Blue tit celebrates 10 years and chats all things sustainable

Sustainable salon collective Blue Tit London is celebrating its 10^th anniversary, and to celebrate, HJ had a chat with one of its founders, Matthew Gebbie, about the journey from a single salon to the UK and Europe’s first salon collective to achieve a Bcorp certification.

How the Blue Tit Journey Began

Matthew had known hairstylist Andi Hintereggerfor years, and when he heard that he was looking to start a salon, jumped at the chance to get on board, working at Blue Tit Dalston when it opened in 2011. After a year working as a stylist, he then moved on to manage their Clapton salon when it opened in 2012. Another year passed, and Matthew spoke to the partners about his role at Blue Tit – and they agreed to bring him in as a co-founder to help grow the business.

Sustainability at the Heart of the Salon

Discussing the importance of sustainability at Blue Tit, Matthew explains: “Sustainability is a real problem for the world, and I think we all need to realise and take responsibility. We’re not perfect but we try to work with people who can teach, lead, and help us and others to be better. Blue Tit has now been in business for 10 years, so we are trying to be one of the leaders and do everything as sustainably as possible.” This ethos has been keen to Blue Tit since the start of its journey; when the Dalston salon first opened, all of the furniture was vintage and reclaimed – nothing was brand new. Matthew shares: “Blue Tit has only been getting better with this, and working with our product partner, Oway, has definitely played a huge part in that. Oway are an organic, biodynamic botanical Italian hair care brand; they have 100% recyclable amber glass bottles, they’re cruelty free and have no toxic ingredients. “They have given us a lot of knowledge and taught us a lot of what we know about sustainability,” he adds. In addition, Blue Tit also use biodegradable hair towels and use EcoHeads – which reduces around 1,350,000 litres of water wastage a year. However, Blue Tit London does not intend to become complacent, with Matthew noting: “One thing we need to look at is the waste, and how we can work with people and brands to get better and smarter. “We also want to work with other brands who are pushing to be more sustainable, or who are BCorp; We are really keen to work and learn from each other.” Discussing the process behind achieving BCorp status, Matthew says: “It's definitely a long process and it took a lot of hard work and time, but it's incredible being able to say we’re BCorp. We had consultations to help and advise us and had to look at our company as a whole, as well as the structure of the business. We had to implement new things for staff and it has continued to push us to review our benefits package regularly and to see how we can get better.”

The Blue Tit Team 

Blue Tit recognises that some people are more passionate about sustainability than others, which is why they strive to pass on knowledge and inspire others. However, Matthew notes: “Our staff are always our priority and we never want to exclude anyone, so if they aren’t particularly passionate about sustainability, they will see it in practice in the salons and hopefully this will inspire them to become as passionate as we are.” Staff are also encouraged to get involved and offer ideas of their own. For example, “One of our assistants recently mentioned a company that could help us reduce our waste further, which made us realise this is 100% something we need to be looking into, supporting and gaining more knowledge about.  As a result, we are now in conversation with the company,” Matthew shared.

Can Sustainability be Cost Effective? 

With the cost of living and the cost of running a business both rising, discussing whether sustainability can have any economic benefits is particularly relevant. Matthew explains: “I think being mindful about usage can have a huge impact. Turning the heating off at night, turning taps off whilst shampooing, using only one pump of shampoo, and ensuring when we measure colour we use a smaller amount and top up if needed, can all help. There are a lot of waste and product usage issues in the industry, and it not only has a massive effect on the environment, but it's also costly for the business. By ordering less product, there's less shipping, and it all has a knock on effect.”