Women's Lifestyle October 17, 2025 0 Comments

Unlock the Untold Haircare Rituals of Rizos Curls’ Julissa Prado That Will Transform Your Curl Game Forever

Ever wonder how some people juggle a thriving business, relentless advocacy, and still find time for self-care? Meet Julissa Prado—the powerhouse behind Rizos Curls, a multi-million dollar haircare brand, and a devoted advocate for immigrant rights. At 36, she’s mastered the art of balancing the whirlwind of entrepreneurship with genuine community impact and personal wellness. But here’s the kicker: Prado doesn’t just talk the talk; she dives headfirst into everything from product creation and social media hustle to launching initiatives that uplift those around her. Curious about how she keeps her curls—and her life—in check while championing causes close to her heart? Stick around as she spills her everyday self-care hacks, favorite beauty products, and some real talk on learning to say “no” without guilt. Because let’s be honest, who couldn’t use a few lessons from someone who’s been in the trenches and come out glowing—inside and out?

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7 min read

Describing Julissa Prado, the 36-year-old founder of Rizos Curls, as booked and busy is an understatement. When she’s not running her booming haircare business, she spends her downtime advocating for others. Earlier this summer, along with Rizos and Kids of Immigrants, she was able to kickstart their joint United for Immigrants initiative. She spent the summer working with the local Los Angeles community and fellow entrepreneurs to raise funds to support immigrants within Los Angeles and across the United States.

Prado manages to prioritize her advocacy efforts in between the day-to-day ongoings that come with running a (multi-million dollar!) self-funded business. Everything from product development to hosting creator events and self-promotion (Prado often shows off Rizos’s products by filming herself and sharing her own personal hair routines on social media) is a part of the founder’s daily schedule. For the last eight years, Prado has learned a thing or two about balancing the personal with the professional—that delicate tango has helped her prioritize not only her own well-being but also the success of her company.

“One of the biggest lessons I’ve had to learn is to say no and get really good at saying no. So much of what makes your business great is going to be staying true to who the brand is, and oftentimes that means saying no to certain opportunities and different paths that may take you away from who you are at the core and what the brand is,” Prado tells Harper’s Bazaar. “There are times I want to be more go with the flow and just say yes to everything—and a lot of the time that is not necessarily the best thing for the business at all.”

Ahead, Prado breaks down all of her everyday self-care favorites that she keeps in her regular wellness rotation—from her shower essentials to feel-good makeup and her new favorite fitness app.

What are you reading or listening to these days?

I have a bit of an unspoken rule that whatever I read in my spare time has to be not productive at all. I’m reading a lot of rom-com novels right now—I just read one called Rabid, and it was a werewolf love story—I’m obsessed, it’s good. It’s such a page turner, and it just takes me to a different dimension of worlds. There was another one that I read recently that just came out called Summer in the City, which was really cute. I enjoy mindless reads that allow my brain to take a break.

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What are some of your go-to bath or shower products?

I love Lush. The shower gels, specifically, I really like them because they leave my skin so soft. I have naturally dry skin, and they have really good scents that don’t dry you out. I also use these big, towel-like Korean scrubbing pads that help take that first layer of skin off. I also love the Youth to the People body cream and their body wash, which I was very, very impressed by. I like to do my skincare while I’m conditioning my hair and whatnot in the shower. I like to use some kind of mask—right now I’ve been really into the Exfoliating One by Kate Somerville. When I feel it tingling, I’m like, “Okay, I know this is good—this is getting all those little clogged pores.”

Rizos Curls Biotin Shampoo

Rizos Curls Biotin Conditioner

Youth to the People Superfood + Niacinamide Body Cleanser

Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment

What beauty or self-care favorites do you use regularly to help combat work fatigue?

All types of skincare! I use a lot of Youth to the People. I really like their niacinamide retinol. My skin is really sensitive, so it will quickly peel with a lot of other retinols that are stronger, but with this one, it’s really hydrating, so it doesn’t cause me to peel, but I can still tell a difference. I’ll use it and I’ll see my complexion gets a lot brighter. I’ve been really into the Sunday Riley Good Genes Serum. I also really like the Vitamin C serum from Beauty Stat—you feel it working as soon as you put it on. I love makeup too. I’ve been using MAC since I was in high school—if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. For some of their products, I’m like, dude, I haven’t been able to find better. But I really like their eyeliner, the black liquid one, and then I also really like some of their blushes. I have it on right now! I really like the Patrick Ta lip liners right now, too, along with Topicals lip gloss. That’s my everyday. I literally have it in my purse. I use it like Chapstick. It’s so good.

Your brand is all about hair, of course, and you have a fabulous head of hair yourself. When you’re in a rush, what’s your go-to simple hair routine?

I actually posted a 20-minute curl routine for when I’m like, “Girl, you ain’t got no time.” It pretty much includes our Multivitamin Leave-In, our Curl Custard, and our Strong-Hold Gel. From there, you either air dry or diffuse dry it immediately. But I think my biggest thing that I’ve learned during all the years of getting to know my hair is that your routine is just as important as the products you use. A lot of people will complain about volume, but then I’ll see them work on their hair, soaking wet and brushing it down, and they aren’t allowing their roots to have any volume! I don’t ever create a part while my hair is wet. I’ll start sectioning and adding product, and then when I dry, I dry upside down so that when it dries, you don’t actually have a part.

And then obviously for updos, I use our new Sleek Styling Creme Wand, and I’m obsessed. It’s really moisturizing and has such good hold. One of my big things about this product was ensuring that, especially when I’m on the go and I’m using it near my hairline, it’s not going to clog my pores and not break me out. It’s not going to dry anything out to the point that these little baby hairs are breaking or anything. So it’s made with hyaluronic acid, lactic acid, willow bark extract, and, of course, hibiscus. It literally doesn’t leave my purse.

Rizos Curls Heat Protection Multivitamin Leave-In

Rizos Curls Curl Custard

Rizos Curls Travel Size Strong Hold Gel

Rizos Curls Sleek Styling Cream + Taming Wand

What was the last beauty product you put on today?

I actually tried the Sacheu Lip Peel Liner. It’s viral on TikTok, and you put it on and you leave it on for 10 minutes, and then you peel it off. So I have that on as my lip liner today. I was really impressed by it. Granted, I put lipstick on over it, but I think I’m going to buy more colors for it. It’s really good.

Sacheu Stay-N-Peel Off Lip Liner Tattoo

Do you ever light candles or incense to decompress?

Yes! There are so many cool bougie candle brands that I love. Lowkey, my favorite are the Bonita Fierce Candles. I love very nostalgic smells if that makes sense. The founder of Bonita makes them at home, and she’ll have a Café con Leche scent, which literally smells like coffee. There’s another one called Abuela’s Bakery, which literally smells like I baked a cake in my house.

Bonita Fierce Azúcar Candle

Are there other Latino-specific businesses that you admire that you’re fans of and you purchase from? Or who has inspired you as you’ve been in the entrepreneur space?

When we partnered with Kids of Immigrants to do United for Immigrants, over 180 brands ended up joining us, and the majority of them were POC owned. Through that, I discovered so many more really amazing small businesses, from jewelry brands to custom jersey brands like Hood Baby LA. She literally makes any jersey, but she’ll make it really cool! I was wearing one just last week.

Dezi Skin was a part of it as well, and I bought a bunch of her products. She had this cosmetic bag, too, that I thought was literally perfect. We actually made a huge listicle shopping guide throughout the process to keep track of all the different brands that were participating and what kind of products they had—I’m literally using that list as my Christmas list to shop for people this year.

Dezi Skin Carry-On Bag

What’s the last fitness class you streamed or attended in person?

I like to do Barry’s Bootcamp and then also some of the local Pilates reformer classes in my neighborhood. Something new that I’ve tried, which one of my friends who’s a trainer started, is this app called RAIZE. It’s a training app, and because I travel a lot, it will help me create a routine that will cater to where you are and what I have near me, whether it’s a hotel gym or I’m doing it at home. It helps me find a good workout really quickly when I’m out and on the go, and there’s always an instructor showing you how to do everything, too.

What’s one piece of self-care advice you’d give our readers?

One big thing that I try to do as much as possible is simply having grace for yourself. Especially if you grow up more of a people pleaser, you always end up giving yourself the short end of the stick. Someone gave me advice once that was to treat yourself as if you were your own child—what kind of decisions would you make for yourself if Julissa were actually your daughter? Would you create more boundaries and maybe not overwork her? How would you trust her to make sure that she’s always good, even if you do ask a lot of her? Are you going to reward her later? Essentially, that really changed my perspective on how I treat myself and how I show up for myself. It’s crazy how different my decision-making becomes when I start thinking about if I had a daughter—would I want this for her or not?

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.