IT’S EARTH MONTH – SIMPLE STEPS FOR YOUR HAIRDRESSING BUSINESS TO TAKE
We hear a lot about how to reduce our carbon emissions, including amazing tech solutions. But there still seems to be a lack of awareness that we can tackle both nature and climate simultaneously. Whilst not everthying you can do to address climate change is good for nature, pretty much everything you can do for biodiversity is also good for climate. Creative HEAD magazine asked us for some ideas about this for the April issue ( April is Earth Month) so here is what we told them…
“How to get Started – how to reduce your hairdressing business’s negative impact on nature as well as your impact on climate at the same time. Applies to salon/space owners, individual hairdressers whether employed or freelance. Because saving the planet is something everyone can help with!
Because hair salons and freelancers generally don’t own or manage huge areas of land or have private nature reserves (!), then the major impact and difference we can make is through our suppliers.
Here’s a check list of “nature positive” actions arranged by nature/climate impact.
Stop forest destruction. Not just in the Amazon, South east Asian and African rain forests but closer to home as well. Help save rare species like orang utans and bonobos, as well as the trillions of plants and animals that make up the ecosystems that support human society. And of course essential for absorbing and retaining carbon.
What you can do:
Ditch paper and card price lists, appointment cards, loyalty cards etc. All the well known salon software brands can do this digitally much better and paper free via your and your clients’ mobiles and devices.
Go paper free with your books and accounts too. Small business accounting software can do this for you.
Check your colour house/product supplier for FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and ROSPA (Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil) accreditation. With these there is less chance that original tropical rainforests and temperate old growth forests have been trashed to produce their products and packaging. Palm oil is in almost everything but alternative oils use up even more land, so banning palm oil is not a solution. Just need to use less!
Ditto if you use compostable towels. Several of the best known brands have impressive accreditations including FSC which is important because these towels are made from trees! But check before you buy because one or two say the right things but don’t have independent certification. Danger of greenwashing.
Consider using a mineral based building industry by product manufactured meche instead of aluminium foils. (That was a mouth full! I think there is one brand available.) The manufacture of aluminium foils includes a proportion of virgin aluminium. There are NO foils made from 100% recycled aluminium, despite what some wholesalers tell us! The raw material for aluminium is bauxite, sourced mainly in open cast mines in tropical Africa and South America, sometimes involving human rights abuses as well as forest destruction.
Reduce waste and pollution which kills marine (and freshwater) life. And which reduces the capacity of our oceans to absorb CO2.
What you can do:
Check your product supplier for the type of plastic packaging they use, whether you can return it and whether they offer a refill service. Whether they support one of the plastic reclamation schemes like Plastic Bank. Some manufacturers use glass or aluminium, better for nature although fairly heavy on energy use in the manufacturing process.
Minimise the amount of plastic microfibres you release into the environment by avoiding microfibre products such as microfibre towels and by using a microfibre collection device in your washing machine. Microfibres are everywhere, literally, including your body!
Use one of the colour software products on the market which help you reduce colour waste. Unless you use one of the 100% organic planet and people friendly brands ( mainly smaller, less well known) colour waste contains nasty chemicals that kill wildlife, which reduces the capacity of the oceans to absorb carbon. There is also a comprehensive colour management product available which, if used correctly, will reduce waste to zero. Or just take care, measure your waste in a bowl and make sure you use less!
And squeeze every last drop from the colour tube!
Make sure your recycling service accepts and cleans used foils and colour tubes. If they don’t then these aluminium products will be incinerated or sent to land fill (God knows where!). There are several very well known hair and beauty specialists, check their websites for the details.
Stop cruelty to animals and go veggie or vegan.
Scientists tell us that the single most important thing we can do to reduce our carbon emissions is to reduce the amount of meat and dairy products we eat. (Just so you know, its cow burps more than farts that do the damage!) Indoor and battery farming are cruel and even outdoors and free range, cattle and chickens are deprived of a natural herd or flock life. Eg all or most male offspring slaughtered at birth. (So this is a good thing I hear you say!)
What you can do:
Use oat milk instead of cow milk. Oat milk is better for the environment than most of the others. Pea milk is good apparently, but I never see it in the supermarket!
Look out for the Leaping Bunny certification on all sorts of products. This guarantees that no new animal tests were used in the development of any product displaying it. The logo can be seen on packaging, advertising, and websites for refreshments as well as cosmetics and cleaning products.
Raise awareness and support nature conservation charities.
What you can do:
You can of course make a donation or sign up as a sponsor (your local county wildlife trust will have a business sponsors’ scheme) but maybe a better idea is to organise a charity hair do day with all proceeds going to the wildlife charity. We used to do this at Anne Veck salons and it was always successful.
Shout about everything you are doing to be more sustainable, to reduce your carbon emissions and to be more nature positive. Think about this as part of your marketing mix. Your clients will love it and tell their friends.
Get your team (if you have one) on board. Talk about what you are doing with your clients and with maybe a million or more people having their hair done every week, that’s potentially a powerful force for change!
For more info and support
Get hold of Anne Veck’s sustainable hairdressing tool kit: either Freelance RE:Source or Salon RE:Source. Everything ( well almost) you need to know! Here are the links:
Salon version bit.ly/SalonReSourceUK
Freelancer version bit.ly/3zOdCJE
Check out the Anne Veck Nature Positive Business Plan. The only nature plan in the world written by a small business to be endorsed by Business for Nature. We are feeling lonely, if we can do this, so can you!
Have a look at the Nature Positive Business Pledge. The blueprint for going nature positive. We used it to write our plan.
Join the UK Business & Biodiversity Forum. A “safe space” for businesses of all sectors and sizes to exchange ideas and information on including nature friendly practices into your business.
