This July, L’Oréal USA and SalonCentric announced 2024’s Inclusive Beauty Fund Grant recipients—also known as our SalonCentric Beauty Blazers. According to Liliahn Majeed (Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, North America, L’Oréal Groupe), these extraordinary trailblazers are bringing products, services, and education to diverse communities across the nation and shaping a more inclusive future for the beauty industry.
With Hispanic Heritage Month kicking off this week, we wanted to spotlight a few inspiring Beauty Blazers who stand out as changemakers in the Hispanic-Latinx community—beginning with Dominican American social entrepreneur Carolina Contreras (@miss_rizos). As the founder of Miss Rizos (@missrizosus) and the owner of Miss Rizos Salon (@missrizossalonrd), Carolina has helped countless people fall in love with their natural hair texture. Her passion and dedication to creating a more inclusive beauty experience for her clients is nothing short of inspiring, and we’re honored to support her mission to “change the world one curl at a time.”
Ahead, learn more about Carolina’s journey into beauty entrepreneurship and discover how she was able to turn her afro-curly hair blog into a thriving business that celebrates hair diversity.
Disrupting the industry and challenging beauty norms are nothing new for social entrepreneur and activist Carolina Contreras. Known in the industry as “Miss Rizos,” Carolina has been advocating for people with Afro-textured hair for over a decade and has played a pivotal role in the natural hair movement.
Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the United States, Carolina returned to her birth country after graduating from college in order to reconnect with her roots. Upon returning to the Dominican Republic, Carolina felt inspired to start a blog (Missrizos.com) in 2011 that featured hair tutorials, tips, and empowerment for women with textured hair. She had no idea at the time that her blog and YouTube channel would give way to a natural hair revolution, catapulting her success to levels she never dreamed of.
Carolina has been featured in leading publications and news outlets, such as The New York Times, CNN, NPR, Forbes, and ELLE. She has a business certificate from Dartmouth, degrees in Political Science and French, and has participated in Sephora’s Accelerate Program and several other social entrepreneurship programs.
Courtesy of Missrizos.com
Carolina’s Natural Hair Journey
In an interview with Forbes, Carolina said that she’s always felt proud of her dark skin and African heritage, but has struggled with letting go of preconceived notions about her hair. It wasn’t until she moved back to the Dominican Republic that she made the decision to embrace her identity wholeheartedly and give up the idea that she needed her hair to be straight in order to feel beautiful.
While in the Dominican Republic, Carolina noticed that her hair wasn’t responding well to the warm, humid climate, and maintaining straight, salon-relaxed hair at the beach simply wasn’t working for her. She decided to take the leap into a “big chop,” an ultra-short haircut where all of the relaxed hair is cut off—creating a clean slate for natural hair to grow. This drastic change led her down a path of learning to love her hair and embracing its natural beauty.
Today, Carolina associates her hair with beauty and freedom. She takes pride in the fact that her confidence helps others in the curly hair community validate their own beauty and love themselves exactly as they are.
Instagram/@miss_rizos
About Miss Rizos Salon
In 2014, Carolina opened one of the first natural hair salons in Santo Domingo (Miss Rizos Salon DR) with the goal of creating a safe space to uplift people with curls, coils, and waves. Today, Miss Rizos Salon DR still serves as the official Miss Rizos headquarters and innovation lab for testing new curly products. The salon includes a color bar, mani-pedi stations, and a cafe bar.
According to Carolina, Miss Rizos Salon is a curly hair salon that uplifts women, combats stereotypes, and provides the tools and resources that women need to appreciate and celebrate their curls. She believes that beauty and haircare should go hand-in-hand with self-love and self-acceptance, and uses her salon and social media following to help redefine outdated beauty ideals.
Carolina opened her second curly hair salon in New York City (Washington Heights) in 2019, the same year that New York passed legislation banning hair texture discrimination in schools and workplaces. Miss Rizos Salon New York closed its doors in August 2024 as Carolina shifts her focus onto exciting new initiatives—like the Miss Rizos Foundation (@missrizosfoundation).
Instagram/@missrizosus
About Miss Rizos Haircare Products
Following the success of the Miss Rizos salons, Carolina went on to launch her own product line of curly haircare and styling products. She says that she created the Miss Rizos haircare collection to be “a reflection of the wisdom in beauty and identity cultivated over the years alongside our community.” The products feature ingredients that are unique to Afro-American roots and formulated to help strengthen, hydrate, and beautify curls.
Here are some of our personal favorites from her range of bestselling curly and coily hair products:
- My Own Muse Defining Mousse Styler: This 3-in-1 styling mousse with banana, quinoa, and tomato delivers shine, volume, and definition without any unwanted crunch.
- Rise & Shine Sapote Oil: A shine-boosting hair oil for coils, curls, and waves that seals in moisture and keeps the hair looking radiant and fresh.
Knot So Typical Detangling Leave-In Conditioner: Formulated with sapote oil, slippery elm, and marshmallow root, this leave-in conditioner detangles and hydrates curls, coils, and waves. - Deeply Healing Restorative Hair Treatment: A conditioning treatment with muru muru, sapote, and tomato that repairs and deeply moisturizes the hair.
Instagram/@missrizosfoundation
The Miss Rizos Foundation
The Miss Rizos Foundation was created in 2021 with a vision to combat racial and gender discrimination, and help empower Black and Latinx girls. Since its launch, the Miss Rizos Foundation has impacted the lives of more than five thousand girls, and continues to fight for the economic development of girls and women in the Dominican Republic.
The foundation’s main activities include workshops on identity, natural beauty, and self-confidence, and comedy shows that uplift curly hair. They also collaborate with various local projects, such as the "Soy Niña, Soy Importante" Camp and the non-profit Latinas & Líderes.
Instagram/@miss_rizos
SalonCentric: What’s one thing that people should know about you?
Carolina Contreras: I represent the Afro-Latina community, who are often not included in beauty conversations. I love being able to play a role in empowering women to love their curly hair, while wearing my curls with so much pride and responsibility.
SC: Has your identity influenced your journey as a salon owner and stylist?
CC: My identity has absolutely contributed to my work. There’s something really special about being from a beautiful island like the Dominican Republic and to carry our language, hair customs, and ingredients into the work I do is really meaningful. My brand is bilingual and, therefore, the brand is infused in all its forms with our language and colloquial expressions. There aren’t a lot of Afro-Latinas or Dominicans in this category, so I am here to show the world we exist and to hold the door open for other beauty entrepreneurs that look like me.
SC: What inspired you to open your own curly hair salon?
CC: What drove me to open a curly hair salon was the need for spaces that made women that look like me feel seen and validated. I created a place that I wish existed for me and my sisters. When I opened our first salon in 2014, I was super committed to creating a safe haven where people with curls could learn how to care for their hair at home, feel empowered, and look great. I always said that the proof of my success would be measured by how many more curly hair salons other women would open, and today, there are many more.
SC: Is there a Miss Rizos product you’re especially fond of?
CC: While it’s hard to pick a favorite, I’m obsessed with our leave-in conditioner, Knot So Typical. It’s just super slippery and, therefore, helps with detangling the hair. The ingredients in this product are so good, especially the sapote oil. This product also pairs well as a primer with your favorite mousse, gel, or cream for juicer, more defined, and shinier curls. It also smells so delicious and transports you to a beautiful beach.
SC: If you could go back in time, what professional advice would you give your younger self?
CC: I would tell my younger self to be more cautious about the people she enters into a partnership with. I would trust my gut more, but otherwise, I feel like I learned from the mistakes and grew from the wins, so all the things that I went through were necessary.
Looking for more inspiration from other Hispanic-Latinx entrepreneurs in the hair industry this Hispanic Heritage Month? Head to this artist spotlight on beauty pioneer and Lasio Professional founder Nadine Ramos.
Header image credit: Instagram/@miss_rizos & @missrizosus
