Do You Run A Salon Business? Make It Eco-Friendly With These Steps

You may be asking, “Okay, why should I shift to an eco-friendly version of my salon?” The short answer to that is money. I understand that going towards a green lifestyle can cost more, but for salon, sustainable practices saves your money. In fact, there are more environmentally friendly products at a competitive price nowadays, so you’re not going to drain your bank account.

Think about it. When you switch off the lights and unplug any unused appliances, you’re going to spend less money when it comes to electricity bills, right? Some people might say that what you’re doing is stingy, but hey, as long as it’s going to save the planet, why not?

For people who care about the environment, your salon will gain a new reputation. Being an eco-friendly salon means that you can have new marketing opportunities, and customers will turn to you. If your competitors haven’t greened up their salons, then this is a great chance to stand out. Here’s how you can do it.

Get the alternatives

reusable ceramic mugs like these are not only cute & eye candy, but also more eco-friendly

As a customer, I think it’s wonderful to be in a salon where you can have drinks, snacks, and magazines so you have something to kill the time when you’re waiting. While this is great for your customers, it might not be so for the environment, especially if you use disposable or single-use coffee cups or plastic plates.

While it’s undoubtedly convenient, since you don’t need to wash it, you’re not doing the environment any favor. Those items rarely or never get recycled, adding more trash pile to landfills. You might think that all single-use plastics that you use are recyclable but that’s not always the case.

So what you can do is get and use the reusable ones like mugs, hard plastic/ceramic cups, or glass. Should your customers need straws, go with the reusable or more eco-friendly ones like paper straws. They’re not hard to find, affordable, and they keep you from buying new ones (unless they’re broken).

This way, your customers will definitely notice that you’re taking steps towards a better environment.

Get your lights off most of the times

natural lit salon — your salon needs lighting, it’s better to incorporate both natural light and efficient indoor light

To start, switch to LED light bulbs because it has energy-saving properties. Those bulbs are pricier, but it lasts a lot longer so you’ll save money nonetheless. But that’s not all, you need to pay attention to where you put and how you use them.

First of all, lights are important to show your client’s hair, skin, and colors. Other than that, they should help the hairdressers work more than anything else. Therefore, it’s best to put those lights in areas where your clients are going to be. Make the lights in waiting room and front desk dimmer than the hairdressing area.

It’s also best if you utilize natural light as much as possible. This will be better if your salon has modern architecture where there are a lot of windows. With this, you can turn off your lights at day time or use only a minimum amount of light bulbs. I’ve been to a salon like this and they didn’t use a lot of lights, which is great.

Mirrors are effective to help lights bounce and pass around your salon, if you can place them correctly. If you feel like you’re not fit for this task, you can ask help from a friend of professionals who are adept at interior design or architecture.

To be extra green, decorate your salon with real plants. This way, you’ll have your own natural air filter, which is great because there will always be chemicals inside your salon. Plants will reduce stress and improve air quality, so you’ll provide your clients a calming outdoor feel inside the salon. It’s perfect for any kind of relaxing treatment or just a simple haircut.

Always encourage and remind your staff to turn off the lights when rooms are not used and turn them on only when needed. For your convenience, you can get motion-triggered lights that will only light up when someone is in the room.

Reach out to your supply chain

foil for hair — try to find the greener alternatives for your salon products like hair foil

When you have a beauty salon, you surely need suppliers to keep your business going, right? If what you’ve got right now isn’t exactly eco-friendly, then you can switch to the green ones. There are some which provide aluminium foils, color tubes, applicators, and more products which you can reuse and are easily recyclable.

I realize that not all parts of the world have an easy access to this. However, you can always get more eco-friendly alternatives. Or, go to social media like Facebook so you’ll find it. Pretty sure there are also salons who strive to be as green as possible.

Make a positive impact by reaching out to your supply chain. Tell them what kind of salon that you aim to be and the obstacles that hinder your goals. The more you encourage sustainability, your supplier might understand your concerns.

Do everything digitally when possible

digital salon app — be fancy, tech savvy, and eco-friendly with your own salon app

Nowadays, you can do anything digitally and so the need for paper becomes even less. What you can do with this is to remove any paper for transaction items like receipts, vouchers, coupons, and the likes.

Change paper printouts with email, text messaging, or if you’ve got more budget, your very own salon app that lets you do anything through smartphone. And when you need paper, because at times you simply need something printed like letters, get recycled or recyclable paper. Even better, print it with eco-friendly ink.

Encourage your customers to go paperless too. Kindly ask them to download your app and not print any kind of email or message. If your customers are hard to convince, you can resort to giving promotions and deals that involve anything green. For example, give them 15% discount when they download your salon’s app.

With this, you won’t only save money on paper. The environment will be happier, your customers also weill feel like they make a change, no matter how big or small, and your salon has a reputation for being tech savvy. Plus, that money you’ve saved can be used for investing in digital technologies.

So are you ready to run a green salon? Here are some sustainable salons that you can look up to. If you want another eco-friendly business ideas, be sure to click this article.

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