For one California salon, being green is simply a state of mind.

While Sunnie Brook Jones’ green practices recently earned her a spot in John Paul Mitchell Systems’ Head for Change advertising campaign, she swears her salon’s green consciousness stems from the community at large.

On any given day at Reveal Salon in San Luis Obispo, California, staff members arrive on bicycle to cater to clients who are enjoying the salon’s outdoor garden. “We live in a very green-conscious community, so one year for Earth Day, the team got together to pick up trash along the creek that runs through town,” she remembers. “That started a conversation about what else we could do to help the environment. Those of us who could decided to bike to work—others now take the bus.”

Several years ago, Jones examined her salon practices and automated to reduce her paper use. Then she came up with a system to replace the paper check-out ticket that clients took to the front desk. “We laminated several check-out forms and now write on them with dry erase markers, then wash them after the client checks out. That alone saved us about $100 a month on paper and ink, not to mention how many trees.”

The Reveal Staff picking up trash on Earth Day.

In addition, Jones and her staff instituted a recycling program, swapped all florescent lightbulbs with energy-efficient bulbs, unplug all equipment when not in use and regularly talk to clients about green practices.

In the retail area, Jones purchased fewer accessories to decorate displays and started looking at how other items from the salon or home could be repurposed. For a spring display, she’s fashioned flowers out of newsprint and shredded printer paper and used fallen branches from a staff member’s tree.  She’s also torn out images from design magazines to create decorative art boards. “We end up with displays that look great, but cost me nothing—and we’re simply using things that would have been thrown away,” says Jones.

The green movement even inspired Jones and her salon team to style and shoot a recent collection using recycled newspaper to create the models’ wardrobe. The imagery placed Jones among the winners of the 2008 Paul Mitchell Photo Shoot Contest.

Sunnie Brook Jones and her husband sponsor Samuel through World Vision.

While salons are greening up around the nation, Jones takes her commitment one step further. After visiting Zambia five years ago to teach hygiene and sanitation practices, she and her husband decided to sponsor a child through World Vision. Now for $35 a month, a young boy named Samuel is fed, educated and excited to correspond with Jones and her husband. “Seeing his picture on my fridge every day reminds me that, no matter what, I always have something to give,” says Jones.
 
For more information on sponsoring a child, visit www.worldvision.org.

REVEAL SALON Owner: Sunnie Brook Jones San Luis Obispo, California Website: www.revealsalon.com Established: 2005 Square footage: 1,400 Number of employees: 9 Number who bike to work: 5 Average number of clients per week: 160 Annual amount saved through green practices: Approximately $1,500