5 easy ways to make your salon vegan-friendly

Vegan-friendly has become a bit of a buzzword of late. But with 3.5 million people in the UK now identifying as vegan you might want to consider making sure your salon is too. We enlisted the help of Chris Wood of Chris Wood Hair Studio, the first Vegan salon in York to share his top tips on how you can transition.

Make sure you have a range of milk substitutes and herbal teas

The classic in-salon refreshment is a cup of tea or coffee. You can still offer this but don't forget to stock up on milk alternatives. It’s best to avoid nut milks because of allergies and intolerances so instead, follow Chris’ lead: “We offer oat and soy milk as a standard, all of our clients are more than happy with the two options. We also offer a range of teas, green tea, peppermint and various fruit teas as well as water."

Think outside the box

In the salon environment leather is a common occurrence especially on chairs, whether they’re for waiting, washing or styling. To ensure you're staying true to vegan values, ditch the real leather and source faux alternatives for more traditional styles or be creative like Chris, who uses various styles of chairs for his styling area.

Look at hair and beyond

Fortunately there are now professional salon brands available that offer suitable products to use on your client’s hair. However, if you look at the other items around the salon, you’ll find a lot of things are not vegan. Chris warns: “Non vegan-friendly items will range from your refreshments to the hand-wash in the ladies, and you might have to swap the salon scents, candles and wax melts. Not to mention your styling ranges, plus you'll want to rid yourself of any male grooming products containing wax. Milk is also included in a lot of moisturising hair products as well.”

Beware of your tools

A lot of smoothing and styling brushes use boar bristles. After looking at our list of animal derived ingredients you’ll know these are not conducive to a vegan lifestyle. Nylon brushes, found online or in-store, are a great alternative.

Don’t fret about your non-vegan clients

Chris and his salon did not start out as vegan. Despite this he hasn’t let the transition restrict him or his client base, instead, it serves as a good talking point. He said: “As we evolved into a vegan salon a lot of my existing clients have become vegan and we've picked up new ones too. People are definitely more conscious about what products we use now. At the same time my clients who are not vegan, feel right at home here too. If you offer great service with great products and knowledge then whether something is vegan shouldn't be an issue. If it’s a vegan product and better for the environment then any non-vegan client will be happy as well.” Chris Wood Hair Studio in York is pictured throughout the article