April is here: the month of gentle sunshine, spring showers and gorgeous weather that’s perfect for barefoot walks in grassy parks. With nature at its finest, it makes sense that April is also Earth Month. We’ve set an Earth Month goal in all of our Green Bay salons and Chicago salons and we’d love for you to help us achieve it. Make a donation to the Alliance for the Great Lakes and we’ll enter you into our raffle to win a year of spa. That’s right—one grand prize winner will receive spa treatments for an entire year, a $795 value. But, even if you don’t win, you can still feel good knowing you did your part to support an organization that works right in our backyard.
In the meantime, while you’re getting out your spring/summer wardrobe and dusting off your rain boots, we encourage you to take a few minutes to think about what you can do to honor the Earth and to promote conservation and environmental responsibility.
Below, we’ve put together a list of six simple, fun and (dare we say) indulgent things (besides entering our raffle) you can do to participate in Earth Month. Try one or try them all—you just might love it.
CELEBRATE MEATLESS MONDAYS
During the month of April, try a vegetarian diet on Mondays. It’s more than just a refreshing change of pace: going meatless once a week helps reduce your carbon footprint, as it takes a lot more water and energy to produce a pound of meat than it does a pound of vegetables. It’s also a delicious way to stretch your cooking abilities. (Veggie Pad Thai, anyone?) And if cooking’s not your forte, view this as an invitation to cap off your Mondays with an extra cheesy pizza—hold the pepperoni.
SKIP YOUR SHOWER
Seriously. This month, try to go an extra day between showers, or at least skip washing your hair to make yours shorter. In addition to saving water, you just might save your hair—most of us actually over-wash, leading to dryness that our body responds to by amping up oil production.
Luckily, Aveda just made shower-skipping even easier. New Shampure Thermal Dry Conditioner ensures your hair is soft, detangled, and protected from heat on non-wash days. Start by using the cult-favorite Shampure Dry Shampoo on your roots to freshen up, then mist the dry conditioner throughout your hair, concentrating on the ends. You’ll feel shower-fresh without the wasted water. (Or time. Permission to hit the snooze button, granted.)
Source: Aveda
GET A REUSABLE WATER BOTTLE
We get it—plastic water bottles are crazy convenient. But the amount of waste they produce annually is almost incomprehensible. Last year Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles—and although some get recycled, the majority end up in landfills, where they take hundreds of years to decompose. Switching to a reusable water bottle is an easiest first step to a greener life, and it’ll save you money, too. (Bring an empty reusable bottle to the airport and fill it twice at a water fountain and the bottle has basically paid for itself.) Bonus: there are so many cute, Insta-friendly reusable bottles these days, you can basically consider yours a new accessory.
LIGHT A CANDLE
Source: Aveda
If you’re like us, your house is probably overflowing with gorgeously scented candles—and you’ll be happy to hear we have a compelling reason to add one more to your collection. When you treat yourself to Aveda’s Earth Month Light the Way candle, you’re helping save the planet, too. 100% of the proceeds support clean water projects around the globe. (The $12 purchase price of one candle can actually provide a year’s worth of drinking water for a person in Madagascar.) And with its Madagascar-inspired aroma of vanilla, cinnamon, ylang ylang and florals, believe us—you’ll want to stock up while they’re here.
TRY BIKING TO WORK
So much of the carbon we create comes from transportation. If your morning commute takes less than 15 minutes, celebrate Earth Month by switching out your car keys for your bike lock once a week. Riding your bike regularly will relieve stress, give you plenty of time to soak up the spring sunshine and even save you a few dollars. Some people swear their best ideas come to them when they’re walking and biking, so providing your own transportation might just help you at work, too.
GET INVOLVED
As always, the best way to make positive changes in the world is to get involved. We take this month to continue to work toward of our goal of being the best salon in Chicago for green efforts. As we mentioned, the monies we raise this month will benefit the Alliance for the Great Lakes. They’ve done some amazing things recently—championing the federal ban on microbeads in personal care products, reaching a historic cleanup goal for Lake Erie and educating and involving thousands. Donate to our raffle. Or, join us for our Catwalk for Water event May 7. It’s a fun, Earth-friendly fashion show that raises funds and promotes awareness. Consider this your official invitation.
Earth Month is a great way to experiment with small changes and to make way for bigger changes. It only takes a few weeks of doing something regularly to establish a pattern, so view Earth Month as an opportunity to build a lifestyle that’s healthier for you and the planet. Every little bit helps.