Spring is the perfect time to enjoy and appreciate the nature surrounding us. As you’re admiring the chirping birds, shining sun, and blooming flowers though, it’s important to think about the steps you can take to help preserve the natural world around you. And it just so happens that the first whole month of spring is Earth Month! 

Yes, April is a month dedicated to raising awareness about sustainability and reevaluating how you can do your part to make the earth a better place. At SalonBiz, we’re dedicated to going green not just for Earth Month, but year-round. Like many salons, we are rooted in a mission for greater environmental responsibility and sustainability.  

In the spirit of Earth Month, we’ve put together a few of our favorite tips and tricks for creating greater environmental awareness at your salon in April and beyond. 

Set an Example 

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22 back in 1970. Since then, the movement has grown to extend far beyond that single day to include events throughout April (and the year). Thanks to social media, mobilization around environmental stewardship continues to grow, uniting people around the cause. More than 190 countries participate in Earth Day events, resulting in more than a billion individuals mobilizing to make an impact every year. 

Fortunately, the energy from Earth Day and Earth Month can propel activism throughout the year. As a salon owner, you have a responsibility to lead the way with the choices you make. By setting an example for your staff, guests, and other community businesses, we can all make an impact in April and beyond. 

Go Green 

The best way to set a sustainable example? Implement environmentally friendly measures at your salon. There’s no denying that we’re in an industry with endless opportunities for going green. Fortunately, many beauty brands are already revolutionizing the industry with a focus on sustainability. The good news is that following in their footsteps is easier than you think.  

There are many ways to be more eco-conscious in your own salon every day. Here are some sustainable steps you can start with: 

• Use and sell products that prioritize sustainability in their ingredients, manufacturing practices, and packaging. 
• Label bins to correctly separate waste, recyclables, and compostable materials. 

• Install a smart thermostat to reduce energy usage during off-hours. 
• Use light sensors in bathrooms, stock rooms, offices, and other areas with low traffic to conserve energy. 
• Upgrade your light bulbs, small appliances, and other electronics to energy-efficient alternatives. 

For those salons looking to take their sustainability a step further, consider becoming a certified green salon. One easy way to accomplish this is by partnering with Green Circle. With their salon waste management program, you’ll collect hair clippings, used foils, color tubes, and even excess hair color. Then, simply ship it to Green Circle for processing. It will be processed in a sustainable way that leads to the creation of new products or clean energy.  

Green Circle even builds in an environmental stewardship fee of $1-2 to each guest’s service ticket to offset the cost of their services. No more landfill waste for your salon! 

Start the Conversation 

Need a good reason to break the dress code? Some salons have special t-shirts made that create awareness about conservation and going green. Shaking up your daily routine with something as simple as a different dress code will give your team energy and be an easy conversation starter with guests.  

Other salons put up signage about their conservation efforts or post about it on social media. Think of fun and unique ways to open up the conversation with guests in the seat about your sustainability efforts! 

Host an Event 

Events are a great way to make an impact, meet other people in your community, and help your team bond. For example, when Berenice’s Salon in Denver put together ideas for Earth Month fundraising, they knew they wanted to involve the neighborhood. They reached out to popular local ice cream and coffee shops to cross-promote and supply food and beverages. 

Berenice’s had a DJ playing vinyl records while they offered complimentary mini-services and makeup touch-ups. They engaged even more local businesses for raffle items, with all proceeds going to a non-profit dedicated to clean land, air, and water initiatives. The result? $1,000 in donations in under three hours! 

Remember, it doesn’t have to be Earth Month to host an event like this one. Whenever you host an event, make it a success by: 

• Partnering with other businesses that care about similar causes. 
• Creating social media events to spread the word and make it easy for guests to sign up. 
• Keeping close track of donations. 
• Offering to match donations to a certain amount (or find a local company or generous donor to match). 

With SalonBiz, you can also create a discount code to hand out to visitors that incentivizes them to come back and visit after the event is over. Run reports on discount codes to gauge the success of your event, both immediately and a few months later. 

Collect Donations 

There’s no need to limit your focus on fundraising only to events. From raffle baskets of sustainable products at your front desk to simple $1 donation prompts, raising money for conservation initiatives is a great way to get your team and community rallied around a cause. What better way to make an impact than by working together? 

SalonBiz makes collecting money and tracking donations easy using a drawer entry. A drawer entry can track money that is removed or placed in the cash drawer when a sale is not made. That means you won’t have to worry about skewing your ticket totals! 

Become a Waste Warrior 

Along with prioritizing sustainability in our own software, SalonBiz also partners with other sustainable businesses. Vish—our color management software partner—has many benefits not only for salons but also for the environment.  

By giving you the ability to measure and track your color usage, Vish helps eliminate color waste at your salon, reducing your environmental impact and expenses. Vish Waste Warriors stand out among other salons by using less color to complete services and thus reducing their overall waste. When you use SalonBiz for your salon management software, you can seamlessly connect Vish to your system to optimize your color usage. 

Go Green with SalonBiz 

One of the easiest ways to be sustainable in your salon is to go digital. Thankfully, it’s never been easier. Ditch the paper trail when you partner with SalonBiz. 

From mobile booking to integrated payments with emailed receipts, everything you need to accomplish can be done using our intuitive software. Encourage your team to check their schedules, client history, and formulas right from their phones. Plus, you can monitor stats and goals in real-time without printing any unnecessary reports. You’ll reduce your paper use and save money in the process. 

Book a demo of SalonBiz to learn more about how we can help your salon run more sustainably!