Does your salon stink? Does the smell make your eyes water? The harmful out-gassing of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC´s) from salon coloring/ straightening processes, hair sprays, nail polish, carpeting, flooring finishes, furniture, paint, and cleaning products all negatively impact your daily indoor air quality, reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to a recent report sponsored by a group of American environmental organizations entitled ‘Is it in Us?´ our bodies are ingesting and holding on to the chemicals in products we are exposed to every day. And, these VOC´s support biological pollutants like molds so inadequate ventilation in the salon can increase many physical problems like eye and skin irritation, lung and breathing problems, headaches, and nausea according to the American Lung Association. The ‘incovenient truth´ is that hair stylists and salon employees are under particular chemical assault every day.
In response, many salon owners like Elizabeth Alvillar of Isvara Organics Salon, Spa & Wellness Center in Santa Cruz, California; Susan Henry of Shades Salon in Beverly Hills, California; Rachael Epstein of Sprout Salon in Baltimore, Maryland; and John Masters Organics Salon in New York City, have all adopted a ‘greener´ way to do business. They´ve chosen to leave the chemicals behind, to reduce, re-use, recycle and you can really smell the difference! “We tell new clients that we are a chemical-free environment and they love it,” says Susan Henry.
As a salon owner you may be looking to do business more sustainably with a more eco-conscious attitude. You can start easily by replacing light bulbs with more efficient CFL or even longer-lasting LED bulbs and by installing low-flow water faucet adapters. Turn off all electronic equipment when you leave the salon at night. Recycle all foils and color bottles and switch to low EMF hair dryers as the old ones wear out. Every little bit counts, so take little steps. Once you get in the habit, it´s easy being green and you can take bigger steps.
Switch to natural, sustainable hardwoods. When it comes to furniture and shelving, stay away from cheap pressboard, a significant source of formaldehyde, the colorless, pungent-smelling gas which can cause watery eyes, burning sensations in the eyes and throat, nausea, and difficulty breathing, reports the EPA. According to the Greal Seal, an environmental approval rating system (www. greenseal.org), solid wood products produced from certified, sustainably managed forests are a better good choice instead. Look for bamboo, renewable cork products like BioShield´s Natural Cork flooring tiles, or sustainable coconut, like Devachan Salon´s floor in New York City. Etopa´s salon furniture and retail shelving and fixtures are produced from sustainably managed Rubberwood forests in China. With the newest no-VOC SafeCoat water-based coatings, their natural beauty shines through.
Buy recycled. Reusing is one of the most solid ‘green´ principles. When decorating try curbside, antique, and thrift store furniture. “We have a product display shelf that was an old secretary we actually found curbside,” says Jae Jampol, co-owner Bodywise Spa in Port Jefferson, New York. Another thrifty yet upscale and unique way of using artwork: Become a gallery for local artists and ‘art-cycle´ the work throughout your rooms. Rachel Epstein ‘reclaimed´ her salon´s floors from other renovation projects and buys all her washcloths at thrift stores. Ditto for John Masters who ‘reclaimed´ his new shelving from a Brownstone renovation in Brooklyn. “Always check the salvage yards for unique building materials and look for used salon equipment, mirrors, chairs and stations before purchasing new,” advises Masters who decorated his salon that way.
Make sure it´s recycleable. One of the buzzwords in ‘greener´ office furniture is what happens to it once it hits the landfill. According to Marc Levin, a furnishings trend expert, “you don´t want a cheap, throw-away toxic chair anymore. It´s better pay more for something that will last much longer.” The LifeChair from Knoll, the HumanScale Chair from Freedom Chair and others from Herman Miller and Steelcase (www.homeofficesolutions. com or www.officedesigns.com) use 100% recyclable steel and aluminum with no-VOC, water-based or hot-melt adhesives, polyurethane foam and powder coatings that all conform to Greenguard standards, another certifying entity for environmental choices in building and decorating products (www. greenguard.org). Some alternative, recyclable natural shelving materials include wheat straw, sunflower hulls, soy flour, and recycled newsprint in office systems from Baltix Furniture (www.baltix.com) whose designs are free from formaldehyde, heavy metals and VOC´s.
Take a stand. Contribute to your community and support sustainable projects that are important to you. John Masters Organic Salon, Sprout Salon and Aveda product manufacturing are all powered by 100% wind energy in the form of energy credits from your local power provider. Isvara Organics donates 10% of all retail sales to New Horizon School for homeless children while Etopa (www.etopa.com), a sustainable salon furniture and shelving company, works to improve living conditions of the workers in China at the Rubberwood plantations that supply their wood while organizations like Trees for the Future (www.treesftf.org) plants trees for company programs. John Masters, an animal advocate is very active with PETA and also donates proceeds from shampoo sales to Animal Haven in addition to his involvement with Global Green USA´s New York Committee (www.globalgreen.org).
Invest in no-VOC paints and coatings. “That ‘just painted´ smell is the air in your salon being poisoned by dangerous VOC´s that out-gas toxins,” Explains Rudolph Reitz of BioShield paint. According to the National Paint & Coatings Association, most paint manufacturers now produce a non-VOC variety of paint. Got lead-based paint? Never sand or scrape! Seal right over it with a good primer and paint your safer paint on top. Natural paints made from milk proteins and clays also create vivid colors and natural textures, but check the washability, first! Read BioShield´s free e-book Paint´s dirty little secrets! at www.Bioshieldpaint.com.
Keep it local. Many salon and spa owners suggest having environmentally- friendly furniture custom-made by local craftsmen. This way, you control the materials, the design and its carbon footprint without using energy and gas for packing and shipping. This saves your salon money while supporting the local economy. Elizabeth Alvillar even sources all her organic ingredients from local farmers to hand-mix her fresh treatments.
Look for certification. Look for the federal government's Energy Star designation on appliances and electronics; the USDA Organic Seal on food and cosmetics; Eco-Cert (www.ecocert.com) for cosmetics ingredients; Green Seal (in Canada, EcoLogo) on household cleaning products; Greenguard for building and decorating materials; and the Forest Stewardship Council (www.fscus.org) logo on wood and paper products. Use sites like Consumer Reports' www.GreenerChoices.org and the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) for big-ticket items. The Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) has loads of information on cosmetics, cleaners, and food and provides the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database.
Look out for ‘green-washing.´ Vague claims like ‘natural,´ ‘green,´ ‘eco,´ ‘non-toxic,´ and even ‘biodegradable´ don't mean much on their own. They're not currently regulated and easy to slap on a product. Look for more concrete terms like ‘organic´ and ‘recycled,´ which are regulated and bear a package symbol. Read the ingredients and determine for yourself!
Clean Green. It´s an easy way to improve your air quality and decrease your daily reliance on chemicals, fast. One way is to lose the bleach and just go beige: When it´s time to replace white towels, sheets and rugs choose beige or darker colors that correspond with treatments. “I use red towels for strawberry facials, plum and brown towels for hair coloring, and beige for massages. This way, stains don´t show and I NEVER use bleach!” exclaims Elizabeth Alvillar. Cleaning sprays and mopping solutions are as simple and inexpensive as mixtures using water, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar and essential oils, says Jae Jampol, “I use them to clean everything plus my staff and clients experience the therapeutic aromatherapy effects of whatever organic essential oils I add.” Just mix them up in buckets and spray bottles:
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