Being non-toxic isn’t just about the ingredients in the products but also what the products are housed in. Plastic leaches into products so your favorite shampoo or face wash in a plastic bottle is harboring those chemicals (especially if they get hot during transit) turning your favorite non-toxic product into an endocrine disruptor.
I have been searching HIGH and LOW for quality hair products that: work, are sustainable, and non-toxic.
INSERT: Viori
Before I chat about Viori’s beautiful products, I want to share some insight and background starting with their mission and where they source their ingredients and inspiration from.
Viori’s mission is to partner with the Red Yao Tribe on projects they believe will help their communities thrive. They work directly with the Red Yao Tribe to initiate projects they believe aim to bring about economic prosperity, ecological harmony, cultural preservation, and social wellbeing for their tribe. They call this their ‘Beautiful Reason,’ : Viori’s reason for existence, and your reason to feel good and to feel beautiful as you buy and use Viori’s beauty products.
You’re probably wondering who the Red Yao Tribe and women are. I started looking around on Google and found this: “The Red Yao women of Longji (China) are noted for their long hair. They are the most famous of about 20 “Yao” people groups. Tourists like to visit their beautiful terraced rice fields and tribal villages and to stay to experience their agrarian culture.”[1] The Red Yao women were also featured in Vogue.
Vogue wrote a beautiful article that was extremely insightful here is an excerpt from the article and you can read the full piece here.
“A thousand miles from Beijing, the village of Huang Luo in China’s Guangxi Region is famous for the dramatically long hair worn by its female residents. As legend has it, thousands of years ago a girl from the local Yao tribe literally whipped an unwelcome suitor with her hair, and to this day many of the Yao women cut their hair only once in their lives: When they are 18 it is shorn in a public ceremony. After that, the locks are left to grow to exuberant lengths, with the cutoff hair woven back into an elaborate coiffure. Unmarried women tuck their hair into a head scarf; married women favor a wrapped-up style with a large bun at the front.
These manes require special maintenance. The hair is washed—lowered, really—into rice water that has been combined with a few other organic ingredients. The mixture is boiled in a pot and then poured into an enamel bowl; a wooden comb is used to methodically work the solution into the hair from tip to root. This routine is said to be the reason for the hair’s preternatural shine and luster, and the way it remains pitch-black even when the possessor is quite elderly.”[2]
How beautiful is that?! This is where Viori gets their rice and inspiration for their shampoo and conditioner bars.
VIORI: ALL NATURAL, LONGSHENG RICE SHAMPOO BARS
All Viori products contain the same, ritually-prepared Longsheng rice water used by the Red Yao for centuries. They work directly with the Red Yao to purchase their ancient rice, at a premium, in order to create a long-term, sustainable partnership.
With over 2700 reviews the Citrus Yao Shampoo Bar was my go-to for testing them out and ever since I have been HOOKED! It also captured my attention that it is best for normal to oily hair since I get an oil build up around my crown.
What I loved even more though are the ingredients. It is a fresh, citrus-scented shampoo bar straight from the baskets of the Red Yao fruit stands. They are handcrafted with the same Longsheng Rice, natural ingredients, and beauty rituals used by the Red Yao for centuries. Viori™ shampoo bars are sulfate-free, paraben-free,  phthalates-free, pH balanced, natural, 100% vegan, plastic-free, sustainable, cruelty-free, and ethically sourced. It was literally EVERYTHING I was looking for in a product. Remember at the beginning when I chatted about plastic chemicals leaching into your favorite non-toxic products? This solved that problem and it is a high-quality product that works.
Another thing that caught my eye was on their website they have fragrance listed as an ingredient. That’s when I felt like “Ah! I knew it was too good to be true.” However, as I kept reading I found that they actually disclose WHAT their fragrance is made from.
*This fragrance oil is infused with natural essential oils, including grapefruit, orange, lemon, mandarin, peach, and vanilla. This fragrance is made with natural and/or natural-equivalent compounds. Our fragrances are 100% free from parabens, phthalates, carcinogens, reproductive toxins, mutagens, organ toxins, acute toxins, prop 65 chemicals, and any other potentially hazardous chemicals often found in fragrance. Our products and scents are 100% IFRA compliant.
HELL TO THE YES!!!
HOW IT HELPS YOUR HAIR
So let’s chat about what it does for your hair.
These wonderful, natural ingredients work with your body- not against it like other chemicals. It creates a synergy between you and the product that is as old as time. No wonder the Red Yao women have such beautiful and luxurious hair.
Longsheng Rice: renews, rejuvenates, repairs.
Cocoa Butter: conditions, softens, moisturizes.
Shea Butter: conditions, moisturizes.
Rice Bran Oil & Hydrolyzed Rice Protein: increases volume and shine, strengthens.
Aloe Vera: renews, rejuvenates, repairs, conditions, smooths, increases shine.
Bamboo: renews, rejuvenates, repairs, conditions, smooths, increases shine.
Honestly, this would be extremely hydrating to also use on your skin as well. Us women finally have an all in one like men do. But this one is good for you!
Each bar will last you between 30-60 washes depending on where you store it in the shower. They have a wonderful bamboo holder you can use to protect it from the direct line of water making it last longer.
After my first few washes using Viori I quickly started a subscription so I never ran out or have to go without. Having red hair and extensions there is already so much damage being done to my hair. I love knowing the product I’m using is not only helping my hair become stronger and shiner (even my hairdresser noticed!!) but is also sustainable and making an impact across the world!
Head over to Viori.com to learn more and place your order today!
And don’t forget to follow them on Instagram where they share wonderful product information and updates on the Red Yao tribe! I saw on their website too they are planning to offer group travel to visit the Red Yao tribe- I am SO excited for that!
Xoxo,
Mariah
RESOURCES:
[1] https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/nationality/yao.htm
[2] https://www.vogue.com/projects/13548460/women-of-huang-luo-china-long-hair-tradition
