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Best The Ordinary Products for Wavy and Curly Hair
We rank every The Ordinary product for wavy and curly hair, including shampoos, serums, oils, and conditioners.
February 5, 2025
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The Ordinary is a brand with a cult following for its innovative and affordable skincare products. People have been using some of these products like glycolic acid and squalane oil for many years, but more recently The Ordinary launched some hair care products. Most of these products are CGM approved except the sulfate shampoo. The products are generally lightweight which is ideal for low porosity hair.
I've tried most of these items and here are my favorites for curly/wavy hair.
1. Squalane oil: An amazing lightweight pre-poo oil treatment
As someone with low porosity fine hair, I find most oils don't work well in my hair. But as my hair got longer I developed mixed porosity, with my ends drier than my scalp. I was looking for something to protect my ends as a "pre poo" (apply before washing hair) and I grabbed the The Ordinary Squalane oil (which I already had because I use it on my skin). It has worked wonderfully without leaving my hair greasy. I highly recommend this as a pre-poo treatment and general protectant for high and mixed porosity hair. As a general protectant I sometimes layer over high humectant products to prevent water loss in the winter.
The Ordinary 100% Plant-Derived Squalane
A lightweight oil that's perfect for pre-poo treatments
2. Glycolic Acid: An effective remedy for flaky scalp
Glycolic acid toner has helped a lot with my flaky scalp in the winter. The nozzle makes it very easy to apply to the scalp. The pH is 3.5-3.9 which is not too far from the pH of hair so it also may help smooth the cuticle and prevent frizz.
Be aware that as glycolic acid is an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) it can increase sun sensitivity, so use only in the evening and make sure to wear sun protection like a hat if you're going to be outside for awhile. Also be sure to patch test and start with small amounts because some people find it irritating.
This glycolic acid has worked great for me with the next product, Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA for Scalp
3. Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA for Scalp: A lightweight moisturizer for your scalp
I use this alongside the glycolic acid in the winter for flaky scalp. It is very lightweight so you can still use it if you have low porosity hair.
It is full of humectants so be sure to layer it under something that is film forming (a gel or film-forming humectants) or has lots of emollients (like oils).
The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA for Scalp
Helps keep the scalp from getting dry without any heavy ingredients
4. Behentrimonium Chloride 2% Conditioner: A minimalist conditioner perfect for low porosity hair
This is kind of the ideal minimalist conditioner, perfect for low porosity hair. Behentrimonium Chloride is a common and very effective conditioning agent. Scientifically, Behentrimonium Chloride is a cationic mild surfactant, which means it also could theoretically be used as a co-wash as well for high porosity hair.
It's also fragrance free, and I've seen many posts on Reddit for people looking for a good CGM conditioner that's fragrance free.
Behentrimonium Chloride 2% Conditioner
A minimalist conditioner perfect for low porosity/wavy hair
5. Sulphate 4% Cleanser for Body and Hair: A minimalist sulfate shampoo that may work for low porosity hair
Another great product for low porosity is the sulfate shampoo. I know it's not "CGM" but maybe people, especially with low porosity hair, do fine with and even may benefit from sulfate shampoos.
6. Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density: An all in one hair growth product
This is a product that may or may not work, the science on the ingredients is honestly a little thin. But if you're worried about hair thinning I suppose it's worth using just for the small chance it does something.
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