Butchers co-founder Susannah Richardson outlines the misconceptions to deter salons from making the same mistakes.
Published:The award-winning salon group Butchers Salon, which has locations in London, Leicester and Chester, was named Best Sustainable Aveda Salon in the World. Richardson says salons do not need to make major investments or completely overhaul their businesses to improve their environmental credentials.
Richardson says the idea that becoming more sustainable necessarily requires significant investment is one of the most common misconceptions.
She points to relatively simple changes such as switching to LED lighting, installing low-flow shower heads and working with recycling schemes such as Green Salon Collective.
According to Richardson, these types of changes can reduce running costs and, in many cases, recoup their initial cost through lower bills within a year. Rather than attempting to change everything simultaneously, she recommends making individual changes over time.
Richardson says salons do not need to completely refurbish their premises to become more sustainable.
She explains that many of the changes made at Butchers took place gradually, including changing suppliers, introducing a different waste partner and switching energy providers.
Her advice is to make changes incrementally, allowing sustainability to become part of the way the salon operates over time.
Rather than charging clients specifically for sustainable practices, Richardson argues that sustainability can form part of the overall salon experience.
She says clients are paying for the complete experience, including the atmosphere, products and how they feel when they visit the salon, with the salon’s ethical approach incorporated into that experience.
Richardson points to Aveda products used in Butchers salons as an example of sustainability and performance working alongside each other.
She says the salon’s experience is that its colour, treatments and styling products deliver the performance expected by clients, challenging the idea that salons have to choose between environmental principles and product performance.
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Richardson argues that sustainability needs to extend beyond a salon’s marketing activity to become part of its everyday operations.
This includes decisions around suppliers, waste, energy, staff training and conversations with clients. She distinguishes this approach from greenwashing by asking whether a business would continue its sustainability practices even if nobody was watching.
Butchers was founded by Susannah Richardson and Katie Knox and describes itself as an inclusive and sustainable salon group. Its salons operate in Shoreditch, Chester and Leicester, with a focus on inclusive salon environments, gender-neutral pricing and expertise across different hair textures.
Find out more about the brand on Instagram @butcherssalon.
Read Now: How Butchers Salon Makes Sustainability the New Normal.
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