How do you do braids with wavy, choppy layered hair that stay smooth?

Sorry if formatting is weird, I'm on mobile.

tldr: hair is wavy and choppily cut, braids have hair sticking out, would like them to not do that, what goop do I need?

My hair is arguably somewhere in the wavy zone most of the time, but I'm not particularly sure where on the scale to put it because different parts can have different textures depending on the day/factors. Generally though it is pretty thick and wooly.

Back when I would bleach/color my hair, any new person who did it would always underestimate how much color to mix up for my hair density. It tends to be soft but always has little flyaways that sort of halo my head.

Since I started cutting my own hair in 2020, I have been giving myself something akin to a long Wolf Cut or disconnected layers. The shortest sections hit at about chin length and the longest bits hit at my lower back.

While I love how I do my hair, sometimes I want it tied up and out of the way. One of my favorite ways to do this is braids.

However

Because of the choppy layered nature of my hair, the braids will have a tendency to have pieces sticking out of them. Sometimes when I do a single braid, at the end of the day there will be a big puff ball at the top of it of loose hair ends.

I've tried doing it dry and wet, tried using my leave in conditioner spray beforehand. Normally it doesn't bother me too much but I decided to go a little more dramatic with the layers the most recent time I cut my hair so its happening more.

While I am trying to up my hair game lately, I still am not super versed in styling products. I dont particularly like being too crunchy, but can handle a little bit. The only time I usually use hair gel is G2B Super Glued for when I am wearing wigs for costumes, and removing it is unpleasant, so ideally I would want something that stays reasonably soft and doesn't look/feel greasy.

So, what am I looking for? Pomade, mouse, some other thing? Thank you in advance.