Our Journey Lead Us Here

We are so excited to talk to you guys about your business and how your vision for a zero-waste salon & apothecary became a reality. We would love to gain some insight into the progress you have made in your industry and hear about some of the challenges you were able to overcome in order to move in the direction of reducing waste and eliminating toxins.

You guys recently celebrated 10 years! Congratulations! Can you give us a bit of history about who you are and how Scisters came to be?

Melissa: Oh, our best friend love story? We met 13 years ago, while working at a previous salon. One day at lunch Easton shared that she was wanting to take business classes online. I had just signed up for night classes at the community college with my sister and invited her to join us. In our Entrepreneurship class, we had gotten assigned a project to create a business plan. Since we both had dreams to open salons one day, we decided to team up on the project. We didn’t just do this assignment for a grade though. We put in so much time creating our dream business, eventually discovering our vision was aligned. When we had almost finished we looked at each other wondering, why don't we actually do this?

Tell us a bit about your evolution as a business. What considerations and inspiration turned you in the direction of zero waste and non-toxic?

Easton: In the first few years of business we chose to partner with a major professional hair care company. The partnership was great for our business and as far as those companies go, we felt as though they did a lot of good in the world. 

We progressed as individuals though, becoming increasingly concerned about industry’s impact on the environment. Over time I felt like a hypocrite pushing plastic bottles of shampoo to our guests. I knew there were some zero waste refill stores around the world, but I wondered if there was another salon that I could use as a model. I couldn’t find one. In business school, we learned a lot about differentiation. This was our moment. We had the opportunity to do something that nobody before us had done and hopefully pave the way for other beauty professionals.

Melissa: I became aware of toxins and many places they hide when I became a mama, but the toxin free importance really hit home for me after going through personal hormone battles. I didn’t have any doctors giving me answers, when my naturopath suggested that I may need to quit doing hair, due to my long and continuous exposure to xenoestrogens. It was frightening to hear and since we had begun the journey to switch to zero waste, it made sense to be toxin free as well. I knew I couldn’t be the only woman being affected and who desired clean beauty products.

How does a hair salon have no waste!?

Easton: Zero Waste is the common and most recognized name, but realistically low waste is the more appropriate term. Essentially you are trying to create as close to zero waste going to landfill as possible. Our products are one of the biggest ways we make that happen. All of our shampoos and styling aids are purchased in bulk, mostly in 5 gallon buckets. This allows us to use the same batch for refilling guests bottles to take home, as well as our own to use in the salon. We will fill any bottle guests bring in but if they need a bottle, we offer two sizes in both glass and aluminum. In the zero waste world, we choose glass and aluminum over plastic because they are infinitely recyclable, whereas plastic has a lifespan and will eventually end up in landfill, usually prematurely. We even have a jar library, where guests can take a recycled salsa or pasta sauce jar that has been donated and sanitized, and fill it. This is really handy for both the guests who forget their bottles and those who just want to try a little bit before committing. We sell all of our bulk products by ounce, so you can buy as much or as little as you’d like. 

We choose sugaring over waxing, because it uses less disposables and is waterway safe. We purchase our laundry soap from another local refill store. We try to bring in previously owned or antique decor instead of buying new. 

Of course, as a salon we have a governing body that requires us to purchase certain things. This means that we do have to buy things that are single use, such as gloves and foil. For that waste, we turn to Green Circle, a service designed to help keep salon waste out of landfills. They collect our aluminum color tubes, color waste, gloves, even hair clippings and find new uses for them. In order to give a good idea of how much waste we reduce, Green Circle expects a salon to have to ship them a box once a month. Scisters manages to send in only two boxes of waste a year. 

What are some of the products you use in the salon? What about in your own skincare and hair care routines?

Melissa: Honestly, all of them. Our choices for what we bring in, have come from a need in our personal lives. As we began to run out of products during the shift, it became clear the items that we would bring in. We are also minimalists at heart and live for products with multiple uses, which many in the Apothecary are. 

A few of our favs for hair are the Spirit and Salt mist and our Bewitched Blend of Oils. For skincare, we can’t live without the Vit C Serum, Pimple Mud and Lit highlighter.

What were some of the considerations and criteria for selecting the products you use and sell in the salon? Is it hard to find products that meet your standards?

Melissa: It was pretty easy to find a zero waste product company, or a toxin free company, but we had difficulty finding a zero waste, toxin free company that would also curate professional beauty results. And can I say that the testing process was rough! (Laughs) We learned then that we really wanted the transition to sustainable beauty to be an easy one for our guests.

We fell in love with a few small batch companies and decided to launch Element, our in house brand. Element was designed to empower folx so see their inherent natural beauty. Our beauty-in-bulk line is created for us in a lab in California and shipped to us.

Our standards beyond the obvious, included location to account for shipping emissions, company ethics and sustainability policies, shipping practices, and most importantly we have to love it. Believing in all of the products in our apothecary is a must.

What changes have you noticed with your guests after shifting over to new products? What changes have you noticed in yourselves as people who have a lot more exposure to these products?

Easton: There are two things that surprise me the most. The first is that I was so used to using synthetics on my own hair and that of my guests, that I had no idea what natural hair felt like anymore. When we first shifted, I thought the hair seemed to feel more dry and tangled because I was so used to the slip of synthetic stylers, now I don’t notice that anymore. I understand the way natural hair feels when clean and damp, I had no clue I was missing that as a professional. I continue to be surprised by the comments from guests about the improved health of their hair once they have used our products for a while, and my own hair is longer and healthier than ever. 

The second thing has to do with fragrance. I remember as a little girl walking into the beauty supply with my mother and the smell hitting me at the door. It was strong and made it hard to breathe. That is a biological reaction to toxic chemicals. Prolonged exposure to these toxic products and added fragrances, numbed my ability to recognize them in my environment. After over a year, I find that my ability to truly smell has returned. Now, when I smell traditional beauty products sometimes, I get that same eye squinting noxious feeling that I had as a child. It’s like, Oh...I remember this.

What challenges are you still working towards in your zero waste, non-toxic journey?

Melissa: For me, the next big one in both categories is aligning and partnering with a professional color company. Many times, the large and established brands haven’t shifted quite enough towards zero waste or don’t intend to. We have been able to control the Apothecary by creating a product line, but I don’t think I’m feeling up to creating a color brand up to our standards quite yet. There are a few low toxic professional color lines, which I am super interested in and researching. I honestly think this will be the next big shift for us. The main reason we haven’t yet is the cost is about triple and we want seamless and palatable changes for our community of clients. In the meantime, we have chosen to use the least toxic of the professional brand that we have used since opening, and continue to ask for zero waste and less toxic options. 

What challenges do you see in general for the industry adopting a more eco-friendly approach (beyond just some of the COVID pitfalls)? 

Easton: Honestly, I believe it comes down to desire and education. The beauty industry is full of caring, creative and service minded individuals. We need those people to have a desire to make a difference and to stop buying into big businesses selling them greenwashed products. I will be the first to admit that I was part of that herd, truly thinking I was doing what was best. The question is, how do we continue to push further? We asked the company that we educated for to create something non-toxic and to reduce their waste on multiple occasions. They weren’t ready. 

What are some of your favorite tips for our readers interested in embarking on a zero waste, non-toxic journey?

Easton: Take it easy and give yourself some grace. Choose to nix one single use or plastic option from your life at a time. Once you get that down, try eliminating something else. We didn’t become this advanced in our eco consciousness or clean beauty overnight. It takes time to adjust to a new way of life. The most positive thing to note is that once something becomes a habit and part of your lifestyle, it becomes normal to you and is no longer difficult.