Sustain Beauty Co. is reaching outside its typical client base to ask salon owners all over: How do you feel about charging your clients a “green fee”?
The eco-friendly beauty product and equipment platform is collecting the info as part of an upcoming study on the impact of sustainable salon business practices. Salon and barbershop owners and solopreneurs, as well as licensed professionals, can take the anonymous, six-question survey here.
In a news release, the company says the survey’s intent is “to drill into the variances, find out whether attitudes are sympathetic or cynical, and also share with the industry what their peers are charging in their area.”
Sustain’s CEO, Valorie Tate, says, “The ‘green fee’ has been around for a while, gaining popularity in response to new waste management programs becoming available for hard-to-recycle items like hair color and foils.
“The trouble is that it’s still new and salons are nervous about adding new fees when prices are up across the board,” she says. “It’s our intention to collect the information and make it available to the beauty community to help them make informed decisions.”
Earlier this year, the company published the results from its annual Sustainability in the Beauty Industry survey after getting its best response to date from beauty professionals and business owners.
Among other data, the SBI survey found that:
- 70 percent of consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable services;
- 60 percent of consumers would consider changing salons if they knew all their waste would be recycled;
- Each salon basin uses an average of 150 gallons of water per day;
- The average stylist wastes a half bowl of color per day/ 170 bowls per year;
- On a global scale, hairdressing is rated 6.5 out of 7 in terms of physical impact on the body;
- 88 percent of salon professionals believe it is important to work in an environment that is green and sustainable.
The company hopes its upcoming study focused on the “green fee” will return equally informative data.