Kerrod Trott 
For many of us, the thought of a visit to a hairdressing salon conjures up associations of a heavy chemical smell, hairdressers in thick plastic gloves applying bleach and hair dye, and young apprentices sweeping copious quantities of hair from the floor.
Well, forget all that.
The new generation of hairdressing salons are worlds apart from the old stereotype, as a visit to the Eco Hair Room salon in the Arts and Eco Village in Port Rd, Aldinga will soon reveal.
Proprietor Tanika McGuire is a proud member of the Sustainable Salons movement, a social enterprise dedicated to helping over 1,000 hair salons, barbers, groomers and beauty clinics across Australia and New Zealand to reduce waste and contribute to their local communities.
When setting up her Salon last year, Tanika went to great lengths to ensure that everything about her business was as environmentally friendly and sustainable as it could possibly be.
Setting up shop in the Aldinga Arts and Eco Village, which was designed along Permaculture and eco-friendly lines, certainly seemed an apt choice for Tanika.
“Everything just fell into place when I found this location,” says Tanika. “The Eco Village residents were very supportive of what I was trying to achieve, and many have become customers.”
One of the guiding principles of the Sustainable Salons movement is that absolutely everything used in the salon must be recycled and re-used, and no waste created.
Eco Hair Room uses only Australian-made products using eco-friendly and bio-degradable packaging.
Tanika pre-sorts all the salon waste into numerous categories.
All hair clippings are saved and sorted, depending on length. Shorter lengths are used to make hair booms for cleaning up oil spills in our oceans, while longer hanks of hair are sent to local wig-makers who work with hospitals and charities to create wigs for those suffering hair loss.
The salon also pre-sorts and saves plastics, metals, paper and more, which are sold to specialist recyclers, and the proceeds donated to Oz Harvest to provide meals for hungry people.
Eco Hair Room also collects a $2 Sustainable Salons fee from each client, which again is donated to Oz Harvest and other charities to further their work.
And while it’s no secret that all salons have excess chemicals, at Sustainable Salons all left-over chemicals are collected and sent to chemical recycling plants to be neutralised and turned into recycled water which is used for roadworks and construction.
Tanika says she is always making better choices when it comes to the products and services that she uses at Eco Hair Room. She’s made the switch to clean energy, and is always looking for environmentally friendly alternatives to everyday salon items such as cleaning products, toilet paper and tissues, etc.
If you want to see the new wave of Hairdressing Salons, take the time to drop in and say hello to Tanika at Eco Hair Room, 173 Port Rd ALDINGA.
About Author
