Best Hair Mousses for Curly Hair
These light, airy foams from Aussie, Pattern, SheaMoisture, and other brands provide soft definition to curls, waves, and coils
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When my rizos (curls in Spanish) are soft, moisturized, and well-defined, I am unstoppable. Unfortunately, getting my curls to look as good as I want them to is never as easy as just applying a single product to my hair.
I usually use a combination of products to style my curls—a leave-in conditioner to moisturize, mousse for curl definition, and gel to lock them in their shape. Nothing else has worked as well, for as long as this combo has. Even so, not every wash day results in the best curls, so I’m always looking for a new product to rotate into my routine. Ask anyone with curly, coily, or wavy hair; I’d bet they do the same.
- Mousses We Tested: Aussie Camille Rose Curlsmith Design Essentials Innersense Pattern SheaMoisture
- Plus: Our Testers How We Tested
Our Panel of Testers
Photos: Consumer Reports Photos: Consumer Reports
Jodhaira Rodriguez (it’s me, hi!) is a CR writer who also tests products at home and in our labs. She has 2C-3B frizzy, thick, waist-length hair in a wash-and-go style. For this evaluation, she applied Camille Rose Honey Hydrate Leave-In Conditioner before each mousse and Ouidad Advanced Climate Control Heat & Humidity Gel after.
Shanika Whitehurst is CR’s associate director of product sustainability, research, and testing. She has short, coily hair. In addition to the mousses tested, she used Camille Rose Coconut Water Curl Cleanse shampoo, Camille Rose Coconut Water Leave-In Detangling Hair Treatment, and The Doux Hair Moisture Milk in her hair.
Mary Beth Quirk is a managing editor for shopping at CR. Her natural red, wavy hair reaches her mid-back. Before using the mousses we tested, she applied It’s a 10 Miracle Leave-In to her hair.
Elizabeth Lucy, CR’s senior major gifts officer, has chest-length 2C-3A curls. She washed her hair with Mane and Tail Shampoo and conditioned it with Trader Joe’s Mint Conditioner, but she applied no styling products other than the mousses we tested throughout our evaluation.
