Is wave nouveau like carefree curl?

No. They are different. I had a wave nouveau for years and it made my hair curly but there was no movement or bounce in it. I switched to a Carefree curl and my hair (the hair that grew in afterwards) had bounce in it again. I would never go back to the wave nouveau. Also, I don't use activator in my hair, so it doesn't have the greasy feel. I use Nexxus Humectress as a leave in conditioner, then I put Dep gel on it. It dries grease free and it just looks like I have natural medium sized curls. So many people tell me that I have "good hair" (I don't think that curly hair is the only way your hair can be "good", kinky hair is good, too).