Dear Ouidad: I scrunch in my gel upside down, one to the left, one to the right and then one upside down. The ends are fine, but the middle and top doesn’t seem as defined and gets frizzy. I am sure that it’s because I am not getting any gel there. I have tried raking but that just upsets my waves and curls. Do I just need to add more gel? Change tactics?

A: Rake & Shake is the best method of application for defined curls. Scrunching will only expand the hair and make it fluffy. To Rake & Shake more effectively, take a smaller amount of hair between your fingers and you’ll receive better results. It’s important to begin at the roots to make sure your hair at the top gets the same amount of frizz protection and definition from styling gel as the rest of your curls.