5 Top Tips for more sustainable hairdressing, adapted from Green Salon Collective.
Just got an email from the indispensable Green Salon Collective which we have modified into this blog, featuring some comments and alternatives from us (that is Anne & Keith) at Anne Veck Sustainability.
We love hairdressing, but on the whole it can be a very unsustainable industry. From hair, foil and colour tubes, to CO2 emissions, empty product bottles, salons and “downstream” clients we have a big impact on the planet. But do not despair, here are some great tips from Green Salon Collective (with some comments from us).
1. Have you carbon offset your salon?
We can all take steps to be more sustainable and reduce our carbon footprint in the salon through recycling, using ecoheads, switching to renewable energy...but it's impossible to completely reduce your carbon footprint!
Once you've taken all the action you can within your hairdressing business, carbon offsetting can be a great way to help reduce the impact of the unavoidable emissions that you use to run your salon.
You can carbon offset your stylists/salon with Green Salon Collective and the incredible Eco Offset from just £20 per stylist.
And here at Anne Veck Sustainability we say, why not actually measure your carbon emissions for real? And then offset the actual amount instead of an estimate? Check our Salon RE:Source or Freelance RE:Source for how!
2. Go compost go!
Green Salon Collective's own brand Replant Compostable Salon Towels are made from plant-based materials, fully compostable, and can be reused in 6+ ways before meeting the compost heap!
Plus, research shows that if you use just one towel per client, single-use compostable salon towels are the most sustainable option for your salon!
Here at Anne Veck Sustainability we are asking the three most well known manufacturers of compostable towels (that’s Easydry, Scrummi and,of course, Replant) for details of what the plant based materials actually are and where they are grown. So far no one has replied! We would like to be sure that their compostable towels aren’t being made from nasty nature-negative eucalyptus plantations or alien pine plantations growing where old growth and ancient woodlands and forests used to be!
Watch this space, once we get answers we’ll share. In the mean time we agree with GSG that compostables are kinder to the planet than cotton, so carry on composting! Worms are our friends.
3.Foiled again?
Whilst hairdressing foils are indispensable for most salons, 98% of them across the UK are going to landfill or incineration! When they can be infinitely recycled with Green Salon Collective...
We would add...that means only 2% are recycled. Our research indicates this is probably an urban myth, so hopefully the % is a little higher. But it is still very low. Also did you know that it is not possible (at the moment at least) to manufacture foils entirely from recycled aluminium. A proportion of raw, virgin aluminium is always included. And aluminium is made from bauxite of which much is mined in open cast mines in tropical forests, involving human rights abuses with local indigenous people and destruction of forests, wildlife and of course significant release of CO2. Which is why, on balance, here at Anne Veck Sustainability we go for Paper Not Foil. This is something we mildly disagree about with GSG but really we need more research on both options. And what is true is that aluminium is almost 100% recyclable, over and over again. More about this fascinating topic in Salon RE:Source and Freelance RE:Source!
4. Let's Cut Out Landfill
What happens to all the strands of hair, pieces of foil and empty colour tubes that you or your salon generates every single day?
Are they going to landfill, where they can take hundreds of years to break down?
And we add, not to mention the methane gas emissions adding to global heating. So make sure you team up with Green Salon Collective (other waste collectors and recycling services are available but its GSC whose material we are using here so they deserve a bit of love from us so we aren’t mentioning the alternatives in this piece).
5. Are you properly tooled up?
We added this top tip ourselves. Get your own copy of Salon RE:Source or, if you are a freelancer, Freelance RE:Source, the must have tool kits for more sustainable hairdressing. Written to make it easier to make a difference and, we hope, to make you laugh a little too!
Happy planet. Anne & Keith x
