Refillable Beauty at Scisters Salon
By Rise Riyo, Community Outreach Manager, ZeroIn
Driving down the 5 during Monday morning rush hour has to be timed just right, especially from North County San Diego. I was scheduled to interview owners Melissa Parker and Easton Bajsec of Scisters Salon, a zero waste hair salon, and I didn’t want to be late for it. Arriving well before my meeting, I sat down in a nearby Starbucks sipping my English Breakfast tea while pondering how the concept of zero waste could be implemented into their business model. All that came to mind was a joggled memory from the shopping mall craze during the late 1970s and early 80s. During that time all across the US the construction of shopping malls was in full throttle geared toward promoting materialism and encouraging consumerism. It also became a central place for bored teenagers to get-away from parental supervision, and I was one of them.
My girl gang would visit the mall on the weekends and stroll from one end of the mall to the other end, and then do it all over again but on the next level up. We’d hit all of the clothes boutiques wishing we had the money to buy the latest 80’s trend. After rummaging through racks and racks of clothes, losing hope in finding that perfect yet affordable blouse, we’d hit the big retail stores like JCPenney and May Company. You always knew when you were in one of those box-shaped stores because of two things: the cosmetic department and the in-store hair salon.
As we walked through each of these sections, our eyes and noses would be hit hard by an invisible wall of synthetic, chemically-laden ingredients permeating the air and escaping from the packaging of cosmetic and beauty products sold to mostly women. The smell of each department was burned into my amygdala as a memory that became associated with my teenage years at our local mall. This sensory experience is what I expected Scisters Salon to be like when I walked into their hair salon. Never was I so wrong!
Instead, the minute I stepped into the Scisters Salon, I breathed in aromatherapeutic scents that were not overwhelming to the ocular and olfactory systems but rather gentle, calming, and soothing. From a quick pan of the shop, I could see an organic array of colors from the products neatly lined up on wooden shelves of their apothecary section. The aroma of teas and espresso were available to sip while a customer waited for or sat in the styling chair. The salon gave off a genuine warmth and a spa-like feel that invited the client to come sit, relax, and enjoy a haircut experience unlike those offered in traditional hair salons that I had patronized.
For many years Melissa and Easton worked as hair stylists in traditional hair salons. They happened to be working together at a former salon and discovered they both wanted to go to business school. After enrolling in Cuyamaca Community College, the women took the same courses together and became best friends. One of the classes required them to do a project. Their project was a proof of concept and provided the framework for opening a hair salon. Looking over the business plan and the numbers, they realized that their project was actually possible to do. “When we were done with the project or halfway done even, we looked at each other, like we've run all the numbers, like we could do this,” stated Bajsec.
In 2010 the women officially opened Scisters Salon to the public. Melissa and Easton also became instructors for a very large professional hairstyling corporation. For nine more years, they continued running a traditional hair salon. However, as their clientele grew, so did the conscience of Bajsec who began practicing waste minimization at home with her family. “... I had this conflict of conscience, pushing hundreds of bottles of plastic shampoo bottles out of my salon. At the same time, I was trying to not purchase them for myself. So I knew we had to change.”
The thought of waiting for another salon or corporation to take on this task did pass their minds. So much so that Parker and Bajsec presented their ideas to a company well-known for its consumption philanthropy and that had an in-house unit called the Green Team. Unfortunately, the Scisters’ proposal was rejected. It was unfathomable for the Green Team to imagine reinventing their company’s business model. Something as simple as using a large non-plastic bottle rather than multiple single-use plastic bottles was not attainable and cost-effective in the Green Team’s mind.
Unwilling to wait, Melissa and Easton began the journey of minimizing waste throughout their business’ pipeline. It took awhile but eventually, after many trials and tribulations, their salon became one that offered a line of zero-waste beauty products to their clients. But their journey didn’t stop there.
In 2019, Melissa began to feel chronically exhausted and began bleeding excessively and uncontrollably. That year alone she went to the emergency ward six times to stop the hemorrhaging. Multiple doctors suggested for her to go on birth control, but Parker had a tubal ligation earlier to avoid having to take that route. Out of desperation, Melissa turned to a naturopathic doctor who ran some tests. “[S]he essentially told me my hormones were way out of whack, and actually said to me that I may need to stop doing hair, because of all the xenoestrogens I've had contact with…it had been, I think, 18 years that I had been in the industry. [My doctor’s words] shook me so bad, I didn't even say it out loud to [Easton] or my husband for, like, weeks.”
In order to address Melissa’s health issues, Parker and Bajsec began removing products containing xenoestrogens one-by-one from their line. They invited the naturopathic doctor to review the line of new products offered in the shop. Melissa’s doctor went over the products and approved them safe to use in the shop for Melissa and the rest of Scister’s staff.
Scisters Salon continued to evolve beyond a non-toxic, zero-waste beauty and hair salon. As word spread about their services and products, the Scisters’ clients began asking them if they carried other non-toxic, zero-waste home and personal products such as dish soap in the form of a bar or non-plastic dental floss. The demand was so great. Eventually, the apothecary was added onto the shop to provide products that were driven to its shelves by community-based needs from their neighborhood of San Diego.
So what’s next? Parker and Bajsec have a lot of projects ahead of them. One of their goals is to expand their line of non-toxic, zero-waste hair and beauty products wholesale to other salons and retail stores. Another goal is to educate women and men who are considering a career in cosmetology. As hairstylists it’s important to understand the benefits of using healthier hair treatment ingredients for their clients and for staff, especially in light of Melissa’s health issues. “I think that it's so important for us hairstylists to have this conversation for anybody who wants longevity in this career, to be able to do it in a healthy way, which I'm excited to be able to give that gift to stylists who are needing it,” stated Parker. Melissa and Easton also hope to provide consultation on how to transform a traditional hair salon to a non-toxic, zero-waste one to new shop owners and those who have been in the traditional cosmetology industry for a long time.
Although the interest has been slow, I’m hopeful that it will pick up within the cosmetology industry. The benefits of going green outweighs the unhealthy aspects of using toxic ingredients and waste-generating packaging for clients and staff and the environment. It just needs to go viral within the cosmetology industry and more importantly, among consumers. As larger corporations slowly adopt sustainable practices into their business model, the effect will hopefully trickle downward to smaller businesses in the industry. It’s definitely attainable as the Scisters have proven.
You can schedule a hair appointment at Scisters Salon by calling 619-466-6332 or stop by the shop to sip some tea and buy home goods in their apothecary. Visit www.scisters.com for more information.
Website: https://www.scisters.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scisters/
