Not all hair products are created equal, and not all brands on the market carry items for all hair types. For curly-haired consumers, it can sometimes be hard to find the perfect product for your hair journey. Luckily, a lot of Latinx entrepreneurs have recognized a need for more natural and effective curly-hair care. Here are a few under-the-radar hair brands to support this Latinx Heritage Month!
Hello Updo
Founded by Dominican-American entrepreneur Magdalene Hurtado, Hello Updo is a brand dedicated to offering the best hair accessories for the curly-haired consumer. Hurtado was inspired to create hair accessories that weren’t one size fits all after noticing the lack of hair ties that cater to natural hair like her own.
“I was in the Dominican Republic when the idea came to me. It was scorching outside, so naturally, I wanted to get my coily hair up and out of my face. I ended up snapping through a few hair ties, and I then questioned why a global industry didn’t already offer hair ties for textured and fuller hair types,.” says Hurtado, per the brand’s website. “A few weeks later, I was sewing the first Biggish in my Abuela’s kitchen, not knowing that single scrunchie would kick off my journey as an entrepreneur”
Currently, Hello Updo offers a selection of silk products, including scrunchies and pillow cases, that are sure to make curly and textured hair more manageable while also minimizing breakage. They also have a quiz on their website to determine what size scrunchie you should buy depending on the nature of your hair.
Rëzo
Rëzo is a plant-based and cruelty-free haircare brand that offers products that work for all textured hair types. Rëzo seeks to make caring for natural hair as simple and manageable as possible, whether one has curls, coils, or waves. According to founder Nubia Suarez Rëzo, “The brand was conceived with the goal of empowering the curl community, celebrating textured hair and promoting healthy hair habits, all through expert curl education and product knowledge.” Prior to founding the brand in 2018, Rezo had built an impressive career as a master hairstylist and even successfully coined the “rëzoCut —a new way to chop curly hair that improves volume, texture, and shine.
MicMasRemix
MicMasRemix is a brand that offers a range of hydrating hair products and fun accessories.. After being inspired to create hair recipes for her children, founder and creator Adassa Ramirez was able to transform these homemade recipes into a successful business for the curly-haired consumer. “MicMas ReMiX’s aim is to provide great quality hair oil products and supportive guidance to better care for coarse and coily tresses whether it’s natural, relaxed or dreadlocked,” explains Ramirez, per the brand’s website. All of MicMasRemix’s products are created with fair trade, non-GMO, raw, unrefined, sustainable and organic ingredients.
Eva + Avo
Eva + Avo is a brand that considers themselves “a love letter to avocado”. The brand takes pride in their use of natural ingredients, such as cocoa, rosemary, and of course, avocado. Latina entrepreneurs Sonia Guzman and Ana Brenda Contreras launched Eva + Avo in 2020, and now you can find their products at major retailers, such as Target and Walgreens.
Eva + Avo carries a wide variety of high quality oil products for all sorts of curly and textured hair types. Whether it’s their cleansing shampoo, nourishing hair masks or shine avocado oil, their website is full of incredible customer reviews.
Pink Root Products
According to Pink Root Products, “We don’t believe in bad hair, just bad hair care”. The brand is extremely transparent in expressing what they use in their products, and what makes these ingredients so beneficial. They are constantly creating new formulas in order to offer solutions for customers who want to salvage their chemically treated or heat damaged hair.
Pink Root Products was founded by Mariel Mejia in NYC in 2015 while she was a young college student. At the time, Mejia was hoping to restore her damaged hair, however she found a lack of products to help her in her journey. She took matters into her own hands, and experimented with several different oils and butters, ultimately engineering her own “curl enhancer” in her mothers kitchen.
When Mejia found that her products made her hair softer, more defined and actually grow, she decided to share her recipes with the world. Although Pink Root relaunched with new products and formulas in 2019, the brand still relies on organic and nutrient rich ingredients. Today they offer a selection of popular goods, such as leave-in conditioners, styling pastes, and microfiber towels.
Will you be shopping any of these Latinx hair brands? Let us know!
