Rahua

An Ecuadorian heritage oil sourced from a single specific Amazon rainforest tree became the founding ingredient for a hair care brand launched in 2008. The brand buys the oil directly from indigenous couture communities who harvest the nut by hand. Fabian Ligwin and Anna Ayres co-founded Rahua in 2008 after Ligwin, a hair stylist with Ecuadorian heritage, travelled to the Amazon to study the hair rituals of the Quechua and Shua women who used the Rahua nut oil as a daily treatment. Ligwin negotiated direct supply agreements with the communities that paid them significantly above commodity rates for the oil, maintaining a verifiable fair trade, supply chain for the founding ingredient. The direct indigenous supply relationship was the commercial moat.