Award-winning hairdressers lead groundbreaking sustainability workshops for salons across Yorkshire.
Two of Yorkshire’s most forward-thinking hairdressers are on a mission to help fellow salon owners cut through the greenwashing and take real, manageable steps towards sustainability.
Salon owner Melenie Tudor and salon manager Shannon Giblin are on a mission to help salons make real, honest progress with sustainability. Melenie and Shannon are no strangers to the industry. Melenie has run En Route Hair & Beauty for over 20 years and is known for pushing boundaries in business and education. Shannon is passionate about the environment and has helped drive big changes within the salon. Together, they’ve launched a new company called En Route to Sustainability, an initiative that recently earned both funding and backing of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Driven by their belief that salons have a big part to play in both meeting and shaping consumer behaviours and values in relation to sustainability, Melenie and Shannon are breaking down big environmental goals into small, manageable steps, they help businesses identify practical actions that make a difference. The workshops are designed for both consumers and salon professionals with different slants. So far, they have run sessions for students at Castleford College, consumers at Wakefield Library, and even taken part in the UNESCO Festival of Learning. More industry-wide events are on the way, including a salon-specific session at Alan Howard Stockport in October.
The En Route to Sustainability workshops are simply designed to take the overwhelm and confusion out of going green. Each session is practical and easy to follow. Salons are encouraged to figure out their own reason for making changes and leave with a clear 8-week action plan they can actually stick to. There’s also a follow-up session to help keep the momentum going.
“There’s a lot of pressure to be perfect when it comes to sustainability,” says Shannon Giblin, “But I believe it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. We want to show people how they can take small, manageable steps that work for their business.”
Sustainability can feel overwhelming, and Melenie and Shannon have seen firsthand how the conversation has become exclusive and intimidating. That’s exactly where their workshops come in. Instead of overwhelming people with jargon and carbon calculators, they want to focus on small, impactful steps, helping salons set realistic goals, implement meaningful changes, and build a long-term plan for becoming more sustainable.
Melenie and Shannon’s innovation fills this gap by offering a gentle, non-judgmental entry into sustainability. Rather than overwhelming salons with unattainable goals, they meet them where they are, helping them change one thing at a time.
To book tickets for their workshop please visit Journey to Sustainability or contact them via email on [email protected] or direct message at @ertosustainability on Instagram.