The secret to those soft curls isn't a wand. It's a pillowcase, some patience, and knowing what to put in your hair the night before.
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Start on wash day: moisture-rich, sulphate-free haircare sets the foundation for curls that actually hold their shape.
Overnight methods-ribbon curling, braids, or bantu knots-deliver the most defined, voluminous curls without any heat styling tools.
The right mousse-and-gel combination, matched to your hair type, is what keeps soft curls from falling flat in humidity.
Avanti Dalal-Mehta is a beauty editor with 10+ years' experience across beauty, health & wellness, with bylines in Vogue, The Nod & The Established.
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There's a specific kind of curl that lives rent-free in the beauty section of the internet — bouncy, defined, the kind that moves when you turn your head. Not crunchy. Not frizzy. Just effortlessly, annoyingly good. Janhvi Kapoor has been wearing it for years, and every time a new photo surfaces, someone in the comments is asking the same thing: what does she do to her hair?
The honest answer? Probably less than you think. Because that finish of soft curls with actual movement is one of the few things that tends to look better without heat styling tools. Heat gives you defined curls. It also gives you gradually drier, more damaged hair that struggles to hold a style past the second hour. Heatless methods, done right, work with your hair's natural texture rather than against it. Here's how to get there.
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The best curl method in the world won't do much if you're working with hair that's stripped of moisture, which is why wash day is where the whole thing actually begins.
Start with the Dove Beautiful Curls Sulphate Free Shampoo, which cleans without stripping the natural oils your curls need to stay defined. Follow it up immediately with the Dove Beautiful Curls Deep Moisture Miracle Hair Mask and leave it in for at least five minutes before rinsing. Think of it as the moisture deposit your hair will draw on overnight. A lightweight curl cream for moisture, layered under a gel or styling product that offers humidity protection and hold is the base layer for everything that comes next.
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The ribbon method (also called the heatless curl rod method) involves wrapping damp, product-loaded hair around a soft ribbon or flexi rod from roots to ends, then securing it overnight. You wake up to spirals. On longer hair, this gives you the most defined voluminous curls.
Braiding is the low-effort option. Two loose braids give you soft, wavy texture. Six to eight smaller braids give you tighter, more defined curls.
The bantu knot method involves sectioning damp hair and twisting each section into a small coiled bun. Unravel in the morning for defined, bouncy spirals that tend to work especially well on medium to thick hair.
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This is the most common complaint, and it usually comes down to one thing: the products aren't doing enough work for your specific hair type and environment. Nikita Rodrigues, Style Director at Bblunt Salon on Peddar Road says that a lightweight mousse or curl cream matched to your hair's needs, paired with a gel that offers humidity protection and hold, is what keeps definition intact as the day goes on. If your hair is on the finer side and has never held a curl easily, mousse is a must-have.
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Once your hair is fully dry and you've taken down your curls, don't brush them. Instead, use your fingers to gently separate and shape, scrunching upward to encourage the curl to spring back up. If you want more separation and less of a clump, a wide-tooth comb or a pick at the root adds volume without disrupting the curl pattern. According to Rodrigues, a small amount of finishing cream or a few drops of hair oil worked lightly over the surface smooths any remaining flyaways and gives the whole style that polished, intentional quality.
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The pineapple method of loosely gathering all your hair into a high ponytail at the very top of your head before bed is the most reliable method for preserving curl definition overnight. It keeps curls from getting flattened against the pillow and maintains the shape. Combine it with a silk or satin pillowcase, which reduces friction dramatically compared to cotton. Rodrigues is clear that this part isn't optional: how you protect your curls at night, and how you refresh them between wash days, is what determines how long the style lasts and how much frizz you're managing on day two.
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Day-two curls can go one of two ways: they either look even better or completely flat. A spray bottle with a small amount of leave-in conditioner mixed in, spritzed over the hair and scrunched upward, reactivates the curl pattern without requiring you to redo the whole thing. Some people swear by a tiny amount of the original styling products applied over damp hands and worked through the ends.
