Sustaining Us

Part of my journey with this blog is to embrace a top to bottom approach to sustainability. That includes beauty and luckily I’ve got a special friend on the inside of NYC’s beauty scene. She pointed me in the direction of john masters organics. The salon embodies everything that a sustainable business should be. While it would be great marketing to include green touches here and there, it’s the salon’s holistic approach that counts. The salon doesn’t concede an inch in its abstention of the use toxic chemicals. No manicures or perms. In order to promote healthy and sustainable alternatives, John Masters sources his clay-based, ammonia-free dyes from Europe. The salon is all about compromise. Recognizing the inherent limitations of placing a salon in Manhattan, it buys 100% of its power in the form of Wind Energy. The salon has reclaimed antique mirrors and wood from 18th Century Brooklyn buildings.

Pragmatism and compassion are rarely used in the same sentence, especially in a country so keen to polarize issues. The salon is located in downtown Manhattan, space is very expensive, and converting it to open space doesn’t seem practical. Au contraire, allotting part of the salon to open space brings beauty to another level. I commend the Press Release for mentioning the oxygenating benefits of green open-space behind the salon, but the more tangible connection for the beauty-conscious New Yorker is the beauty of immersion in a natural scene. There’s an element of therapy that is captured in the presence of nature. While relaxing and “shutting down the engines” in a salon, is there a better setting to reinvigorate our organic bodies than in the refreshing outdoors?

We can all make a difference and compromise some of our luxuries. Forgoing the weekly manicure is a simple example. But when the alternative requires an afternoon in a salon’s eco-garden, an oasis of luxury in downtown Manhattan, it’s not really a compromise at all.

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