Fife college salon goes green

Fife College Salon has gone green, with Scotland's first vented salon - designed to remove all traces of unwanted chemicals and cleanse the air. Using state of the art Local Extraction Vents (LEVs) to keep the salon air clean, the salon also boasts eco furniture, low-energy hairdryers and lighting as well as marmoleum floor - the 12th greenest product in the world! Students wear bamboo-fibre gowns and use Green Nordic products, henna colour and bamboo brushes - and there's even Fair Trade coffee, eco cleaning products and forest-print wallpaper adorning the walls. And the ‘green’ experience doesn't just begin in the salon. Staff, students and clients are also encouraged to think green before they travel by using bicycles, local transport or electric cars to get them to and from the salon. There are even electric car charging points positioned at the entry door alongside specially installed bicycle racks. The brainchild of the exciting project is Head of Department and former local Greenpeace secretary Christina Laing. She says:

I have always been aware that salons are not the best environments for anyone with breathing or allergy problems and I know there are many clients who wish to have the choice to use greener products especially pregnant women and breastfeeding mums. Many hairdressers themselves can suffer from allergies to the products and the environment they work in. This, alongside the need to become more eco-friendly, gave me the idea for a 'green' salon to be installed in our Halbeath College Campus in Dunfermline. Taking some best practice ideas from our colleagues in Denmark we are delighted to launch our own unique salon – the first of its kind in the country. I very much hope that it will be seen as a benchmark for the future – giving our students a fantastic grounding as sustainable practioners which is knowledge that they can take with them wherever they work.