“The beauty industry creates 877 pounds of beauty waste every single minute in the United States and Canada,” shares Green Circle Salons CEO Shane Price.
Earth month is quickly approaching, making it the perfect time to consider how you can make a difference to change the footprint you leave.
Making your salon sustainable may seem like an overwhelming process, but have no fear! Nailpro reached out to nail experts for their advice on how they have made their salons more eco-friendly, so you can too!
Disinfection and Sterilization
While this should be an obvious priority for nail techs and salon owners, many salons do not take the proper precautions and steps to disinfect and sterilize nail tools and implements.
Luz Xiomara Díaz, owner of Blooming Nail Studio in Kissimmee, FL, shares that her salon has a rigorous disinfection and sterilization system in each department.
This is also true for Lilly Rojas’s nail salon, Lili and Cata.
“We use a hospital grade, state-of-the-art autoclave, which uses high steam and pressure, for all our tools after every single service,” shares Rojas. “These are used by surgeons and dentists as the only way to truly sterilize their implements.”
Price also recommends using salon cleaners recognized by the EPA’s Safer Choice program for general cleaning.
Recycling
An easy way to start making more eco-friendly choices in your salon is to recycle!
“Reduce, reuse and recycle is part of Blooming Nails Studio's commitment,” shares Díaz. “Product packaging is recycled and refilled to minimize the impact on the environment.” Díaz also adds that recycling is applied in all areas of the salon, from packaging to work materials.
Green Circle Salons places a particular emphasis on recycling metals because they are often contaminated and not accepted by local recycling.
“Over 110,000 lbs of metal are thrown away every day from salons in Canada and the United States – That’s over half the weight of a commercial airplane,” Price states. “When salons join our Green Circle Salons movement, their metals can be recycled and turned into new products like bicycle frames and car parts.”
Sustainable Beauty Products
A sure-fire way to make your salon more sustainable is to use products that are eco-friendly.
This has always been a priority for Rojas, who always questioned the industry’s use of highly toxic formulas and their long-term effects of the staff breathing them in. As a result, she’s turned to using non-toxic, vegan and cruelty-free nail products.
"There are so many great brands that are eco-friendly and vegan," Rojas says. “Traditional polish is packed with chemicals that are not just harmful to the planet but also to humans. Non-toxic polish has significantly less chemicals."
Rojas also uses an eco-fin paraffin alternative for moisturizing hand treatments. Eco-fin treatments are single use and 100% disposable and biodegrable. They're plant-based, sanitary and have no petroleum products.
Díaz also echoes this sentiment, “At the work table, exclusively vegan products free of harmful components are used, thus ensuring the health of customers and the planet.” She uses Bio Pure and Bio Pure Remover, which reduce environmental impact and are animal friendly.
Water Efficiency
There’s plenty of ways salon owners and nail techs can be more efficient and conscious about their water usage.
Díaz shares that her studio promotes responsible practices to her clients, such as the efficient use of water.
Rojas has gone as far as adopting waterless manis and pedis at her salon.
"We save an average of 10-15 gallons of water per pedicure which translates to hundreds of gallons per day for manis and pedis," Rojas says.
Waterless services also allow clients to have longer lasting nails!
“Water makes the nails expand,” explains Rojas. “This is why hours after getting your nails done, as the polish dries and your nails shrink back to their normal size, the polish starts peeling and chipping.”
Make an Impact This Earth Month
The steps you take to make your salon more eco-friendly and sustainable can add up and make a big difference!
Price’s initiative Green Circle Salons is currently diverting over 1 million pounds of beauty waste from landfills and waterways every year, and they are preventing 2,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide from being released into our atmosphere. That is the equivalent of 3,000 acres of US forests in reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and cleaning the air.
So, why not start this Earth month in making more sustainable changes in your salon?
