I apply a strong hold gel to soaking wet hair, scrunch lots with just my hands and then a couple times with a t-shirt.
If I am in the mood or want tighter curls, I might apply a curl-enhancing product after this. I've never experimented with applying it before so I really can't say if that'd be better.

I find the one thing that makes a big difference in how defined my curls are is scrunching. I scrunch my hair in the shower as I'm wetting it, I scrunch conditioner into it, I scrunch it after rinsing conditioner out, I scrunch gel in, I scrunch it to dry, etc. I think if I raked a product into my hair it would lose a lot of its curl.

side note - does anyone else feel like not a true curly/wavy because if they don't apply product and or scrunch, it's pretty straight? sometimes I struggle with that. but as my cousin told me, you can`t do that (curls) to straight hair! So I guess if scrunching gives you curls, you`re curly.