designHouse Salon

Holistic Hair Salon Victoria BC

What’s the Difference Between Natural, Eco, Bio and Organic?

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Everyone wants their products to be natural, bio, eco or organic. In fact, we’re more health conscious and care much more about the environment than we did about 20 years ago. Marketers love to claim that their brand’s natural or organic products are better for your face and body. While that’s certainly true if the product comes through on its promise of health-conscious ingredients, it’s more important to do your research and find out what it all means.

While you may think natural and organic mean the same thing, they actually don’t. Marketers have this great ability to confuse us with what this all means. I’m sure anyone who reads this will agree they see natural skin care products as healthy and better than the alternative. Don’t let those labels fool you though. Do your research and find out if their claims are actually true before spending money. Some of the best skin care products in the world use natural ingredients, you just need to know how to find them.

As you can see, this can be confusing, so we wanted to outline the difference between these four labels.

Natural

Walk into any beauty product aisle and you’ll find natural skin care and makeup products everywhere, or at least, a product that claims it’s natural. Because the term “natural” is not regulated by the FDA, if a product has even a small amount of natural ingredients, a company can slap a “natural” label on it. If you got your product from a local producer, chances are good you have a real natural product, but make sure to ask about the ingredients. You should always remember to check the label of any product you find. If you read the ingredient list and can pronounce fewer and fewer words, the more likely the product isn’t as ‘natural’ as they’re claiming.

Eco

The term “eco” is also not regulated, so while the label may make “green” claims, that eco product may be filled with chemicals. Don’t forget to check the label!

Organic

We hear the term “organic” all the time. Regulated by the FDA, organic products like organic makeup are certified and tested. The ingredients in these products are organically farmed and are always guaranteed to be pesticide-free and not genetically modified. If the products want to be deemed as strictly organic, the product has to be made of 95% organic ingredients, otherwise, you’ll see a label that says the product was made with organic ingredients.

Bio

If you’re concerned about where the ingredients come from and the environment they were in, bio products are for you. They step it up a notch from organic products and are as green as can be.

designHouse offers a lot of different types of organic, natural, eco and bio cosmetic products so feel free to check out our selection online or in-store. If you’re still confused on what the differences are and which type of products are best for you, come and visit us at one of our locations! Ask any of our stylists, they’ll be happy to help you find the right product.

Staff Q&A Series: Senior Stylist Rikki Heibert

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We believe in our staff and we want you to, as well. Our monthly Staff Q&A helps you get to know us individually and who we are outside the salon. This month we have Senior Stylist, Rikki Heibert.

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Besides earning more money and becoming even more profitable, what do you think the goals of designHouse Salon are?

To create a welcoming environment for guests and team members where they feel like part of a family. Also, to provide our guests with beautiful hairstyles while respecting the environment and each individual’s health, and to set an example in the beauty industry and our community to take further initiatives for healthy living and protecting our environment.

What do you contribute to the team that makes you stand out? What do/should clients come specifically to you for?

What makes me stand out are my communication skills and customer service. What I love about our industry is the relationship building and taking part in a guest’s hair journey and, sometimes, life journey. When my guests come to see me, I work hard to make sure they feel comfortable and free to express themselves however they need to while they’re here. I understand that a hair service is not just about beautifying the hair, but also about allowing for nourishment/relaxation of the mind, body and spirit.

What does Sustainable Beauty mean to you and why is it an important focus?

It means that, at a time when so many products are mass produced with toxic chemicals and an unnecessary amount of packaging, we can take actions that reject the norm and help to protect the environment and/or neutralize our carbon footprint while still doing fashionable hairstyles.

Why should people come to designHouse Salon over the TONS of other available options?

Firstly, because they will always feel taken care of by our team no matter what stylist they see. Secondly, they can feel good about their contribution to the environment by paying an eco fee with their hair service and supporting a business with environmental initiatives. Lastly, they can feel confident knowing that DH is always growing and improving to better accommodate their needs.

What about the beauty industry excites you and why?

I absolutely love working with people and the diversity of our industry. I appreciate getting to know a guest’s uniqueness in their personality and their hair and collaborating to design a hairstyle and salon experience just for them.

Tell us about your background. Where are you from? What have you accomplished?

I grew up in Nanoose Bay/Parksville. My upbringing was island life at its finest — lots of outdoors adventures, roadtrips, playing in the ocean. I knew at a young age that I wanted to do hair, it just made sense. Well, it was that or become a therapist, which would be a ton of school and I was never great at sitting in a classroom without getting distracted and goofing off. I moved to Victoria the day after I graduated from high school and soon after, attended cosmetology school. I totally nailed the exam 100% and by the end I was also the only person still in my class (last woman standing I suppose). I went on to work at Arq for the next 8 years where I honed my hair skills, worked on photo shoots and organized salon events. I worked for Redken for 5 years facilitating education as well as babe extensions doing education. I have also travelled to Vegas, Montreal and Mexico for hair events and also did hair in Toronto for 6 months.

When you aren’t working, what are you doing? Hobbies, interests, etc.

Fun activities and adventures! Surfing, hiking, swimming, boxing, yoga — basically anything active especially if it’s outside and my dog, Lizzie, can come along. I also looove good coffee and listening to music. My guilty pleasures at the moment are trampoline parks, waterslides and 90s hip-hop club bangers.

Do you prefer Cinnamon or Vanilla?

I can’t pick one… they belong together.

If you could grant a co-worker a superpower, who and what would it be?

A coworker? I would give Robin the power of multiplying herself so she can have extra Robins to assist her at work and in life. I would give Aaron a self-healing power like Wolverine so when he hurts himself at the trampoline park he won’t be limping around for weeks. 🙂

What’s your go-to midnight snack?

Trail mix. popcorn. Chips. Annie’s mac and cheese. Salty and crunchy things.

Name 2 things you want everyone to know about you?

  1. I love comedy… mostly stand up. Although that doesn’t mean I’m funny but I’ll try really hard to get a laugh anyways.
  2. I can’t lie. Not even a white lie. The truth always comes out.

And lastly, name 3 things on your bucket list.

  1. Learn to speak fluent Spanish
  2. Go To University
  3. Live in a Camper Van

Staff Q&A Series: Senior Stylist Sara

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We think the world of our staff and we want you to think the same, too. Hence, the beginning of our new blog series, Staff Q&A. Trust is an essential component to any successful hair stylist-client relationship and we believe that by getting to know our stylists a little better, you’ll feel comfortable coming to them with all your hair care needs. Whether you’re a regular client or new and curious about who we are, get ready to discover our favourite people.

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Besides earning more and more money to grow and still be profitable (like any business that wants to thrive), what do you think the goals of designHouse Salon are?

  1. Provide quality services that not only meet but exceed client expectations.
  2. Make everyone feel welcome and taken care of.
  3. Operate as sustainable as possible to minimize our carbon footprint

What do you contribute to the team that makes you stand out? What do/should clients come specifically to you for?

My willingness to teach clients and coworkers about proper styling tools and the importance of creating rituals to improve quality of not only hair but life as well.

What does sustainable beauty mean to you and why is it an important focus?

Sustainable beauty is important because I care about planet earth, mother nature and all earth’s plants and inhabitants. When you not only care about yourself but also your environment that is shared with others, this caring is contagious in the sense that people will, in turn, make sustainable choices for themselves as well as encourage others too.

Why should people come to designHouse Salon over the TONS of other available options?

It is nice to see and hear about other salons becoming more aware of our environment, however, dH (designHouse) has set the standard for sustainability way higher than any other salon as well as supports a team environment. By supporting dH, clients can feel good about minimizing their carbon footprint as well as support an active business of the local community.

What about the beauty industry excites you and why?

Being able to make people feel good about themselves. Sometimes without even noticing, we can make a big difference in people’s day/mood/life/confidence.

When you aren’t working, what are you doing? (ie. Hobbies, interests, etc.)

Lately, I have been into low to no cost activities like hiking, cooking, and am currently one world away from beating Super Mario Bros.

Do you prefer cinnamon or vanilla?

Easiest question yet! CINNAMON! So much that 2% makes me a special “Sara Latte” with cinnamon steamed into the milk.

If you could grant a co-worker a superpower, who and what would it be?

EMERALD: I would grant her super wings to fly anywhere in the world at any time so she could come back quicker.

What’s your go-to midnight snack?

Salty: stove-top popcorn with butter, salt, and yeast flakes

Sweet: Toast with peanut butter and honey

Name two things you want everyone to know about you.

  1. I beat cancer
  2. I love nature

Name one thing on your bucket list.

Walk the Great Wall of China.

Green Holiday Gift Guide

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The holidays are an incredibly exciting time to practice gratitude, appreciate the power of connection (hello, friends and family) and also be eco-conscious. Many of us get carried away and forget that all these products, packaging and wrapping paper gets thrown into the recycling or landfill. This is a shame and detrimental to the wonderful Earth we live on. So, we’ve compiled a small list of some great companies that care about the environment and wish to make the smallest footprint possible. By buying gifts from these companies, you’re showing retailers what kind of values you wish to put your hard-earned money towards. We have developed personal relationships with some of these companies as well as built partnerships based on a mutual love and understanding of living a green and conscious lifestyle. Lot’s of these companies are local too, one more good reason to shop and support small businesses! So without further adieu, here is our Green Holiday Gift Guide!

Jusu Body

This Victoria-based company has phenomenal eco-friendly business practices and utilises every part of their juicing process. Jusu Body is entirely vegan, non-toxic and a high-performance body care line. Think about switching out your Body Shop or Lush buys for this. No synthetic fragrance is used and they use only the gentlest ingredients.

Elate

We’re happy to get behind Elate cosmetics since their company motto encourages women to treat putting on their face as a ritual. With a full range of lipsticks, foundations, cream blushes and eye shadows, there’s a little holiday glamour look for everyone in the mix. With a large focus on veganism and cruelty-free cosmetics, this is a great line to gift your vegan and celiac friends. “We believe no human or animal should ever be harmed to create our products.” They operate with great intention, one of the many reasons why we love this company.

Davines

With recyclable packaging and a full range of shampoos, conditioners and styling treatments, Davines has a little something for everybody. We especially love gifting their hair masks, as this time of year wreaks havoc on a variety of hair textures and types. “The beauty that we believe in is based on appreciation for individuality and celebration of diversity. This is why we consider ourselves as a tool for our customers to express their own uniqueness.” This attention to individuality and the planet makes for a potent, meaningful mix.

designHouse Gift Card

We had to give a shout-out to ourselves! Gifting a loved one a fresh new haircut, dye, or treatment, is a great way to show that you love them and care. Sometimes, we forget to pamper ourselves or take that time to decompress. Gifting a salon treatment is an automatic relax session. Call us at 778-433-4393 or grab your gift card online!

This is not an exhaustive list, by any means. However, this contains some of the very best companies that we feel show the people in your life that you care about them and the world around us. Have a wonderful, happy holidays and see you soon!

What is a B Corporation?

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Davines made big news when they became recognized internationally as a certified B Corporation at the end of November this year. We first want to define what being a B Corporation is and what traits a company has to possess in order to gain the widely recognized certification. “At the end of November 2016, Davines Group and its 2 brands – Davines and Comfort Zone – became a B Corporation® , a new type of company that meets the highest standards of overall social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability, (source).”Davines consistently displays awareness regarding its ethical and social practices making it only a matter of time before a official certification was met. “Davines Group was born with the aim of being a business with a positive impact both on people and the environment. Through the years, we have carried out this goal with different projects, such as our Ethical Chart and our Sustainability Report , (source).” First let’s define what exactly a B Corporation is:

B Corporation: B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance. This includes accountability, and transparency. “B Corp is to business what Fair Trade certification is to coffee or USDA organic is to milk, (source).” There are currently over 2100 Certified B Corps from 50 countries and over 130 industries working together toward 1 unifying goal: to redefine success in business.

The next question is how does a company get evaluated in order to become a B Corp? and how does Davines rank in all of this?

Certification: B Corp certification is a long process that usually takes years from application to certification. “To become certified, we had to meet the requirements of the nonprofit B Lab®, which measured “what matters”, meaning the performance of the company regarding five fields: workers, governance, community, customers and environment, (source).” B corporation’s are able to publicly claim an identity as an organization interested in both shareholder and stakeholder success. By having an identity that is clear customers are able to witness the difference in industry norms.

“B Lab certifies companies based on how they create value for non-shareholding stakeholders, such as their employees, the local community, and the environment. Once a firm crosses a certain performance threshold on these dimensions, it makes amendments to its corporate charter to incorporate the interests of all stakeholders into the fiduciary duties of directors and officers, (source).”

Davines’ evaluation ranked a 99 out of 200 and for a company of it’s size is incredibly positive. Davines excelled in various areas including: The analysis of the product life cycle (SLCA) based on their environmental and social impact, the reduction of materials for the packaging of our products, through a lower environmental impact choice and a more responsible product design, the reduction of our waste, and an increase in the percentage allocated to recycling, the involvement of all suppliers in the certification path, the attention to the welfare of the company staff.

Here at DesignHouse we are incredibly fortunate to not only carry Davines products but also posses the same values and ethics surrounding our own business. Want to learn more about Davines? Contact us at 778-433-4393 or on our contact page!

 

Treat Yourself, Get Your Makeup Done

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Are you thinking about planning a special night out on the town? Maybe you have an event coming up, or you are planning on going all out for Halloween (CALL US NOW TO BOOK YOUR HALLOWEEN MAKEUP APPOINTMENTS!). No matter what the reason may be, give into that guilty pleasure once in awhile and treat yourself – it might even benefit your motivation, confidence and overall mental health. So why not a couple steps out of your comfort zone and go beyond your  makeup routine.  When you book a makeup application appointment with designHouse Salon, you are booking time with one of our highly skilled and experienced makeup artists . We understand that looking your best matters, and achieving results so that you can strut with confidence knowing you look as great as you feel is what we strive for.

We pride ourselves in our staff, as each team member has an insatiable passion for their craft. Our makeup artists are here to discuss your specific needs such as colour matching, finding your hues and planning projects with you. Our consultations are complimentary, as our goal is to provide you with quality care and ensure that we exceed your expectations. 

  • Need a special look for that night out on the town? Let us walk you through the perfect contour, shades of colour and classic looks so that you rock your formal event.
  • Weddings can be stressful. We help you by providing consults for you and your wedding party. Schedule your makeup for the big day, and let us walk you through each step to ensure everything runs smoothly.
  • Halloween and other special events are the perfect reason to have your makeup done! We can help you create the look perfect for the ‘Roaring Twenties’ or any themed event.

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Get to Know Our Team

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We are thrilled to feature our Makeup Artist Alexandra (Ali) Loughton. A freelance makeup artist based in Victoria, British Columbia, Ali has taken her work to several different industries such as working behind the scenes for Ted Talks, films, fashion and music videos. As our front end coordinator, Ali uses her well carved skills, passion and natural talent to create a customised beautiful look that matches each client. Take a moment and check out some of her creations on instagram: @anomaly_makeup.

To learn more about the services we offer or to book your appointment with our makeup artist, visit our salon online or call to book your next appointment at 778­-433-­4393.  We set the standards for sustainability practices in the industry and we are really excited to exceed your expectations.

 

Are You Doing Enough for the Sustainability of Your Hair Salon?

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Today’s hair salon is no longer as simple as a place where people stop in to get a haircut. Now a trip to the salon means being able to relax, and unwind as you share your newest stories or woes to your favorite hair stylist. Salons rely on building their relationships and customer engagement. It is essential that every person walking through the door is given the best experience. While many hair salons focus primarily on the client (of course this is important), it is equally or arguably more important to focus on your team. Is your location investing in your staff and encouraging new ideas to flourish? This may be exactly what you need to ensure the sustainability of your business.

 

Do You Support New Hair Stylists?

Hair salons that consistently support new hair stylists by promoting diversity and inclusion are more likely to see their business grow and thrive on a consistent basis. Here’s why:

  • New stylists bring new ideas and opportunities to a salon, and continuously revitalize what it has to offer.
  • Clients enjoy seeing new faces and appreciate being updated on new techniques
  • Supporting younger hair stylists, and workplace innovation helps to ensure your business builds its brand in a positive manner, thereby increasing your reach throughout the community

 

Your salon might be set in your own traditional ways, or fear that any change might disrupt the Zen currently experienced. Complacency is a crime in the field of progression and choosing not to be open to changes can limit your company growth, especially in a continually evolving society. This is especially true of salons that are set in their ways or those who have not done much to change their offerings. But introducing workplace innovation does not have to start with drastic or risky endeavors.

 

How to Improve Workplace Innovation

First, remember that a well-rounded and successful salon or studio is one that is more than just a quick stop for your clients. It’ss a place for them to receive excellent product, feel at home, and overall be impressed. You want your clients to be your loyal friends.

  • Create an atmosphere that’s positive and upbeat. This will help to motivate new stylists to work with you and provides them with a supportive environment. Your employees will feel safe to share ideas on the floor.
  • Teach your new stylists what you know. Yes, you want them to know the core skills of hair cutting, but equally as important are business skills such as building rapport with customers and maintaining the values of your business. See that they are the future of the industry and give them the support they need from on-the- floor education.
  • Adopt new techniques and teach your stylists to do the same thing. At the heart of the most successful salons and studios is a willingness to grow and change with trends. Your new stylists are going to have ideas and fresh skills, but you need to foster a continuous sense of growth and development in them.

 

In today’s challenging and highly competitive market, every new stylist needs a place to grow and develop. That’s why we as professionals are proud to say that our business thrives from supporting and encouraging young, innovative minds.

Be sure to check us out online and to book an appointment, or, call to book your next appointment at 778­433­4393. We set the standards for sustainability practices in the industry and we are really excited to exceed your expectations!