifically for wavy hair, curly hair, and coily hair, and this shampoo for wavy hair gets in deep to provide cleansing power while ensuring your hair maintains its shine and moisture. I love the added coconut oil, which moisturizes and repairs breakage—it also smells incredible, FYI.

• Size: 32.3 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Coconut oil, shea butter, glycerin

Glowing Customer Review: "I absolutely love this product! With other shampoos I've used my curls lost their shine and overall, my hair looked terrible. Now with Dove, my hair is moisturized and my curls last for days with a shine, it was love at first use."

Using a shampoo with oils (i.e., the avocado or the macadamia oils found in this product) is one of the best ways to deeply moisturize thick, wavy hair. This emollient-packed shampoo does some of its finest work by detangling, taming, and breathing life into thick hair that tends to feel straw-like.

• Size: 6.8 oz.
• Key ingredient(s): Avocado oil, macadamia oil, hyaluronic acid

Glowing Customer Review: "This makes my hair soooo smooth! I normally have very dense strong hair which can feel somewhat rough but this leaves my hair baby smooth and is gentle enough that it doesn’t cause my scalp to become oily a day later."

• Castillo Bataille is a celebrity hairstylist and Matrix brand ambassador who has worked with celebrities like Bella Poarch, Alyssa Milano, and Meghan Trainor.
• Iris Rubin, MD, is a Harvard-trained Dermatologist and the founder and chief medical officer at SEEN Hair Care.

Siena Gagliano is an associate editor at Cosmopolitan who writes beauty, with over four years of experience writing in the makeup, skin, and hair spaces. She’s an expert at researching and writing hair stories, like the best curl ceams and the best clear sunscreens. She regularly works with the industry’s top hairstylists and dermatologists to assess new formulas and products.

Valeriya Chupinina was a previous beauty contributor at Cosmopolitan with five years of experience researching, writing, and editing haircare stories that range from the best hair toners to the top-rated heat protectants. She’s an authority in all haircare categories but an expert when it comes to shampoos for wavy hair, thanks to her personal experience with her own wavy hair.