Nine years ago, during a silent meditation retreat in a temple in Jiangxi, China, I found myself without shampoo. My roommate — a quiet and kind woman — offered to share hers. The bottle had no label, no brand, no fragrance you’d recognize. Just a gentle, earthy scent of herbs that felt... calming. I didn’t expect much from it, but after one use, I was surprised. My scalp felt refreshed, my body light. It was as if something subtle had been reset.
Later, I learned that my roommate was a Daoist nun. She told me the wash was handmade at her temple, a herbal formula passed down orally for generations, boiled like a medicinal soup. It wasn’t created for sale. It wasn’t designed for the market. It simply existed because it worked — because nature, in its quiet way, heals.
That encounter stayed with me. It planted the seed for something I didn’t yet have a name for — only a feeling. A sense that care could be different: less about packaging, more about presence; less about invention, more about return.
Before we ever made shampoo, we were making moxa. We ran a small wellness studio focused on traditional Chinese healing, using mugwort to warm the body and awaken its natural energy. We struggled to find good-quality moxa, so we made our own — slow-burning, pure, and clean. Clients noticed the difference. Over time, they began asking about everything else: What do you put on your skin? What do you use on your hair? Can I buy that?
We didn’t start with a product idea. We started with people asking for something they felt but couldn’t find.
Years of wellness practice and meditation had made us more sensitive — not just in mind, but in body. We learned to listen to how our skin responded, how our senses reacted. Synthetic fragrances overwhelmed us. Harsh chemicals left us unsettled. But when something was natural, real, simple — the body knew. It responded not with drama, but with ease.
That’s why we’re selective, even stubborn, about what we use. Every ingredient must feel right, not just sound right. Every formula must be as minimal as possible, without sacrificing function. We don’t make a hundred things. We make a few — well, and with intention.
We don’t believe in mass production or manufactured demand. Our products are made in small batches, without waste, and without hype. We don’t chase trends. We don’t advertise widely. Most people find us through a friend, or a quiet moment of discovery. And that’s how we like it. Because it means they’re paying attention. It means they’re ready for something slower, something quieter, something more real.
What began as a temple remedy — a pot of herbs meant to cleanse and ground — has become something we now have the privilege to share. Not as a brand shouting into the world, but as a practice, passed gently from hand to hand.
If you’ve found your way here, thank you. It means more than we can say. This is for you — and for the way you choose to care.
Warmly,
The Founder
