Attainable Sustainable Beauty From the Inside Out
Meet Samantha and Tristan Harron, founders of Hemp House Hair Salon, where clients leave their appointments looking amazing and feeling good about the minimal impact their choices have had on the local environment. Before becoming a stylist, Samantha worked in palliative care. Wanting to continue a career where she would take care of others, she moved into the beauty industry. After working in the salon industry for many years and seeing how wasteful and toxic many of the services and products were, Samantha wanted to create a salon where residents of the Gulf Islands could indulge in high-end salon services while supporting sustainable business practices. Together with her husband Tristan, they have created a truly zero impact salon.
Zero Impact Building
Samantha and Tristan took everything into consideration when building Hemp House. The building is made entirely from hempcrete, a natural, compostable building material, and is powered by solar panels on the roof, in-floor heating and a high-efficiency woodstove. All the window framing and decorative wood in the salon was harvested from naturally fallen logs and the amazing multi-colored roof was built out of reclaimed pro-lock metal. In the salon, every detail was carefully considered. There are eco-heads at the hair washing station, local products line the shelves along with sustainable salon brands, and over 95% of waste in the salon is recycled through Green Circle. Any remaining carbon emissions are offset through Bullfrog Power.
Educating and Expanding
Samantha and Tristan are so excited about the possibilities of hempcrete, they recently built a two story hempcrete playhouse for their daughter as part of her home-school curriculum. To encourage and educate community members about hempcrete, they hosted multiple hempcrete building days where they taught others about the wonders of hempcrete and eco-friendly building materials. Samantha and her staff love to talk to clients about choosing more sustainable options. Samantha will refill product containers for clients and has recently started stocking other sustainable housekeeping brands to encourage clients to adopt sustainable practices throughout their homes.
Samantha and Tristan, along with their local team, are paving the way for a new sustainable business model for both the beauty and construction industry. Check out the salon on Salt Spring Island!