Membership
No need to worry about washing all materials before recycling with Sustainable Salons! We have an advanced resource recovery process that can handle materials without requiring pre-washing. Our goal is to make recycling as easy and sustainable as possible for you. Please note, however, that pet fur does need to be clean, free of fleas, not matted or covered in poo.
Yes, we have three differing sizes available for our bins to suit businesses of all shapes & sizes. Our team will work with you to ensure that our bins cater to your space.
Sustainability is one of the best ways to attract high value clients and retain them as well.
With our quick & easy set-up, you can be up and running with our program in just 3 weeks of saying yes!
Our program has a one-time set-up fee and an ongoing weekly membership fee. Our program is designed to be cost-neutral to your business and personalised to your specific business size & resource recovery needs. Our friendly team can always get in touch with a quote if you would like to learn more. If you want to know more, check out our Pricing page.
No, you can leave at any time with 30 days notice.
We currently service metro & regional salons all across Australia and New Zealand. If you’re unsure if we can reach your business, register your interest above and our friendly team will be in touch.
Sustainable Salons service businesses in the hair, barber, beauty, dermal and pet grooming industries.
We service businesses of all sizes – from solo operators to large chains and corporates.
Ponytails
We recommend visiting a Sustainable Salon for the ponytail chop, but if there are no Sustainable Salons in your local area we do accept ponytail donations via the post.
If you are donating via post, we suggest downloading the Ponytail Donation Kit which includes instructions on how to correctly prepare and cut your hair for donation.
When a ponytail donation is received at our depot, it is collected and sorted based on length and hair type. We then send these ponytails to independent wig makers and charities including Variety and the Australia Alopecia Areata Foundation (AAAF) for charitable wigs only.
It takes approximately 20 individual ponytails (at a minimum of 20cm in length) to make one individual wig, depending on length, thickness and hair type.
While we always do our best, unfortunately, we can’t give specifics on who receives your hair once it arrives at the wigmaker.
We ask that all donors keep their hair natural with no straightening at the time of the ponytail cut.
Unfortunately we are unable to accept dreadlocks as ponytail donations.
However, we do accept dreadlocks as hair clippings, to be used in our Hair Boom Research and for composting. Hair clippings can be donated in-salon only and not via post. To donate hair clippings please visit the salon locator here.
We accept chemically treated/coloured ponytail donations from a minimum of 20cm in length.
We accept ponytail donations from 100% human hair extensions.
Before donation, please verify that these extensions are 100% natural, as we aren’t able to accept synthetic hair.
We work with a number of charities that you can fundraise with for your ponytail chop, such as the AAAF, Cancer Council, Leukaemia Foundation- World’s Greatest Shave, Variety the Children’s Charity and more.
We recommend contacting the charities directly for more information on how to fundraise.
We understand that it can be difficult to measure curly hair unstraightened. Therefore we suggest tying your hair into plaits from where you intend to cut, and then measuring the length of the plait from the elastic to ensure it meets the 20cm length.
When visiting a Sustainable Salon to donate your ponytails, your hair will need to be sectioned, plaited and cut for the donation. The stylist may also be required to tidy or restyle your hair after the ponytail chop.
As such, pricing for cutting hair for a ponytail donation is at the discretion of the salon. We recommend enquiring about pricing for the ponytail chop with your stylist when booking your appointment.
We recommend sectioning the hair into small ponytails around the head because when ponytails are in transit, smaller tight plaits help protect the hair and it is less likely for strands to fall out of the ponytail.
Sectioning the hair into smaller ponytails also ‘maximises’ the length of your hair. If all strands of hair are bunched into the middle, the pieces of hair pulled in from the sides won’t be as long as those in the middle.
We receive hundreds of ponytails to the depot every week. When you have your ponytails cut at a Sustainable Salon, the hairdresser packages and returns them safely to our depot through our network.
If you’re sending your donation to us via post, unfortunately we’re unable to notify you when it’s been received. For your peace of mind, we recommend using a postage option with a tracking service so that you can see when it’s been safely delivered to us.
