Recycling your customers' hair is a simple but very impactful gesture, which will allow you to considerably reduce your ecological footprint while giving a second life to this renewable raw material. Much more than just waste, recycled hair can be recycled in many ways, thus offering new sustainable and innovative perspectives.
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As key players in the beauty sector, you have a key role to play in the transition to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly industry. Every day, tons of cut hair unfortunately end up in the trash, even though it is a precious natural resource with multiple applications.
In this article, we will explain in detail why it is essential to integrate this virtuous approach into your salon. We will discuss the multiple environmental, but also economic, benefits that hair recycling represents. You will also discover the different existing recycling channels, as well as concrete solutions to easily implement this eco-responsible practice on a daily basis.
The trash can: the ritual after each cut
Every day, thousands of hairdressers trim and cut the hair of nearly a million French people. In total, this represents 4000 tonnes of hair waste per year. Moreover, it is interesting to note that they embody 60% of the waste of a hair salon year-round.
Indeed, after taking care of his client's head, what is a hairdresser's first reflex? That of sweeping to keep your floor clean, of course! This is where the next problem comes: all that lifeless hair inevitably goes into the trash.
Making salons eco-responsible
To counter this waste, French actors have rolled up their sleeves. To name just two: Fair Hairdressers, an association that has been working since 2015, but also Capillum, a start-up born in 2019. These institutions are committed to reducing the impact of hairdressing on the environment. An approach which involves raising awareness among the profession of this major issue, in order to make hairdressing salons greener.
Capillum and Coiffeurs Justes are both banking on the ecological alternative. According to them (but it is also science which says it!), hair has significant properties. This organic material is by nature very resistant, absorbent, insulating and rich in keratin. Cut hair must therefore be valued, to become a profitable resource for the environment. And for these actors, there is no small action: each individual act is important!
Before recycling, collection
Giving cut hair a second life is the spearhead of Coiffeurs Justes and Capillum. To prevent more hair waste from going into the trash, they have set up a collection process. On the basis of an annual membership or a donation, they provide salons with recycling bags and bins. Once completed, professionals can return them by post, or drop them off directly at collection points.
The fabulous destiny of recycled hair
Well, recovering the cut hair is not everything, you still need to know what to do with it! We talk about it a little above, hair has a lot of quality, and each quality can be a valuable help in preserving the environment. Here are some of the best examples of recycled hair!
Recycling n°1: The hair roller, to counter dark tides
8 Liters. This is the amount of oil that 1 kg of hair can hold. Indeed, hair is oleophilic and hydrophobic adsorbent. Naturally fixing hydrocarbons to its surface, a single hair is capable of absorbing 8 times its weight. Hair is therefore a real ally in cleaning polluted water, particularly in port areas.
When a Japanese ship ran aground near Mauritius in July 2020, Coiffeurs Justes, with the help of donors, sent 20 tonnes of cut hair. Gathered in floating fabric tubes, this capillary mass helped contain the oil spill and preserve the marine ecosystem!
Recycling n°2: The mulching mat, to save water
Cut hair is also beneficial to the earth! At the start of the year, Capillum imagined a 100% natural mulching mat, made up of hair fibers (hair and wool). Initially, mulch cloths are placed in decorative gardens and vegetable gardens to control the growth of weeds.
The Capillum mulch mat is advantageous for several reasons: it can be used for organic farming, but also biodegradable. Free of plastic, it lasts for one season, then disintegrates and is perfectly assimilated by the soil. In addition, like the canvases, this mat helps limit weeding as well as water consumption: more than 5000 m3 of water were saved thanks to this alternative!
Recycling n°3: Fertilizer, to feed crops
Source: Capillum
For tomatoes and zucchini to grow in your vegetable garden, they need regular watering, of course, but also fertilizer to give their growth a boost!
As you know, hair is made up of rich nutrients: keratin, melanin, oxygen, nitrogen… In summary, our cut hair is a gold mine for fertilizing the garden soil! Added to compost with food peelings and egg shells, this organic matter gives rise to a quality natural fertilizer. And buried under plants, cut hair also has another power: that of repelling pests, such as moles and wild boars!
The usefulness of recycled hair doesn’t stop there. There are plenty of other ways to use them for the good of the planet and society. They help medical research, improve thermal and sound insulation, but are also transformed into pillows for people in need. In conclusion, recycled hair never ceases to amaze us!
