IT’S EARTH MONTH. WHAT CHANGES WILL YOU MAKE?

Clients and team members are increasingly asking tough questions around sustainability. It might seem a mountain to climb, but small steps can start big changes. See what these salon bosses are doing to ensure a greener future…

MIRRORS ARE MARVELS TO GET CLIENTS ONBOARD!

Heather (left) and Chloe

HEATHER BAKER AND CHLOE WILSON

MASTERS OF CRAFT, LEEDS

Our clients become more informed as we talk about initiatives such as recycling our hair waste through Green Salon Collective, or how Davines has a regenerative institute for organic farming at its headquarters in Italy, or how our Ecohead taps save water.

Recently, we took part in a pilot by Green Salon Collective called Mirror Talkers. Stickers featuring beauty-related questions (such as such as ‘do you always need to use conditioner?’) and a QR code were put on the mirrors. This opened discussion between stylist and client around ways to reduce water and energy usage in the home. The client could scan the QR code and access facts and information about simple changes that could make a big difference.

When you collaborate with brands that have great initiatives and invest in research and development, you can access a resource-rich bank of knowledge that you can’t help but share. Clients love to hear it because it’s relevant. They want to implement change and the success stories we share show positive change is happening.

Making better lifestyle choices can start with the smallest of changes. It’s a journey and it doesn’t matter where you start.

FILL HER UP! ADD A REFILL STATION

MELENIE TUDOR,

EN ROUTE HAIR & BEAUTY, WAKEFIELD

I wanted to introduce a product refill station for customers to reuse, recycle, and refill their empty Schwarzkopf Professional bottles. Ahead of the launch, we surveyed more than 100 customers and 75 per cent indicated they would be very likely to bring their bottles back for refill. Since launch, our refill station has given fresh life to more than 400 shampoo and conditioner bottles. We offer a 20 per cent discount on the RRP for refills.

To promote the refill station, we celebrate significant sustainability days in the year such as Recycling Week, Plastic Free July and Earth Day to encourage conversations around reducing waste and recycling. We use posters around the salon and we talk to clients about the benefits of refilling. We’ve been in our local press too, and we often host sustainability talks within the community – at schools, the local library and the golf club. This is a great opportunity to talk about our recycling efforts, especially the refill station.

Last year we sold 266 individual refills of shampoo or conditioners. That came to £3,200, which was about nine per cent of all our retail revenue. It’s increasing all the time, and clients appreciate the discount.

Melissa Timperley

MELISSA TIMPERLEY

MELISSA TIMPERLEY SALON, MANCHESTER

We recognised the need to minimise plastic waste in our industry and saw an opportunity to introduce the AUTHENTIC BEAUTY CONCEPT refill bar. It aligns seamlessly with our ethos of sustainability and conscientious consumerism. The bar operates on a simple yet powerful principle: bring back your empty shampoo and conditioner bottles, and we’ll refill them with your customised product blend. The response from our clients has been overwhelmingly positive. Not only do they appreciate the convenience and cost-effectiveness of the refill service, but they also feel a sense of fulfilment knowing they’re contributing to a cleaner, healthier planet. To encourage continued engagement, we offer clients a 10 per cent discount for refill users rewarding them for their commitment to reuse.

When discussing the refill service with clients, we emphasise the dual benefits of supporting a brand committed to the environment and receiving a premium, tailor-made product. We highlight the use of post-consumer recycled plastic and recyclable wood-based labels. Clients enjoy the personalised touch of having their product created before their eyes, complete with a handwritten label from their stylist. It’s a bespoke service that resonates with our clientele, elevating their salon visit from routine to memorable.

Our refillable service isn’t just about reducing waste – it’s about reshaping consumer habits and fostering a deeper connection to sustainability. With each refill we are making strides towards a cleaner, greener future.

DESIGN ME A SALON… BUT MAKE IT ECO!

ADAM REED

ARKIVE BY ADAM REED, COVENT GARDEN 2023 MOST WANTED SESSION STYLIST

When we were designing the salon, it was important for us to create a space that would be a creative hub to showcase our team, our ethics and our beliefs.

It wasn’t an option to choose between style or sustainability. The interior has been well thought out to make sure we deliver the ultimate client experience and show our strong brand values and sustainable ethos, in even the smallest detail. We worked with the sustainability focused designer OSP (Object, Space, Place) which has pioneered a Restorative Design Framework based on the principles of a circular economy, and aims to design-out waste and pollution, keep natural resources in use and minimising your carbon footprint. We have also worked alongside Bioregional to become accredited in creating a more sustainable workplace. Our approach of sourcing and upcycling furnishings from the past sit perfectly in the space. Design wise we have upcycled nearly all our salon furnishings, from our original 1950s Danish styling stations, with refurbished Takara Belmont chairs, to our original G Plan table and chairs in the heart of the salon’s lower ground floor.

We’ve worked closely with L’Oréal Professionnel Paris as a partner in the pilot scheme in collaboration with Net Zero Salon. The overarching goal is to certify us as a net zero salon. This affiliation has given us the tools to be able to calculate our emissions and provide and gain valuable feedback on where we can reduce and change behaviour to become net zero as a business. This data is collected from our energy suppliers right through to everything we purchase, even down to how we travel to work. I’m also proud to be a global ambassador for Green Salon Collective, it’s always to try and find a circular solution for our waste.

We ask each client to add £1 to their bill specifically to contribute to our sustainability projects. This allows our clients to engage with what we are doing and encourages them to be part of our mission.

TALK RUBBISH WITH YOUR ASSISTANTS!

MICHAEL SMITH,

TRISTAN EVES, PETWORTH

Sustainability is not a token gesture for us, it’s what we do instinctively. We work with Green Salon Collective, which suggests charging a supplement to cover the cost of recycling. We don’t do that, because as far as I’m concerned, our customers should expect us to be doing all this. It’s not an extra, it’s our responsibility.

It’s a mindset that we work hard to ingrain into all the staff – a constant daily reminder. It has surprised me that younger staff can come in with no idea what can or can’t be recycled. There is an awful lot of education needed, so we have a notice up: “Let’s talk about rubbish”, which spells out what it costs us to recycle everything and dispose of rubbish and how it impacts on the business in every way, as well as the environment.

We remind them that recycling is not easy for us – we have no space for the local council bins and can’t go to the tip as that’s only for consumer waste. I’ve worked with the council, and it gave me a list of local businesses with recycling bins. One was another hairdresser and we agreed we would share the costs and double the size of the bins. The juniors don’t like the job of traipsing through town with arms full of plastic bottles, but it’s what we need to do and, as a result, they are very conscious of getting rid of stuff!

PLANT MILK AND TOWELS REALLY MATTER!

BREE DAVIE AND MAGGIE MASSEY

TREVOR SORBIE SALONS

We have worked with L’Oréal Professionnel Paris on its Hairstylists for the Future initiative, and our Bristol and Manchester salons are part of its Net Zero Salon pilot. These have given us confidence in the decisions that we were already making. We knew we needed to make improvements with waste and energy, but there was so much more, for example how your team commutes to work being part of your carbon footprint.

Also considering the impact of guests using dairy – all those milky coffees! – instead of a plant-based alternative, and passing on the education to our guests.

A study by Green Salon Collective gave us the confidence to return to reusable towels. We now use microfibre Phantom towels, which come out of the wash 95 per cent dry and are more absorbent than cotton, using far less energy. With Net Zero Salon, at the end of the three-year period, you only get a certificate if you’ve done everything you should. That certificate helps with authenticity, because we didn’t want to do any kind of greenwashing.

It’s company policy that every team member is signed up to L’Oréal Access and completes the e-learning modules that are part of Hairstylists for the Future programme. It’s nicely broken down into bite-sized chunks, and it helps to hear another voice to understand the impact of what they’re doing, even how they’re washing their colour bowls.

We are trialling Recycle My Salon in Bristol, and that’s been quite phenomenal, being able to put metal tubes and foils into one bin, and hair into another. In Bristol and Manchester we’re piloting Water Saver shower heads from L’Oréal Professionnel Paris, and now rolling it out wider. To other salons, we would offer encouragement – you don’t have to fix it in a day.