Julissa Prado founded Rizos Curls in her cousin’s garage. Now she runs a beauty empire
My sister and I have pretty textured hair, but over the years we’ve damaged it through styling and now it’s difficult to wear it natural. What advice do you have for people who want to maintain their naturally textured hair?
I love this question because the majority of our customers are actually people who do exactly what you just explained. They’re trying out their natural hair for the first time, which just blew me away. You have to fix these things and then slowly, as you get fixed, everything will look better and better. There are two parts. One is the repair part, and this consists of two parts. We have a hair repair mask with vitamin C, so it’s really important to decondition the hair, whether it’s our repair mask or another. If you have extensive damage, I would recommend deep conditioning once a week.
Sophia Richie did this in a tutorial – she has this sleek bun that she does with the middle part. She said that during the Corona crisis, she used a hair mask all over her body and then did the bun which fixed her hair. I literally did this because my hair was really damaged from the bleaching.
The second reason is buildup on your scalp and hair. In order for your hair to grow truly healthy, faster, thicker and stronger, you need to have a clean slate. We have an inherent apple cider vinegar scalp rinse and an apple cider vinegar rinse that balances pH. If you have an oily scalp, a normal scalp will balance it out. If you have dry scalp, it balances it out. The ACV conditioner also contains black tea kombucha, green tea extract, rice extract and niacinamide. It also contains a lot of these really amazing moisturizing ingredients that just make your hair look shinier.
When you use products, use things that highlight texture. If your hair is wavy, I would recommend a mousse or curling cream, but then you need to maintain the texture you just created. So it’s really important to add either hairspray or gel and we have a light hold gel for people who don’t like that crunch.
Once you add these defining products, you can literally curl your hair with your fingers and it works like a curling iron. We have lots of tutorials on this on our social media, but you can manipulate the curls once you get the product there. You can do this and then stretch out your hair and then it will create a spiral, like a curl, then you can spray your hair with hairspray or gel and then it will stay like that.
What is the biggest hair care mistake curly girls make with their hair?
Two things. One of them is not shampooing. The amount of people we get tell us. “I have so much buildup, the products don’t work.” I’m like, “When was the last time you used shampoo?” And they’ll say, “It’s been three years.” And then I’m like, “Can you Send a picture of your scalp or your hair?” Their scalp has so much buildup and they use oils that make their scalp very greasy and weigh their hair down. Shampooing and cleansing your scalp is so important. This is a major hair care mistake.
