Beauty is cleaning up its act when it comes to water use; saving more, reducing pollutants and finding ways to make it go further. But we could do more. August is National Water Quality Month so we got together with sustainability advocate Valorie Tate, founder of Sustain Beauty Co, to get tips on how to lessen our impact on the water cycle. Want more tips? Download the
free sustainable salon checklist for more than 125 ways to upgrade your business.
Fix Faucets and Leaky Appliances
The first step in protecting freshwater is to conserve it. A drip might not look much, but it adds up, wasting as much as 3,000 gallons* per year, depending on how fast it drips. That's the amount of water needed to take more than 180 showers! Partner that with other leaking appliances, or water that runs for ages before getting hot, and you’ve got an expensive problem that could be easily fixed. With fresh water becoming an increasingly expensive commodity, being on top of leaks is the first step towards protecting our supply. As soon as you notice it, call your plumber.
Be the Team that Cares
Prioritize better water habits by adding it into on-boarding and regularly revisiting it during staff meetings. Review the water usage stats with the team and set goals to reduce over time. Focus on how to avoid letting the water run by agreeing how much is required for rinsing and encourage them to turn the faucet off immediately when they are done. Get together and brainstorm ways you could save even more. Empowering your team will lead to greater engagement.
Filter Out the Waste
Consider fitting a new
water-saving salon basin nozzle that increases the pressure without increasing water use. An ECOHEADS nozzle will boost water flow while saving up to 65% water and energy in each rinse, improving the experience for your guests while massively reducing your water consumption. And since its launch it has helped the beauty industry save the equivalent of 65,065 Olympic swimming pools worth of water.
Dial in on Your Color Use
The arrival of color management technology in salons revealed the true horror of color– as much as 40% of color dispensed was being thrown away, and most of it down the basin and into our water systems. But salons who have embraced the new technology are seeing not just a massive drop in color use, but as the team is dispensing less, it takes less water to rinse it away.
Ditch the laundry
Washing hundreds of towels a week soaks up the water – the
average laundry uses 19 gallons of water – as well as energy, space and labor. But swapping to
disposable, plant-based, single-use towels will slash your water bill and save you a ton of headache. And with the average washing load releasing hundreds of
thousands of individual plastics and chemicals into the waterways, using eco-disposables will reduce those contaminants flowing into our rivers and oceans. No chemicals are used to make Scrummi towels, all water used is natural rainfall making it the gentlest and most powerful salon towel on the market.
Clean up your act with better cleaners
Pollution is the second greatest threat to our freshwater supply. Aside from the contamination from our massive loads of salon laundry, we have to maintain a sanitary environment for our guests. Keeping the salon fixtures and fittings spotless is essential but many salons still use cleaners that contain bleach, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and/or ammonia. These can damage and discolor your salon fittings and you are exposing your guest, team and our water systems to unhealthy chemicals. Investigate
non-toxic, plant-based cleaners that are just as effective and much nicer to use.
