The origins of Sustain Beauty Co – from a single product imported (ECOHEADS showerhead) to multiple products and people involved in a growing enterprise.
The origins of Sustain Beauty Co go back a long way, with a history that spans important innovations in hair color and technology. Light Edisons light bulb, the company’s sustainability journey was launched somewhat serendipitously – or maybe not.
Indeed, the group consider themselves “corporate misfits” who were determined to provide more and better service to hairdressing artist than could be accomplished in their corporate lives. Bent on finding products that truly made a difference, they started by creating a stringent list of criteria that each potential addition to the product roster had to meet. These criteria are now known as the SBCo commandments. A bit corny? Yeah, but it has served them well as they now represent some of the industry’s top eco-responsible brands and have a reputation for finding and sourcing innovative products that artists love.
Below is more insight and info into this innovative brand.
Why are you urging salons to consider sustainability?
The beauty industry is a major polluter in the pursuit of ageless beauty. Many stylists and salons that we knew agonized over how much foil they tossed, color they rinsed down the drain and water they squandered in the average day. But, there were no viable alternatives. With the break-neck pace of science and technological advancements, we knew there had to be a better way. That’s about the time that one of our founding members found ECOHEADS at Salon International in London. We instantly knew this was a game-changer and launched ECOHEADS in North America, quickly amassing over 13,000 followers all interested in a water-saving spray nozzle.
We believe professionals shouldn’t have to sacrifice quality to protect their health and the environment. And now that they don’t have to, we think this mission will spread fast. Welcome to that sweet spot of amazing products and soul satisfaction.
How do you source your products? How can you guarantee they are not simply greenwashing their brands?
We believe going ‘green’ should not mean having to give up on performance, and that beauty professional should have more options to be sustainably beautiful.
All Sustain Beauty Co products must:
- Reduce the eco-footprint of consumables within our industry (obviously).
- Empower artists to create beauty, responsibly.
- Protect the stylist and the environment equally.
- Come from ethical sources and responsible manufacturing facilities.
By ensuring all products meet these criteria, we feel confident that stylists will only see an increase in performance when they start their sustainability journey.
What are the biggest challenges to imported products? Legal, tax, logistics?
We didn’t know a lot about this when we first started, but luckily we knew a lot of people that did and were willing to help us along the way. Shout out to Robert Reed at Ergo and all our pro beauty friends that have made this a successful venture! Now, we know there are resources out there for products looking to enter the US market, including an entire program spearheaded by Patty Schmucker from Salon Interactive. These resources range from setting up SKUs to import tax and even insurance when dealing with foreign payments.
How open are US hairdressers to the idea of sustainability?
Just five years ago, it was really hard for people to wrap their head around the idea of a water-saving spray nozzle and recognize the importance of clean, soft water – especially for color clients. Today, conservation and water filtration have become the latest industry buzzwords. Now, so many stylists are looking for ways to be sustainable beyond this, embracing newer innovations such as the color saving Ping and the re-usable, highly-efficient Paper Not Foil, a sustainable replacement for the eco-disaster that is aluminium foil.
