Zero waste living. Are you already intimidated? For a lot of us, myself included, we hear the words zero waste lifestyle and immediately check out. Nope, not for me, too hard. That was my mentality for sure. It sounded impossible to suddenly give up every habit I had picked up as a consumer and swap out what I was used to for something totally different. What I didn’t realize until I really started doing my homework, was that I had already started my journey toward zero waste totally by accident.

I wasn’t raised as a ‘waste warrior’ by any means. My parents had served as missionaries in eastern Europe for many years under communism, so upon their return to the states, they had a newfound recognition of the wasteful consumer culture and were mindful not to get caught up in it. Long before reusable water bottles were popular, my dad could be seen sporting a large fast food cup, one that he had acquired at some point during a lunch out and then washed and reused so as not to waste a ‘perfectly good to go cup’. Recycling and reusing were something we were conscious about. Waste not, want not, right?

As I moved into adulthood and had control over my own environment and purchasing decisions, I wasn’t nearly as conscious as my parents. I fell into the all too easy lifestyle, using single use products and plastics because it felt, convenient? It wasn’t until I made a conscious decision to change my mindset from within that I fell into a reduced waste lifestyle, totally by accident. I began to practice meditation daily, to take walks in nature and spend time enjoying the earth. It was a magical transition, but one that really opened my eyes to how badly we really do mistreat this earth. Amongst streams, creek beds, trees, and oceans, sat trash. Cigarette butts, bottles, cups, plastic, you name it. I wouldn’t call it my environmental wake up call, but it definitely contributed to my continuation of being intentional with every decision, purchase, and interaction. Starting as simply as a reusable water bottle, bringing my own canvas bags to the stores, and reducing my use of single use products.

So how did I find myself ready to dive headfirst into a zero-waste lifestyle? I made decisions intentionally, and it led me here.

I’ve been a professional in the beauty industry for over eight years, I’ve worked in two salons and a cosmetology school, I’ve seen first-hand how wasteful the beauty industry is. Hair clippings, foils, additional color, empty cans of product, not to mention you would not believe how many empty Starbucks cups a hairstylist tosses during any given week. The beauty industry generates 877 pounds of waste per minute. Per, minute. The more I learned, the more I wanted to be a part of a culture that was mindful about ending this vicious cycle. When you care about the environment, you care about people. When I walked into Scisters, the energy was different, the environment was different. It felt clean, rejuvenating, like there was no way that you could walk out of the space feeling bad. There was no waste, pulling the energy down. So, is it intimidating to commit to a zero-waste life? Absolutely! But the only way to fail at going zero waste is not to try to at all.

-Katherine