We all know how hard it is to find all natural or organic hair salons.

Strip malls and plazas are littered with the typical, run of the mill chemical infested hair salons. “Oh great, I’d love to dye my hair a shade of Crayola blonde or get some cancer-curls while I’m here, totally!” SAID NO ONE EVER. Lucky for you, here’s a round-up of five fabulous organic hair salons throughout the nation!

1. Los Angeles, CA- Primrose Organics Salon and Boutique

This cute little place is full service, all organic, and odorless (no stinky chemical stench!)–from the products used to the actual structure of the space. Founded in April 2009 by celebrity hair stylist, Felicia Howe, Primrose Organics Salon and Boutique set the standards high with sustainable integrity ever present from the moment you walk through the doors. With her honorable and eco-friendly skills and expertise, Howe’s dream was to make each and every client not only feel beautiful, but to also assist in educating and guiding them in a more health conscious direction. Aside from the toxin-free, all organic product lines used and carried here, Primrose Organics uses recycled foil for treatments and is also equipped with energy-saving blow dryers! The furniture inside is all second-hand and was sourced from Craigslist while the drywall has been stabilized with formaldehyde-free compound and VOC-free paint was used to color the walls. Doesn’t get more sustainable than that, does it?

2. East Village, NY- Salon Eco Chic

Located in the East Village of the ever so chaotic NYC, is Salon Eco Chic. Welcoming clients in from the fast-paced streets of the city, Salon Eco Chic’s goal is to provide the most serene atmosphere accompanied by the best quality hair care. You can expect to come in and receive on-trend European inspired styling while being pampered with certified organic products. Everything used is plant-based and sulphate, ammonia, and chemical-free! Salon Eco Chic believes in sustainable beauty without sacrificing ones wellness. This is the place to go when you really want to take care of yourself and get away from the city madness.

3. Seattle, WA- Hazel Salon and Organics

A salon that not only is an advocate for organic hair care, but also gives back to its community?! That’s a double doozy of pure goodness right there. Seattle-based hair salon, Hazel Salon and Organics, specializes in outstanding style and highly reputable, cruelty-free products that are also free from ammonia, sulphates, parabens, petrochemicals, and formaldehyde. This salon bears an extensive line of organic products such as Organic Color Systems, LOMA, and Osea, to name a few. The other very respectable aspect to this salon that sets it apart from a lot of other organic hair salons is that it believes in supporting its community by participating in different charities. Doesn’t that just give you the warm fuzzies all over? Hair care is not their only forte either. Feel free to go there to get your lashes done up, get some hair removed (by means of sugaring or threading- no waxy gunk), or some rejuvenating organic skin treatments.

4. Chicago, IL- Splendor Salon and Spa

“Find a better way to beauty” is the motto of Chicago-based organic salon, Splendor Salon and Spa. This fume-free no-ammonia salon doesn’t play games. Aside from the plethora of organic, cruelty-free, and biodegradable products used, their packaging is also majorly eco-friendly! “Synthetic,” “toxic,” and “non-renewable” are not in this salon’s vocabulary. All product packaging is completely sustainable by utilizing recycled and plant-based materials. They even use soy ink on the labels! Splendor Salon and Spa offers a multitude of beauty related services without punishing the earth in the process. Why go anywhere else?!

5. Fort Lauderdale, FL- John Bruno Hair Salon

This is one salon you actually do want to tangle with. (See what I did there?) John Bruno Hair Salon located in Fort Lauderdale is an environmentally friendly force to be reckoned with. Recognized for outstanding customer service and eco-friendly products, they actually received a huge shout out in The New Times for being the Best Hair Salon in Fort Lauderdale/Broward County! Their popularity is understandable. All of their products are organic, vegan, and cruelty-free. Have no fear, you can trust your tresses to this remarkably health conscious salon.

So there you have it! If you live in or near any of these areas, stop wasting your time, money, and health in toxic hair salons and treat your body (and the earth) to a little guilt-free TLC!

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Images via André Batista and Mainstream

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ColumnAn upcoming reality show may signal the end of all that is good and holy.

I  am not one of those people who sees every little thing as a sign of the apocalypse. Inevitably, when someone says “this is the end of civilization as we know it,” they are not talking about Darfur, or even the recent economic decline. They are usually referring to something relatively minor –the cancellation of “Friday Night Lights” for example, or a pop singer who has inexplicably named her son “Bronx.” Referring to something as Armageddon is a big deal and I try to stay away from that kind of hyperbole, but I don’t know what else, besides God’s final fury, can explain “Big Hair Alaska” – a reality show about Sarah Palin’s hair salon.

A two-part series about The Beehive, the beauty shop responsible for Palin’s famous updo,  has somehow landed on the fall TV schedule and I confess, this causes me great concern for the state of American culture.

I do not say this as someone who is snootily opposed to reality television, since it happens to be my guilty pleasure. I’m reluctant to admit that, since I don’t want people to jump to the conclusion that I’m a slack-jawed idiot (a fairly common and perhaps  not entirely undeserved assumption made about people who confess to an affection for such programming.) But I got hooked on the genre in 1973, as I sat glued to the couch in my shag-carpeted living room, ignoring my algebra homework as I watched  “An American Family,” the precursor to today’s reality shows. This 12 part series (they were still calling them documentaries in those days), showed a nuclear family disintegrating in real time, and it gave me my first heady taste of voyeurism.

This shameful urge to peep into the lives of others would never entirely go away, although it would be many years before the airwaves would become glutted with reality programming. Some of these shows, including “Top Chef” and “Project Runway,” would become my favorites. While others, like “The Bachelorette” and “The Jersey Shore,” would leave me queasy with self-loathing. Hovering between these extremes are “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” a show I am always quick to explain that I only watch with my daughter. What I’ve discovered is that you can admit to watching public hangings, but if it’s a mother/daughter activity people will still look at you approvingly and say positive things about “quality time.”

I had very little interest in Palin’s own reality show, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” in which she proved that her much-vaunted belief in the sanctity of life did not extend to halibut and caribou. But Big Hair Alaska, a show that takes an unflinching look at Wasilla coiffures, has given me the welcome realization that I do, in fact, have some standards; because here, finally, is a reality show so vapid and so venial that I would not watch a minute of it, not for any amount of money. Unless Tim Gunn makes an appearance as a guest mentor – then I can’t make any promises.

Image: JaciXIII

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When you’ve been out of work for a while, grooming is usually one of the first things to go. Also pants with waistbands and your hopes and dreams, but that’s another post for another day. Now that Maurice Tidy has launched Hair Care, a charity providing free, professional hairstyles to the unemployed, at least your head can look professional. You’ll probably want to put on pants afterward. One step at a time.

One of the most renowned hair stylists in the world, Maurice Tidy, and his partner, Gina Caruso, have launched a campaign to help those who’ve been let go turn a bad loss into a great hair gain.

Gail Michalak was engaged and had just turned 50 when she thought to herself, “Boy, it’s going to be a good year.” But instead, on that Monday, her fiancé called to end the relationship and on Friday, she got laid off from the administrative assistant job she had held for 31 years.

That was a year and half ago. She’s still single and still unemployed, but Monday, thanks to the initiative of Hair Care, a charity that provides free haircuts to people who are out of work, she has a new look – and a new outlook.

“I hadn’t gotten it cut in almost a year so I really needed some styling,” says Michalak (below, sitting), who lives in a Detroit suburb and worked in the auto industry. “It gives you new motivation. It’s like a breath of fresh air. You get your second wind. It makes you feel just so much better. It puts a smile on your face.”

Hair Care was launched about 10 months ago by Maurice Tidy (at right), who was Vidal Sassoon’s first artistic director, and his partner Gina Caruso after she lost her job consulting for medical spa businesses. She realized how important something as simple as a haircut can be for one’s sense of self – and for one’s job search.

“I got involved with Hair Care 10 months ago because I became unemployed and wanted to give back knowing the pain and sacrifices that have to be made when you lose the financial security of a regular paycheck. Most individuals lose self confidence and regular maintenance of a haircut is usually put on the back burner, but it is imperative to look great and give the best first impression at an interview,” says Caruso.

Tidy, a Brit known around the world as the go-to hair stylist for celebs ranging from the Beatles and Rene Russo to Patti Smith and Isabella Rosellini, was able to tap his hair salon network and recruit friends as volunteer stylists. Caruso posted on Tidy’s Facebook page an announcement about the Hair Care campaign and within 20 minutes, 20 salons were interested nationwide. And both Tidy and Caruso were surprised by the response to the first event last June held at Sassoon colleague Daniel Rizzardi’s Salon Secrets – 30 people were lined up before the doors opened at 9 a.m. and more than 700 people showed up during the two-day event in Charlotte, N.C., a hub in the banking industry which had been hard hit by layoffs.

“As the national unemployment rate has risen, so, too, has the competition for existing jobs. Staying well groomed and appropriately dressed is critical for job hunters,” says Tidy.

So far, there have been nine Hair Care events at which 4,500 people have had their hair cut and styled for free by 225 volunteer hair stylists. The most recent Hair Care event held Sunday and Monday at Hair Designs North owned by Alan O’Sada and Kimberly Briffa in Dearborn, Mich., an area of the country where automotive industry layoffs have been widespread, attracted 250 people in need of a cut and blow dry – not to mention a job. Twenty-two stylists volunteered to give haircuts, an area florist gave flowers to everyone who came in for a haircut, local community volunteers swept the floor, restaurants donated food and hotel rooms were discounted for out of town hair stylist volunteers.

Beverly Grau, 54, was among those who received a haircut, flowers and an emotional boost. A program manager in IT, she had worked for the same company for 24 years and had survived several workforce reductions since Hewlett Packard acquired the company. But, last Friday was her final day of employment. It was an emotional shock and although she realizes it’s just business, she says you can’t help but take it personally.

“This means everything to me. It’s extremely helpful to look your best. And it’s wonderful that these people have taken the time to do things for people in this situation. It’s a fun haircut for me and I think it makes me feel better and look good,” says Grau. “This has really been heartwarming that folks have done this. It is very much appreciated. It gives me a boost to go out and find that job.”

The first person to show up Sunday at the Dearborn event for a hair cut and styling was Dawn Bucko, a single mother who lost her job last June and hadn’t had a haircut since. “It really is amazing how just a simple haircut changed my mood. I know they said I would feel more confident, and it was the truth, as everyone is already saying I have a little extra swing in my step. And knowing there are great people willing to do something so great also makes me see the future with a brighter, more positive view.”

Editor’s note: Article by Anne Driscoll. Originally published by our friends at Tonic.com. Tonic is a digital media company and news source dedicated to promoting the good that happens each day around the world. Tonic tells the stories of people and organizations who are working to make a difference, by inspiring good in themselves and others. Be sure to visit them and say hi, and follow Tonic on Twitter, too!

Image: bzmillerboy

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