Rizos Curls, the Latina-Founded Curl Line Made in English and Spanish

Julissa Prado carried her own homemade curl formula around in a Ziploc bag for years before she launched Rizos Curls in 2017, starting with a trio of products. She says she started the brand because Latinas were left out of the curly hair conversation, so she made the products and the content in both English and Spanish. Rizos Curls became the first Latina-owned curly hair brand sold at Ulta Beauty and the first Mexican-owned curly hair brand at Sally Beauty stores in Mexico, and it is still based in Los Angeles, leaving out sulfates, silicones, parabens, phthalates and mineral oil. The Curl Defining Cream is the one to start with, built around aloe vera, shea butter and coconut oil. Around it I put three other creams to compare. Verb's lightweight cream, from the Austin barbershops where the brand began, softens and activates curls. Mizani's True Textures cream is a gel-cream from the Chicago salon brand Terri Gardner founded in 1991, and Bumble and bumble's Curl Light is the lightest of the four, good for waves. If you are new to curl cream, use less than you think and add more on the next wash.

For a longer-lasting wash and go, add hold over the cream. Curlsmith grew out of an online community of people with textured hair who weighed in on everything from formulas to the name, and its strong-hold gel keeps flexible definition. Tracee Ellis Ross stopped relaxing her hair at 15, became her own expert and tested 74 samples before launching Pattern, and its strong-hold gel is the slick-look option. Crown Affair started as a Google Doc in which Dianna Cohen listed her routine for friends, and the flexible gel is the softest here. Rōz, from the stylist who styled Emma Stone for her Oscar wins, makes a milk mousse that defines texture and protects from heat.

The last row keeps curls soft between washes. Curlsmith's air-dry leave-in hydrates and defines, and Kérastase, which launched in Paris salons in 1964, makes a spray to rehydrate and restyle on day two. Color Wow's Dream Coat for curly hair comes from Gail Federici, who helped build Frizz Ease before starting her own company, and it blocks humidity for defined, glossy curls. Shaz & Kiks comes from two sisters whose grandmother in West Bengal made hair oils from amla and hibiscus, and their first product was this kind of prewash mask, made with 20 Ayurvedic herbs, oils and flowers. What I would skip is piling on product when curls feel dry. More often it is a moisture problem, not a product problem, so add a leave-in first.

Cleanse, condition, then apply the Rizos Curls cream to soaking wet hair in sections. Add a gel on top if you want your curls to last to day three. Diffuse or air dry, and scrunch out any cast once it is fully dry. Refresh with a mist instead of rewetting everything. Sleep on silk or in a loose pineapple so the shape lasts. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Hair Cream for Frizz, Curls and Air-Dry Days and Low Heat, Low Speed.