Male - How to come back to my curly hair?

Hair type - thick
Hair Texture - Wavy/Curly
History of chemical processing - None
Hygiene regimen: - daily shampooing, no conditioning
Style: messy wavy/curly, currently growing mostly the sides, because the wanted hairstyle is something between Barron Trump and Alexander The Great.
Product regimen: I recently bought Matrix A Curl Can Dream Shampoo, Redken Frizz Dismiss Shampoo, Redken curvaceous ringlet, and Redken Frizz Dismiss Rebel Tame Cream.

Problem :
All my life I have been avoiding my natural hair which was curly, by styling it and using products to smoothen and straighten it. I used to effortlessly have hair that you can see in the picture (the girl's hair), of course I mean the texture and level of curl, I'm pretty sure my hair was even more densely curled, even with the length that I had and I have now, which you can see on the other pictures, which also show the current state of my hair, which is more wavy than curly. I have tested all the products that I have listed in the "Product regimen", in all the configurations possible (everything on/off), and that still didn't help. Also, I tried drying my hair all the different ways: naturally, with a diffuser, etc. Every configuration looks like shit. Maybe the Frizz Dismiss products make my hair too straight? Maybe I should use the Matrix shampoo for longer to see any effects. Maybe it all doesn't matter, because of the lack of conditioner, and because I have accustomed my hair to being washed with shampoo every day? I'm not really knowledge-rich in Hair Science, hence why I'm here.

I'm currently planning:

1. to start conditioning every day instead of shampooing every day, if so which conditioner, and shampoo? Should I change it to sulfate-free, or maybe sulfates are needed once/twice per week f.e.? I've seen someone saying that their hair likes silicone, how do I know if my does, test it?
2. to buy a microfiber towel.

Maybe my hair needs acidic bonding?
What would you recommend looking at its condition?
What do you think has the most chance to help?
I'm keen to spend big money on this, but I hate wasting it and seeing no results, so maybe there is some way to test at least, in which direction should I go? F.e. maybe I could buy the bonding line from L'Oreal, and then see if this is the way that I should go? Or just 1 strongest product from the Redken Acidic Bonding Line, before buying the entire line?

I have gathered some mostly recommended products from reddits/youtube.

1. Redken Acidic Bonding Curls Shampoo
2. Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate Conditioner
3. Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate Leave-In Treatment
4. Matrix A Curl Can Dream Spray
5. Matrix A Curl Can Dream Conditioner
6. Redken All Soft Mega Curls Hydramelt Treatment
7. Bumble and Bumble BB. Curl Moisturizing Shampoo
8. Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Conditioner
9. Goldwell StyleSign Sea Salt Spray (I have to admit I got a bit of dandruff, but If I make sure it doesn't touch the scalp, would it be good?)

What do you think would help the most? Are some cheaper alternatives good enough to check if some direction is the proper one?