Hey, Reinas! Curious about how to rock those curls like never before? Join us as we explore three fantastic Latina-owned hair care brands that will transform your routine and embrace your gorgeous curls!
If you’re anything like me, you know that styling curly hair in the summer heat is a challenge. Whether dry, humid, beachy, or breezy, sometimes the risk isn’t worth the reward when blowing your mane out, doing a doobie, or trying out one of those cute hairstyles off of Pinterest.
Moreover, knowing what products work well for your hair texture, climate, lifestyle, and wash routine can be challenging. Thankfully, many Latinas share this universal experience, so much so that tons of Latina-owned hair care brands can help us change the game when it comes to curl care.
Here are some of our faves—and if one doesn’t work for you, fear not! You can always pass it off to mami, tu hermana, tu tía, las primas, or even donate it to a local good gifting group or women’s shelter online or in person. Supporting Latinx-owned businesses and being community– and eco-conscious doesn’t have to cost much for your self-care routine. ¡Solo necesitas un poco de cariño!
Vida Bars
This six-bar shampoo and conditioner collection is meticulously crafted with ingredients intentionally designed for those with waves, curls, and coils. It is free of sulfates, silicones, parabens, artificial fragrances, drying alcohols, and phthalates. The brand’s entire process, from sourcing to packaging, is cruelty-free to animals and the planet.
Vida Bars was founded by Ana, a curly-haired Latina who embraces her curls and strives to pass the positivity of curls and exceptional curl formulas onto others in her life. “If you’re a curly-haired person, that’s probably one of the first things people notice about you, too. I spent my whole adult life fighting my hair,” she writes on her company’s website, “probably because every advertisement on TV, magazines, and even social media was focused on taming and smoothing frizzy, uncontrollable hair.”
Instead of taming, she and her organization are all about embracing. Additionally, 5% of profits from this female-founded business are donated to an educational fund for domestic violence survivors.
Bright Body
Gaby Day, the Latina CEO, Founder, and Formulator at Bright Body, offers to las reinas de los rizos, a line of non-toxic and refillable hair, skin, and even baby care products. “The line actually started with our curly hair products since they were the first products I was looking to switch away from conventional,” she tells Brilla Latina. “I was using DevaCurl at the time and wasn’t thrilled with the ingredients. We’ve been around for almost 7 years, and this whole time, our curly hair styling products have been our top bestsellers,” she adds.
As a self-proclaimed “science nerd,” Day’s journey toward clean beauty came about due to chronic illness—she lives with Lyme Disease, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and POTS. “Back in one of my more severe flares, I was looking for a way to give my immune system as much of a break as possible,” she explains on the brand’s website. “I started researching every personal care product I was using at the time, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that I could do way better and there’s a lot of bad science out there in clean beauty.” And thus, Bright Body was born. The brand also donates 1% of sales to pro-choice causes.
Bomba Curls
Shout-out to our Dominicanas on this one: Bomba Curls, created by Lulu Cordero, focuses on the belief that curls should be celebrated. This Afro-Dominicana aims to “share the tightly kept Dominican beauty secrets used by generations of women to naturally boost growth and maintain fullness with the world.” The outcome of this was Bomba Curls, a brand that uses premium and organic super-ingredients to help you achieve maximum length retention and curls that serve, as they call it, “major POP!”
“I grew up in a world where the wild curls that naturally grew from my head had a stigma attached to them. Natural hair was never celebrated, nor did the mainstream media depict our Afro-curls or skin as beautiful,” Cordero writes on her company’s site. “My mother, however, made sure to instill in me a sense of pride in my lips, hips, hair, and melanin…because she knew we lived in a world that didn’t often celebrate our type of beauty. The seeds of self-love she planted in me are the same seeds that created Bomba Curls.”
Now you know about these three great curl brands, but maybe you’re unsure where to start. Well, fear not! These brands have hair care quizzes, photo references, and products galore to help you find your perfect match. Also, each brand has its own community of chicas, just like you, hunting for that next-level curl game. That way, your bounce beauty and sparkle will never dull out!
