would change the entire industry two decades later. As Melbourne’s De Lorenzo Color Technician, Craig couldn’t be any fonder of the company. When he speaks about the history, the collective passion and the grounded philosophies of De Lorenzo, Craig genuinely knows the business inside and out. “The company has come such a long way since the original Vincent and Anton de Lorenzo days. We’ve got salons and training schools all over the country, and we’re constantly developing our product ranges to ensure we’re environmentally responsible. All of our products are made in Australia and use plant-based ingredients, which dramatically minimalizes our chemical footprint. I love working with products that are not only amazing on the hair, but also better for the environment – we’re CFF listed, we use certified organic ingredients that are sustainably farmed, we don’t test on animals, we’re vegan-friendly, we don’t use lanoline, keratin, beeswax or silk proteins, there are absolutely no petro-chemicals, and, we’re 100% Australian made and owned.”
Craig spends most of his time teaching this inspiring De Lorenzo story to his students and salons alike, because it is important to him that the industry’s future is in educated hands. “The De Lorenzo program offers salons and apprentices a comprehensive technical education syllabus that delivers tangible salon service skills and knowledge. Mixing the right colours, using the right products and understanding their impacts are every bit as important as cutting the right length, yet many salons and companies don’t emphasize it enough. It’s also essential to educate our clients about De Lorenzo’s story and why it’s so important to be aware of the way in which hair care products impact the environment. Education is key.” If you’re considering a cut or colour, consider De Lorenzo, and swish that new ‘do around knowing it’s a sustainably-styled one.
Craig laughs through the long list of green ticks that De Lorenzo is proud of, partly because it’s funny that he knows them all back to front, but mostly because of my dropped-jaw expression. I’ve never known a hair care company to be so conscious, and Craig says there’s no compromising on the ethos either. “Being respectful of our environmental footprint is always something that we have regarded as the minimum standard. De Lorenzo is the messiah when it comes to responsible hair care.”
Claire Goldsworthy.
It is this aspect that charms me the most; thousands of salons around Australia wash hundreds of thousands of heads daily, rinsing toxic chemicals down the drain, but De Lorenzo isn’t one of them. They’re also mindful of waste, so every single De Lorenzo salon and training center now uses Re-Foil, Australia's first recycled and recyclable salon foil. The Re-Foil initiative saves 1.7 tonnes of aluminium from ending up in landfill each year, which is a great start considering that the collective global hair industry uses over 1000 tonnes of aluminium annually.
“Being respectful of our environmental footprint is always something that we have regarded as the minimum standard.”
Embracing their environmental side isn’t a recent fad phase for De Lorenzo though; they were the first to manufacture a non-aerosol hairspray pump in the 80s when CFC’s became an ecological concern. They’ve maintained a strong focus on sustainability since, and now, most of the De Lorenzo ranges are grey-water safe, paraben free and SLS free. The company headquarters also use an innovative digital scanning system to eliminate the need for paper use, and each cardboard shipping carton is used a minimum of four times before being recycled. Rainwater is also harvested from their own rainwater tanks for use during the manufacturing and cooling phase of the compounding process, and solar panels have been installed to generate renewable energy through the manufacturing plant. If an award existed for the most environmentally conscious 24
and ethically grounded company from conception through to creation, we all know who would take out the title.
www.delorenzo.com.au