Lorraine Dallmeyer argues that shifting hair care to sustainability is harder than skincare because hair carries cultural and political weight. Over 70% of people in her poll still prefer liquid shampoo, and trauma plus brand loyalty slow change. She calls for more sensitive conversations about hair.
Questions this video answers
December 22, 2022.
Over 70% of respondents said they prefer liquid shampoo.
Chapters
I have interviewed many dozens of change makers on this podcast and we've talked about the myriad of ways that the beauty industry needs to change in order to become even vaguely sustainable. We've talked about refill schemes. We've talked about lowering consumption and production levels. We've talked about plastic and biodegradability and circularity and diversity. The list goes on and on. Go back and listen to the other 139 episodes and you'll hear it for yourself. One point that I don't think we've fully addressed yet is the difference between skincare and hair care on that sustainability journey. After all, sustainability and beauty will have to come from behavioral change. That means you and I have to change our actions when it comes to the way that we approach and use beauty products. Which won't be easy, let's face it. But is it possible that it could be even harder than we think to change the way that we consume hair care products? Last week here on the podcast, I recorded an interview with Suzanne Soto Davis of O Bloom in which we unpicked the less is more approach for hair care. But as I record this episode for you, there's an uprising in Iran where hideous injustices and murders are happening and women are cutting their hair in protest to express grief and anger. Then there are still countless daily examples of people being discriminated against because of their natural hair. And I sit here in a position of never having experienced any of this, but I know that there is a lot of emotion tied up in hair, and rightly so. So this week I want to ask the rather controversial question, are we ready for sustainable change in hair care or do we have to impick all of the injustices around hair first? Hi, it's Lorraine Dallmeyer, chartered environmentalist, biologist and CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic Formul Formulation School Formula Botanica. I host the Green Beauty Conversations podcast and these are my Green Beauty opinions in which I share my main takeaways from the podcast interview that we released last week and set you a challenge to make the green beauty sector a better place. If you want to be the first to hear all of my latest episodes, make sure you subscribe to this podcast. So, as the author, Emma Dabiri of the excellent book Don't Touch My Hair says hair is a material used to express oneself, but also to comment on, reflect, or indeed contest society. In other words, we can't just say it's only hair. Get over it. Just use different, more sustainable products. We use hair to show the world who we are. So when we talk about hair, we have to look deeper into its actual meaning. Now, many women in particular have trauma around hair. They've been told that their hair doesn't look right or look normal. They've had chemical straightening ingredients added without their consent. They've been told to cover their hair or change their hair. They've been told their hair is dirty or wrong. Now, as I said at the beginning, I have zero experience of any of this, and I plan to bring more speakers onto the podcast next year to learn from them. But I can absolutely see how hideous this is and that these injustices need to be tackled as we try to make hair care more sustainable. I suspect, but don't yet have any data to back this up, that brand loyalty in hair care may be higher than in skincare. And just as an aside, if you're listening to this and you have that data, please do DM me on Instagram Lorraine Dallmeher because I'd love to see it. But the reason I think that brand loyalty is higher for hair care is precisely because of all those emotional and cultural complexities around hair, which is completely understandable. Plainly put, I suspect that once you find something that works for your hair, you're more likely to stick with it. I recently ran a poll in our big free Skincare Entrepreneur Mastermind group on Facebook and I asked people to tell me if they preferred liquid shampoo, solid shampoo, or no shampoo at all. So the overwhelming majority, over 70%, said Liquid Shampoo. And as one respondent said to me, the liquid shampoo I buy is one I don't react to and works well with my hair. So I have always just used that. And I get this. It was also noticeable how many people said that they'd not used solid shampoos before, which again, makes perfect sense when you consider that many people probably feel fearful about treading into this new territory if they have something that works for them. Creating sustainability in the hair care sector may well be a longer journey than we expect, and it won't come from simply telling people to change their habits. Doing so would be patronizing and insensitive. And I feel that Suzanne covered this really well in our interview last week when she talked about the fact that there is no one size fits all for anyone. Hair care sustainability has to first come from a place of dismantling everything that's wrong with the beauty industry, which does admittedly make the job significantly harder, but certainly doesn't mean that we shouldn't give it our all and really try. So my challenge to you for this week is to join me in being more mindful in the way that we talk about hair care. Nothing is simple when it comes to hair, and change starts with each and every one of us. As I said, I'll be lining up more speakers on hair care for 2023 to learn from them. Creating a more sustainable beauty industry requires us to dismantle its very foundations, and I hope you'll join me in having those conversations. Thank you for listening to my Green Beauty opinions. Remember to visit the Formula botanica website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. And if you haven't subscribed yet to the Green Beauty Conversations podcast, please make sure you do so now in your favorite podcast app. Leave me a five star review if you enjoy the conversations. I host and I'll be back soon with my next episode.
