The Eco Hair and Beauty project has seen the launch of its new virtual salon – a learning environment that will result in a Sustainable Stylist Certificate for learners and salon employees.
In association with industry partners, including VTCT and the All Party Political Group, The Eco Hair and Beauty project is run by Dr Denise Baden from the University of Southampton.
For the last four years they have been gathering and sharing information on sustainable hair practices. Their website www.ecohairandbeauty.com is designed to be an open access resource for hairdressers, trainers and hairdressing colleges to enable them to adopt more sustainable practices. The focus is on products and practices that are good for the hair, and also save time and money as well as being more environmentally friendly.
Eco Hair and Beauty are holding workshops to make trainers aware of these materials, and to book a free workshop email ecohairandbeauty@soton.ac.uk.
The culmination of the project is a virtual salon, which takes about 20-60 minutes to work through and is designed to expose trainees and hairdressers to key aspects of sustainable hair care, showing at the same time how these can benefit hair condition, save money, save water, save energy and reduce waste.
Once you have worked through the salon, you are eligible for a sustainable stylist certificate. You can access via the website http://ecohairandbeauty.com/virtual-salon/
Here is what one of the first users had to say: “The virtual salon is surprisingly simple. It is designed like a game, which made it fun. I learnt a lot without really realising it. Loved the puppy!”
Get a Sustainable Salon Certificate to put up in your salon (Free during 2017).
Once the majority of your staff has obtained a Sustainable Stylist Certificate you can complete a quick form to obtain a Sustainable Salon Certificate. All you need to do is select which sustainable behaviours you are using in your salon. This form should be completed by the Salon Manager and gathers information about your salon’s sustainable best practice to generate a certificate for you to print and display.
The practices promoted are chosen to be good for clients’ hair, the planet and bills. Hairdressers are in a unique position, at the heart of the community, in what is a both intimate and influential role. The practices they model in the salon and the message they give to their clients about ‘greener’ behaviour has the potential to make the world of difference – quite literally – in helping to ensure the future sustainability of the planet – and also save money for both salons and clients. A small four-seater salon that adopted their suggestions would save over £5,000 year, save 24150 kWh energy and 143 thousand litres of water.
Eco Hair and Beauty is just one of many resources that VTCT Centres can utilise to help deliver our qualifications and beyond. See VTCT Resource here.
