Hairdressers use a fair amount of cotton wool and we got the major guilts when we bought these bags the other day, so Heather started to do a bit of research to find out if we could make changes to be more eco-friendly!
Turns out, cotton wool for the hairdressing industry is not 100% cotton, bit a viscose cotton mix. So you’ve got two problems.
- Non organic cotton (intensive and toxic processes on multiple levels)
- Viscose (deforestation, peatland destruction and toxic processes)
I feel strongly that we should be finding better solutions to the disposables we use and that as well as making more informed choices, we should hold industries accountable and opt for better choices.
So I called out for support from The Green Salon Collective to see if there were any plans to research or develop greener alternatives to cotton wool. This is what where we’ve got to so far:
Viscose can be very iffy with dangerous (for humans & planet) manufacturing chemicals and if a brand is not making any eco claims, then it’s likely that it’s being made this way.
We all know the impacts of conventional cotton, however organic cotton is a much better alternative but it’s expensive. I appreciate the cosmetic element of bleached cotton/products, but buying unbleached would be better as less chemicals / processing.
Hemp is better than organic cotton (uses less land, water, if grown organically without pesticides) however there’s no certifications yet to guarantee organic-ness (unlike GOTS for cotton) and it is more expensive.
In fact we struggled to find any alternatives specifically for hairdressers that could be bought in higher quantities and weren’t conventional cotton / cotton and viscose mix.
Our question to them has propelled them to a) continue to look for more answers b) share what we learn with our whole community.
With our ongoing collaboration with The Green Salon Collective we hope to really make changes to the industry!
Heather x