*This is a sponsored post and I was paid to write this review. I was also gifted these items, but all opinions are my own.
As I noted above, I was paid a small amount to write this review of Viori Shampoo and Conditioner bars. I so very rarely get paid to do this work so I want to say a special thank you to Chase and the folks at Viori who recognize my efforts and paid me for my time. That being said, I will try to be as unbiased as possible when writing this review. But lucky for me, these shampoo and conditioner bars are pretty good!
First off, if you have yet to hear about this brand, they use Longsheng rice water as their “secret” ingredient to repair and rejuvenate hair. This rice water has been used by the Red Yao people of China, who are known for their beautiful hair. They work directly with them to make sure the Red Yao tribe are paid fairly, and they do a giveback program as well to ensure it isn’t an exploitative relationship.
The shampoo and conditioner bars come in beautifully wrapped cardboard that has a gorgeous origami quality to it that I instantly loved. It’s such an unusual way to package a shampoo bar and makes it great for gifting! The conditioner bar (the square one) is wrapped in a simpler paper package. My gift also included a bamboo soap holder that looks like those dim sum steamer basket. TBH I never used it because it’s bulky and I wasn’t a fan of the look (it’s too kitsch IMO). After taking a quick glance at the reviews of this on Sephora, a lot of people said the soap holder gets moldy because it doesn’t really dry out well. So my advice to you is skip the soap holder (and my advice to Viori is to get rid of it from your line-up).
This is wrong by the way, the shampoo is the circular one and the conditioner is the rectangle.
As for the products themselves, I’m a fan of the conditioner first and foremost. Many of the conditioner bars I’ve tried just doesn’t hold their moisture (or whatever makes the conditioner condition). This is the first that I’ve tried that will stay conditioning from the first use to the last sliver. The one that I used first has some fragrance but it’s not too overpowering once it’s rinsed off. But if you’re sensitive to smells, they also offer an unscented version.
As for the shampoo, it took some getting used to. It doesn’t lather as much as I’m accustomed to for a shampoo bar. But it also isn’t as drying, which is nice. It leaves my hair clean, though a tad flat (but then again I’ve been using “volumizing” shampoo with who-knows-what kind of chemicals). At least these shampoo bars are paraban and pthalate-free, and I feel safe using them on my daughter. As for me, I didn’t really see any noticeable hair regrowth from using this (but honestly, my hair loss is a runaway train that nothing is really helping—maybe it’s time to look into wigs lol).
Overall I think these are great shampoo and conditioner bars for the average user, and I think they’re better than your average shampoo and conditioner bars!