Deborah Johnson Wood
Two Grand Rapids hair stylists have opened what they're calling an eco-conscious hair salon in the city's East Fulton business district.
After attending Chic University (now
Empire Beauty School) together, then working together at Bottega Salon, Amanda Powell and Joy Anderson said it was time to open their own shop.
Salon Re: opened October 1 at 940 East Fulton, in the former
From The Heart Yoga location.
Besides doing an eco-friendly build out using low-VOC paints, bamboo products and reusing furniture, the women also use environmentally safe cleaning products they purchase from
The Green Life Market next door.
But the main emphasis is on organic and eco-safe hair and styling products.
"We use mostly organic products like
Surface and
Phyto," Powell says. "Our products are sulfate-free and paraben-free. If you were to truly get an organic shampoo it would need to be refrigerated and would spoil in a couple of weeks, so it needs a preservative and we're researching the preservatives and avoiding sulfates and parabens."
The salon offers full-service hair care, makeup services and lip, chin and brow waxing. Including Powell, 26, and Anderson, 32, the salon has 10 stylists, eight of whom rent chairs.
"We're trying to do our part, we're trying to make a difference," Powell says, adding that the salon recycles "absolutely everything. We hooked up with
Matter of Trust in Seattle and we send them our hair from our hair cuts; they create
hair mats used to clean up oil spills."
The salon's hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 9 to 5, and Saturday 9 to 4.
Source: Amanda Powell, Salon Re:
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at
[email protected].
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