Green Alternatives: Salon Remodeling

Are you thinking about remodeling? If so, now is the perfect time to also consider incorporating some green elements into your salon. From energy considerations to eco-conscious design touches, there are many ways that you can make your salon more environmentally friendly—and it doesn’t have to break the bank.

Green Alternatives: Retail & Recycling

Recycling programs and eco-friendly retail products are an easy way to bring the green movement into your salon. As an added bonus, these things are tangible examples of your salon’s efforts to be green and are more obvious to your clients than other green-minded remodeling tactics.

At Los Angeles-based Sun Lounge Tanning Studios, eco-conscious retail and recycling is one of the main ways the salon reflects its slogan, “Green is the new tan.”

“A lot of tanning lotion packaging is very wasteful, which is why we chose to carry Devoted Creations’ Green Line,” owner Nick Spano says. “Not only is the line organic and natural, but the lotion comes in 100-percent recycled packaging.”

Sun Lounge also offers a $1 credit towards any tanning product or service in exchange for the return of empty beverage or lotion bottles purchased at the salon. The salon then recycles those bottles for the customer.

“Honestly, it’s the small things that can have the largest impact,” Spano says. “We believe our customers have a choice about where they tan and that being environmentally responsible is an important factor to consider when making that decision.”

Green Alternatives: Energy

Tanning salons are, by nature, guilty of one major offense: energy consumption. Obviously, it takes a lot of power to run and cool tanning equipment; however, that doesn’t mean that you can’t take steps to be eco-friendly at the same time. Sun Lounge chose to incorporate solar power in its attempt to reduce its carbon footprint.

“It’s amazing how long solar power has been around—yet, people are still confused by it,” Spano says. “Our equipment doesn’t work differently and we are tied into the city grid like every other business. The difference is that we are using 800 square feet of solar paneling to capture the sun’s light, convert it into usable energy and send it back to the grid.”

But, with the amount of energy being consumed on a daily basis in the salon, does this process really make a difference? Spano says yes.

“The fact is that salons consume a ton of energy—as much as five to 10 homes worth—but that is all the more reason salon owners must find a way to consume less,” he adds. “Sun Lounge has proven it can be done. In fact, 15 percent to 40 percent of the salon’s energy is derived from the solar-power system.”

To help clients understand the process, Sun Lounge has a lobby display that shows how much sunlight is converted to energy each day. The display also provides charts that calculate how many tons of coal and carbon dioxide the salon is saving through its use of solar power.

Green Alternatives: Appliances

Like many businesses, salons place a large burden on their water heaters and air-conditioning units. Sun Lounge tackled the consumption problems by incorporating energy-efficient appliances and construction.

“Water heaters and air-conditioning units are used every day, which presents a problem,” Spano says. “To address this, we decided to incorporate a tankless water-heater system that only provides hot water when required. So, instead of constantly trying to maintain hot water temperatures, this system uses a flash heater to quickly warm the water. The best part is that these systems are a quarter of the size of a standard water heater and are incredibly easy to install. In addition, to alleviate some of the load on the salon’s air conditioning, we have installed concrete flooring. This helps keep the salon cool because concrete naturally traps cold air.”

Green Alternatives: Décor

Green décor is really taking off as more and more people become conscious of the effect their interior-design choices have on the environment. As a result, manufacturers are constantly introducing new products that fit the eco-conscious bill, and two of the most-popular décor options are decorative bamboo and eco-friendly paint.

“By using bamboo, Sun Lounge is helping to reduce the demand on more popular woods—which are becoming scarce due to deforestation,” Spano says. “In addition, the paint that we used (Sherwin Williams GreenSure eco-friendly paints) incorporates sustainable raw materials, such as soy and sunflower oil, and uses less solvent than traditional paints to reduce the amount of toxic vapors being emitted into the atmosphere.”

The downside to designing green is that eco-friendly décor options can sometimes come with a pretty high price tag. However, Spano says that doesn’t have to be the case. “When trying to go green, you can go broke—but there are cost-effective alternatives out there,” he says.

To find those alternatives, you’ll simply need to shop around. It also helps to think outside of the box—for example, the striking bamboo that covers Sun Lounge’s walls was actually designed as flooring. By rethinking the product, Spano was able to use it to cover his walls at a fraction of the cost of actual bamboo wall coverings.

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