OCOA Beauty is taking its curly hair care brand to the next level. Known for their curly hair products like Curl Care Shampoo and Conditioner, the brand is now becoming more accessible to its communities.
Remezcla* was able to chat with Nicol Varona Cancelmo, one of the Latina co-founders of OCOA Beauty, about its foundation, the product’s clean formula, and their next step in reaching more Latin American communities. Nicol owns OCOA Beauty with her sister, Cory Varona-Corniel.
OCOA’s name stems from the Varona sisters’ birthplace and their mother’s hometown in the Dominican Republic, making the whole business journey an ode to their family’s upbringing.
Growing up, Nicol says her hair was known as “pelo malo,” translated to “bad hair,” making her business’s curly hair journey personal. In 2003, she moved to the U.S. and as she “assimilated” into a new culture, she would hide her curly hair by straightening it.
Things started to change when she discovered that you could get a “curly haircut,” which led her to pinpoint the exact ingredients that she’s putting on her curly hair. This all led and inspired the sisters to make their own curly hair brand in 2017, officially starting the company in 2018 and later launching it in 2021. The brand was later rebranded as OCOA Beauty two years later.
“We’re bringing the curly hair care and the ingredients that we grew up with in the Dominican Republic that are so well known for the benefits of really good scalp care and bringing shine to the hair without bad ingredients,” she told Remezcla about the brand’s foundation and formula.
“We wanted to make sure that we made it clean. That was the other aspect, the clean formulas that we felt that were not available in the Latino community [in the U.S.].” Some of those ingredients include mango butter instead of shea butter or coconut oil; they also use hibiscus flower extract, aloe, and flax seeds, all inspired by her upbringing in the DR.
Beyond wanting her product’s consumers to understand what clean ingredients work for their curly hair, Nicol also wants people to feel proud of their natural hair—just like she is representing Dominican beauty hair products.
When asked what she’d tell her 10-year-old self about her curly hair journey and business, she said: “She would be so proud and incredibly just so honored to represent Dominican beauty in a way that it wasn’t known as before. I think just because, again, you hear the Dominican blowout, things like that, but now it’s like we’re bringing curly hair care with Dominican heritage. I think she would be so proud, so honored to represent Dominican beauty in a different way.”
Now the Varona sisters’ OCOA Beauty is taking the next step to reach more Latines on their self care journey when it comes to their curly hair.
After doing “everything themselves,” they decided to make their products more accessible to their community through Amazon. “Amazon is highlighting the fact that we are an emerging brand that’s also tied to a broader community,” she said before also adding. “I think that was really important for us to take that step so that more people in our community could really access our products.”
As if that wasn’t enough, another way they’re helping their community with their brand is through their blog, which has hair tutorials, tips, and overall how to use their products depending on your needs.
Check out OCOA Beauty products via their official website and over at Amazon as part of their Valentine’s Day storefront for 2026.
This Remezcla interview with Nicol Varona Cancelmo about OCOA beauty was conducted by Trending Editor Lyra Hale and written up by Jeanette Hernandez.
