Greening Austin Daily

Spotlight on Local Businesses: Modesty Hair Studio

17th June, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments

This month’s business spotlight is on Modesty Hair Studio, located on 11th St. on the east side in the East Village Condos building. Recently, I visited the salon for a trim and to check out all the ways the owners, Naomi and Song, are making their business eco-friendly. Here is a list of some of their greener aspects:

• The studio is in a mixed used, energy efficient building with floor to ceiling windows and lots of natural light:

• Where additional lighting is needed, they use energy efficient bulbs in all the lighting fixtures.
• The front desk and shelving units are made out of recycled metals and plastics.
• Even the mirrors are made out of recycled materials.
• All the paint on the walls is a low or no VOC paint.
• The concrete floors don’t have any kind of chemical sealer to make them shiny–they simply polished them instead.
• Most of the furniture is re-used or antiques bought at local shops:

• They recycle as much as possible–plastic bottles, paper, aluminum cans, and even the foil used to highlight hair.
• They donate all that extra cut-off hair to a non-profit organization, Matter of Trust, that makes mats out of hair to clean up oil spills.
• Business cards, gift certificates, and any other paper used is made from recycled material.
• They use Davines hair products, which are made of natural ingredients and packaged in recycled plastic bottles. Also, the Davines company factories are run on wind and solar power:

• If clients request it, non-ammonia and organic color lines are available.
• They offer organic wines, coffee, and natural sodas during a visit.
• They use a hybrid computer at the front desk that uses 70% less energy than the standard computer.

Overall, it seems like the owners are really conscious of their actions and have thought about how they can be green every step along the way in creating their new business. Also, the general experience there was very pleasant for me–the natural lighting makes the place so bright and inviting, Naomi was really helpful and nice, the shampoo and other products smelled great, and I was very happy with my trim. If you’re looking for a high-end salon, this is a great, locally-owned, eco-conscious business to support.