Absolute basics for somebody who regularly heat styles and would like to start embracing curls?

I have naturally wavy/curly hair. For the past 2-3 years, I’ve been blowing it out regularly and leaving it straight, so I likely have some heat damage.

My natural hair type is 2C and fine.

Now that summer is approaching, I’d really like to start embracing my natural curls, but don’t know how to anymore.

I’ve tried brush styling and sectioning, and it’ll look really good at first, but then the curls will fall and it’ll feel all producty and limp.

My current curl routine. I’ve tried this routine about 3 times, and can’t really get it to work. It looks good right after styling, but then the next day it’ll get all crunchy and weird. I don’t know how to describe it, the curls just fall out and then my hair feels very producty.

I shampoo and condition with Redken all soft. Then, I section my hair into 3. In each section, I apply some of the Lush curl cream and a curl foam and brush style. When I’ve brush styled all 3 sections, I flip my hair upside down and scrunch in gel and heat protectant and diffuse.

To sleep with my hair, I use 3 small clips and flip all my hair upside down. I clip my hair into a pineapple (I don’t like using a hair tie because it stretches out my curls), and then I cover my hair with a bonnet and also sleep on a silk pillowcase.