The Amazon's Secret To Strong And Healthy Hair

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

From the Amazon jungle to the top hairdressing salons in Manhattan and Los Angeles, in our Beauty Innovators series of articles we discover Latino entrepreneurs who are succeeding in the world of beauty with their brands of natural, clean and sustainable cosmetics.

The first protagonist is Fabián Lliguin, co-founder with his wife, Anna Ayers, of a hair care line that you have surely seen in your favorite store or in fashion magazines, but perhaps you do not know the history of the product and the Rahua seed, the ingredient that started it all. Read on to find out.

When and how did the idea of creating this brand arise?

It was a process, after working in my hairdressing salon in Manhattan for many years I wanted to do something different, help solve big problems and help my people. I am of Inca descent, I was born and raised in Ecuador, I have seen with my own eyes the destruction of the beautiful Amazon jungle. [That is why] I founded the organization ECOAGENT (ecological agents) to travel to the jungle and be able to minimize destruction, help my indigenous people and request financial aid from other organizations. During these trips I discovered Rahua oil, revered [by indigenous people] as the best for hair and brought it to my salon in New York. I did a lot of research and developed products in principle just for my New York clients. They were very happy, they had healthier and more beautiful hair. They supported me a lot, I am very grateful.

What is Rahua's flagship product?

The classic shampoo. Rahua is a superior quality hair oil and in order to manufacture products with this ingredient it is necessary to reflect the superior quality, so I considered it unfair to use common chemical ingredients to mix and formulate the shampoo. I decided to use the best and cleanest ingredients possible and reject the chemical ingredients. [In addition] we were the first to use palo santo, with a beautiful fragrance and very effective for preserving the product and, of course, being completely natural and organic it does not contain parabens.

How does Rahua help the Indigenous community specifically?

The key ingredients are made in the heart of the jungle by indigenous women who use the same traditions and rituals as their ancestors. These ingredients are very good and highly respected scientifically, the natural power to repair hair and skin in my opinion are the best in the world and are much better than any other ingredient, they are pure, symbiotic and organic ingredients. And if it is not for the jungle and the ancestral methods are not the same, without the jungle their effectiveness decreases, that is why the jungle and the communities are important, without them there is no magic. We travel and buy the oil from the families [who live] in the jungle, I pay them very well, I demand good quality. With the money they earn in the jungle they now send their children to study outside, to school, and many girls go to college. For the families that work with me, rahua is a fantastic financial aid.

How do you think being Latino has influenced you as a beauty professional and as an entrepreneur?

I am technically Latino and because I speak Spanish, but I consider myself more indigenous than Latino, I am pre-American, my ancestors have lived here before this is America. This knowledge has helped me a lot, my parents' habits, hard work and honesty take time, but they pay very well.