With over 60% of professional hairdressers in the UK now self employed, we thought it was high time we produced a sustainable hairdressing tool kit for them. So we have!
Following the success of Salon RE:Source – the hairdressing industry’s multi-award-winning sustainability guide – there is now a BRAND NEW eco toolkit designed and launched by Anne Veck and Keith Mellen called Freelance RE:Source, aimed at self-employed hair professionals.
Freelance RE:Source brings together the invaluable advice and expertise of Salon RE:Source, with new and revised recommendations more applicable to a freelance way of working. Creators Anne and Keith consulted with a panel of experts from the freelance world, including Sheila Abrahams of the Freelance Hairdressers Association (FHA), Lacey Hunter-Felton co-working space visionary of Hunter Collective, Laraine Rose of Twelve Hair Design and Sarah Daglish from Rebel Rebel Hair Studio, an award-winning independent hairstylist with over 20 years’ experience. The over-arching aim is that the resulting guide will inspire self-employed hair and beauty professionals to make planet-friendly changes to their businesses.
Freelance RE:Source utilizes extensive research to provide the most up-to-date advice, products and services aimed at facilitating sustainable-minded adjustments. Presented in an easy-to-follow format, the toolkit features three sections:
• Quick Wins which are easy and low in cost.
• Next Steps which may require a little more effort and may involve a slightly higher cost.
• Major Changes which will require bigger investments in both time and money.
Anne suggests working through the guide, action by action, or dipping in and out, keeping a record of your efforts. Alternatively, simply dive in, perhaps tackling one action per week.
‘According to ecooffset.org the average hairdresser’s carbon emissions are 2 tonnes each year’ says Anne. ‘Multiply this by around 150,000 freelance hairdressers and barbers and that’s equal to 300,000 tonnes - nearly half as much as some small countries!’
‘We appreciate that you may not have control over everything we feature in the tool kit. For example, if you work in a collaborative space or rent space in a salon, your best action might be to persuade your colleagues or the owner that certain changes will be positive and will benefit everyone. Or, if you visit your clients in their homes, you have a great opportunity to influence them and discuss what you are doing to live a more sustainable life! If you are a session stylist working at fashion week, on set or on location, our ideas may inspire adjustments to the way you work and travel. But if you are working in your home salon, then pretty much everything in this guide will be relevant.’
Asked to select her three most impactful tips from the toolkit – for immediate, positive, world-changing results – Anne says ‘Use less hot water. Switch to green energy. And move to a sustainable and ethical hairdressing product supplier. If you do just three things, do these three, as they will make a big difference to several major challenges in one go.’
Hairstylist Sarah Daglish, who consulted on the toolkit, says: ‘Sustainability is something that I have focused on for a long time, and I love the fact that this is helping freelancers to be more sustainable. There are things I never even considered that are listed here.’
Freelance RE:Source can be downloaded free of charge HERE (Pssst did you know it’s a more sustainable option to have a link than emailing a document?)
Anne was interviewed by Louise Wood and for more information, pictures or quotes please contact Louise@lwpr.biz