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Ceremonia / Unsplash / Byrdie
It’s a picture-perfect day in Los Cabos, Mexico.
I’m sitting at a poolside table across fromBabba Rivera, founder of haircare brand Ceremonia.
Ceremonia / Unsplash / Byrdie
While it is not the typical setting for a beauty interview, our location is very intentional.
To celebrate this milestone, she has invited Byrdie to explore all that this beautiful property has to offer.
Rivera launched her brand in 2020 with just one product, the Aceite de Moska Hair Oil.
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However, spa culture was engrained in Ceremonia long before this collaboration came to fruition.
How the Brand Started
Growing up, beautyspecifically anything about hairwas a family affair for Rivera.
“My father was a hairdresser back in Chile,” Rivera says.
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Instead, he practiced on anyone who would let him, and I was an easy target.
We had a hairdresser chair in our apartment.
I grew up thinking every kid had this relationship with their dad."
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In my household,washing your hairwas a ritual.
It was something to look forward to, and it was done as a social activity.
I had a beautiful relationship with beauty at home, but then I became a teenager."
Sephora
Like many of us, Rivera became influenced by outside standards once she reached her teens.
“In Sweden, most people did not look like me.
So, the beauty standards that I grew up with were blonde, straight hair.
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I spent over a decade frantically damaging my hair.
I thought I wasn’t professional or put together enough if I wore my natural hair.
Rivera tells me reaching this breaking point planted the first seed for Ceremonia.
“I wanted to get the best version of my natural hair back,” she says.
“It became a beautiful journey for me to reconnect with my heritage.
For the longest time, I had been running away from my culture.
The journey of building Ceremonia was the first step in really reconnecting with my heritage.
And through that, I got the download from my family members about all these natural ingredients.”
You might assume it simply means taking an elevated approach to caring for your hair.
But I learned that it is a two-pronged mantra.
“It’s wellness for your body and the planet,” she explains.
“Ingredient transparency is at the core of everything we do.
We treat our formulas the same way you would treat food.
The second part refers to your relationship with yourself.
For Ceremonia, that all starts by creating sensorial products that mimic a spa-like experience.
“So, for me, if it’s going to happen, it has to be simple.
It’s about upgrading my products and turning them into impactful and joyful experiences.”
Below, discover the best-selling Ceremonia products, from the original hair oil to a luxurious scalp scrub.
It includes a guava pink headband, the best-selling Guava Hair Mask, and the Guava Leave-In Conditioner.
“I wanted to create something extremely aesthetically pleasing but still affordable.
The biggest concern we hear from our consumers isdrynessandfrizzdue to damage.
So, I wanted to create a duo that was the perfect gift.
These two products are my favorites and are meant to give you that sense of spa at home.”
Leave it on your hair for a few minutes, then rinse it off.
“By launching Aceite de Moska, I suggested people add this step before washing their hair.
It’s a heritage remedy derived from the Dominican Republic that we reimagined with clinically backed ingredients.
The formula contains 99% natural ingredients, and it’s super concentrated yet lightweight.”
Rivera wanted the Rescue Spray to be a product consumers would intentionally reach for.
“We set out to create a super spray,” she says.
Papaya Scalp Scrub
It’s very common for people to view washing their hair as a chore.
Rivera found herself experiencing the same feelings at certain times in her life.
Instead of accepting this, she turned it into an opportunity.
“I thought,What if we can turn that experience into a spa-like moment?”
“That’s why I talk a lot about sensorial products.
I want to upgrade people’s everyday experience with their haircare.”
The Papaya Scalp Scrub.
It’s a shampoo treatment that Rivera recommends using once a week instead of a regular shampoo.
“My biggest pet peeve withsulfate-free shampooswas that they didn’t lather.
People need that sensorial cue.
So I wanted to create a shampoo that was sulfate andsilicone-free, but that still had lather.
[Sure enough] our bestseller is the Guava Shampoo.”
