What Really Happens to Your Colour Bowl: How Responsible Hair Salons Create and Reduce Waste Behind the Scenes

A closer look at what goes into your colour, what gets left behind, and how Margaux Salon is cutting waste from 14% to 5%.

The hidden side of a hair colour

Every beautiful shade starts with a bowl of colour. But have you ever wondered what’s actually inside it?

Professional hair colour isn’t pre-made. Stylists mix pigments, activators, and other components in real time to create your personalised shade. Every formula is bespoke, based on your natural base, tone, and previous colour history. It’s a craft that combines precision and chemistry.

But here’s the problem: most stylists mix a little extra, just in case. They want to be sure there’s enough to cover your hair evenly. That safety margin might only be a few grams each time, but across hundreds of services, it adds up to litres of wasted product every month.

And that’s before you count the foils, colour tubes, gloves, and water used during the process.

The average UK salon produces up to 877 kilograms of general waste each year, much of which could be recycled or reused (BusinessWaste.co.uk, 2024). Around 98 percent of salon metal waste, such as colour tubes and foils, still isn’t recycled (Green Salon Collective, 2023). And across the industry, the average salon wastes roughly £15,000 worth of colour product every year (Estetica Export, 2023).

At Margaux Salon, we decided early on that this couldn’t be business as usual. Sustainability is not a box we tick. It’s part of how we work every single day.

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Measuring every drop

Most colour waste happens long before the rinse, when colour is mixed. Even experienced stylists can overestimate how much product they need, and just a few grams left in each bowl quickly turn into litres of waste every month.

To tackle that, we use Vish, a smart digital scale that measures and tracks every colour mix.

It records exactly how much each stylist uses, allowing perfect results with zero guesswork. We track usage data monthly, set reduction targets, and review results together.

When we started, our average colour waste was 14 percent. After adopting Vish and training the team to measure precisely, we’ve brought that down to roughly 5 percent.

The colour is still flawless, but now every gram is used efficiently.

Less waste means cleaner water systems, lower costs, and a lighter footprint on the planet.

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Recycling the rest

Of course, some waste is unavoidable. That’s where our partnership with Green Salon Collective makes a difference.

They help us recycle and repurpose almost everything that can’t be reused.

• Hair clippings are turned into mats that soak up oil spills or used for composting.

• Foils and colour tubes are melted down and made into new metal.

• Leftover colour is processed safely so the water can be recovered.

Through initiatives like this, Green Salon Collective helps UK salons divert more than 400 tonnes of waste each year away from landfill (Green Salon Collective Impact Report, 2023). We’re proud to be part of that number.

Every bowl of colour we mix is accounted for. Nothing goes to landfill.

Power, people, and place

Sustainability is built into every corner of our business.

• All our salons run on 100 percent renewable electricity from Octopus Energy.

• We design our spaces using reclaimed wood and metal, giving them warmth and character while reducing new materials.

• We source from local, independent partners whenever possible, from furniture makers to our coffee supplier.

• Even our cleaning and laundry products are low impact and biodegradable.

Our stylists are fully employed, fairly paid, and trained to understand how their daily actions add up. Sustainability isn’t just a policy. It’s a shared mindset.

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Making it visible for clients

We want every client to see what happens behind the scenes. In our salons, you’ll spot the Green Salon Collective bins clearly marked for hair, foils, and colour waste.

Stylists explain how it works as part of the consultation, so clients understand that their service supports a more responsible system.

Online, we share stories and data from our sustainability efforts. Clients love seeing real progress instead of slogans.

Results that matter

Since we introduced Vish and joined Green Salon Collective, we’ve seen measurable improvements.

• Colour waste per stylist has dropped from 14 percent to 5 percent

• Nothing from our salons goes to landfill

• Product costs have stayed stable even as industry prices rise

• Client loyalty has grown as more people look for eco friendly beauty choices

We also added a small £1 Green Fee per visit to support sustainable waste management. Clients appreciate it because they can see exactly where it goes.

Small changes, big difference

Every bowl of colour leaves a mark. By tracking, reducing, and recycling what we use, we’ve proven that sustainability can be simple, effective, and good business.

Our goal is to make conscious hairdressing the new normal.

At the end of the day, our heroes are our employees, and their heroes are their clients. Together, they’re creating beautiful hair that doesn’t cost the earth.