'Greening’ Your Hair Routine Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated—Here Are 8 Eco-Friendly Hair Care Tips

If you’re in search of eco-friendly hair care tips that won’t upend your existing routine, here are eight ideas you can try right now.

By Leann Garofolo & Powered By L’Oreal Professional Products Division

Update Date: 03 May 2023

As the weather gets warmer, it’s now the perfect time to spend as much time outdoors as possible, enjoying everything Mother Nature has to offer. It’s also a great excuse to redirect your attention to your daily routine. Making your life a little bit more eco-friendly is a straightforward way to preserve Earth’s beauty for years to come.

We've got you covered if you want to give your hair care routine a green makeover. Below we’ve curated some of our favorite eco-friendly hair care tips. The best part? They’re super easy to incorporate into your existing regimen.

1. Use less electricity.

One of the easiest ways to green your hair care routine is to give your hot tools a break. While your 30-minute blow-dry sessions may not feel like they suck up a lot of electricity, it starts to add up when you style your hair every day.

We love a bouncy blow-out and pin-straight strands as much as the next girl, but constant heat styling can take a toll on the look and feel of your strands, too—especially if you have textured hair. Not only will giving your hot tools a break save power, but it will also give your strands some much-needed reprieve from heat styling. Take this month to embrace your natural hair and rely on air-dry products to help style your mane to perfection.

2. Use less water.

When thinking about ways to help the Earth, limiting excessive water usage is always near the top of the list. Of course, you don’t have to cut back on showering altogether, but limiting your wash days can make all the difference. You may even want to finally take the hair training method for a spin to see whether or not this system works for you.

If you’re worried that not maintaining your usual wash schedule will leave your mane looking greasy, limp, and frankly, smelling not so fresh, invest in dry shampoo formulas and waterless hair refreshers. Below are some of our favorites from the L’Oréal portfolio of products.

Matrix Styling Dry Shampoo

Whether you want to extend your blow-out’s life or need a quick fix after a sweaty workout, Matrix Styling Dry Shampoo offers maximum oil absorption to refresh third and even fourth-day hair.

Pureology Style + Protect Refresh & Go Dry Shampoo

With rice starch as its star ingredient, Pureology’s Style + Protect Refresh & Go Dry Shampoo removes oil build-up, refreshes hair, and adds movement and texture. It also features Pureology's exclusive AntiFade Complex, so it protects hair color and has a full spectrum UVA/UVB sunscreen.

Kérastase Curl Manifesto Refresh Absolu

Revitalize your curls sans the shower with a spray like Kérastase Curl Manifesto Refresh Absolu. The lightweight mist instantly rehydrates and reactivates curl definition between washes while promoting natural pattern formation and reducing frizz.

Shu Uemura Art of Hair Ashita Supreme Intense Revitalization Hair Serum

Shu Uemura Art of Hair’s Ashita Supreme Intense Revitalization Hair Serum is ideal for reviving unwashed hair and is an easy on-the-go style enhancer that won’t weigh hair down.

3. Minimize product usage.

Like us you might be product-obsessed, so we know this one may seem nearly impossible, but it’s actually much easier than it sounds if you have the right products. We love having a product for each of our hair woes, but you can achieve the same results with a multi-use formula that will simultaneously tackle all of your hair concerns. And needless to say, fewer products equals less waste. If you’re looking for an all-in-one product best suited for you, check out some of our most-loved offerings.

Mizani 25 Miracle Milk

Mizani’s 25 Miracle Milk Leave-In Conditioner is for all hair types: fine, thick, textured, straight, and anything in between. The formula boasts 25 benefits, including reducing dryness, aiding in restoring softness, helping prevent split ends, and priming hair for styling.

Biolage Professional All-In-One Coconut Infusion Multi-Benefit Spray

If we’ve learned anything, it’s that there’s no problem a little coconut oil can’t solve, and Biolage Professional All-In-One Coconut Infusion Multi-Benefit Spray is no exception. Formulated with concentrated coconut oil, this lightweight, leave-in hair treatment spray keeps your locks nourished, conditioned, and smelling fresh—think: mandarin, rose, and sandalwood.

Pureology Colour Fanatic Multi-Tasking Leave-In Spray

Pureology’s Color Fanatic Multi-Tasking Leave-In Spray is a lightweight mist that primes, protects, and perfects while delivering 21 essential benefits for all color-treated hair types.

4. Support eco-friendly brands and products.

Minimizing your product usage is a great way to green your routine, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop shopping for new products altogether. Banish shopper's guilt by loading up your cart with products from brands committed to sustainability.

First up is Biolage Professional. Besides being good for your strands, Biolage is also kinder to the planet. The brand has been committed to sustainability since day one, focusing on minimizing its environmental impact by using 100 percent recyclable plastic in its bottle packaging (excluding the cap) and helping salons implement more sustainable practices. Plus, the brand is completely vegan and cruelty-free. Add one of Biolage’s five Earth Day Kit Duos to your cart to try one of their salon-approved shampoo and conditioner systems.

Another brand making strides toward a more sustainable future is Redken. The brand’s shampoos, conditioners, and treatments recently underwent a packaging renovation, receiving the Cradle to Cradle Certification. This robust and highly-trusted certification indicates recyclable packaging that is comprised of at least 93 percent recycled plastic.

5. Use reusable bags.

We love shopping online for our hair care products, but sometimes, we all need a little in-person retail therapy. When browsing the professional hair care aisles of our favorite stores, we’re bringing our shopping bags with us. Whether your state is one of the many that recently banned single-use plastic bags or you have a roomy tote you’ve been waiting to fill up, shopping with reusable bags is an easy and stylish way to green your hair care routine.

6. Recycle your products.

This tip seems like a no-brainer, and yet so many of us forget to do it! Instead of letting your empties go to waste, consider recycling eligible containers and packaging. Unsure whether you can recycle your shampoo bottle? Check the bottom of the bottle or the label. If you see the universal recycling symbol (a triangle of arrows), the container is safe to recycle.

7. Upcycle your products.

If you find yourself with packaging that you can’t bear to toss in the trash, why not upcycle them into something new? Fill a clean scalp scrub jar with cotton rounds and store them in your bathroom drawer, or turn it into a mini pot for kitchen plants and herbs.

8. Take cooler showers.

For the sake of the planet and your mane, try dialing down the temperature of your shower. Cooler showers require less electricity from your hot water heater and often cause you to take shorter showers, decreasing energy output and water usage.