I received multiple compliments about my hair this week, including over a blurry video call.

My hair is often poofy after washing it, and I’ve tried using coconut oil and leave-in conditioner to limited effect.

I was resigned to this fate until I borrowed a (regular, not leave in)conditioner from my mom.
She got it from a hotel (seems the William Roam brand targets hotels).
My curls came out much tighter/defined.

I can’t tell from the ingredients what is special about this one.
Stearalkonium Chloride is the only ingredient I don’t recognize from other conditioners.
But as a Benzalkonian Chloride, it should be similar to other surfactants I’ve seen before, like trimethylammonium chloride (including Behentrimonium and centrimonium).
Perhaps this conditioner just has a higher concentration of active ingredients? (unlikely)