1/16/09 Update: We have a confirmation that Addy for Hair uses Paul Mitchell hair color!  Go there for your 100%-cruelty-free hair coloring!

Dear Emily,

I love your blog and your mission! Kudos to you.

I am a fellow bay area resident, and I’m having a heck of a time finding a hair salon that uses cruelty-free color. Even if a salon’s shampoos, conditioners, etc. are cruelty-free it seems like once it gets to having professional highlights done, options are limited or non-existent.

I’ve been calling around town, asking salons whether or not the color they use is cruelty-free and the usual reply is: cricket, cricket. The closest I have gotten is Milvali, their website says, “Cruelty free products, expertise waxing, professional make up artists and cutting edge hairstylists are what makes Milvali unique.” When I called they told me they use Goldwell. Which is only 50% cruelty-free according to your list, and not good enough for me.

I know I can buy hair color products from a place like Whole Foods, but it is not the same as getting a professional job done.

This is the bay area people! We are supposed to be ahead of the curve on this kind of stuff. Any suggestions for me?

Thanks for any help…

Going Grey in the Bay

Hi Going Grey in the Bay!

I’m so glad you like my blog and  I LOVE your question!  And how frustrating that no one in the bay area has cruelty-free hair color.  I may be able to help you — I actually don’t color my hair, but I chose a salon based on its use of 100%-cruelty-free shampoo/conditioner, which turns out to be Paul Mitchell shampoo/conditioner, and luckily for you — Paul Mitchell seems to make professional hair color products! Unfortunately Paul Mitchell has one of those flash-based sites so I can’t link to anything on it, but it turns out they have a zipcode search feature you can use to look for Paul Mitchell salons near your zipcode.  (Go to PaulMitchell.com > Salons > Salon locator.)  I did a quick search and I found there are 2 Paul Mitchell “focus” salons within thirty miles of San Francisco.  Theoretically, both of these salons should use Paul Michell, and Paul Mitchell ONLY, hair products.  (I would still call to make sure — in my experience hair salons change ownership once a year.)

I’m a little sorry both these salons are in the city — I actually find the people in salons in the suburbs are much nicer.  But that’s just me!

Also it turns out there are a lot of Paul Mitchell salons in the bay area that use some Paul Mitchell products — if there are any close to you, you should call them and ask what brand hair color they use.  (I’ve attached a 10 mile search from San Francisco to the end of this post.)  When I was looking for a salon I checked out a few of those listed and found out they really just carried a few bottles of Paul Mitchell conditioner — they didn’t use Paul Mitchell on their customers, and they certainly didn’t use Paul Mitchell hair color.  (And then I ended up at a salon that Paul Mitchell doesn’t even list — yet uses Paul Mitchell shampoo and conditioner.)

Um, anyway, that’s if you don’t loathe Paul Mitchell color products and/or find none of those salons appealing (I don’t know about you, but I have VERY specific salon requirements — I am a strictly midrange salon kind of girl — I won’t go to any salon that isn’t nice-looking, and the stylist doesn’t spend at least an hour cutting my hair, making sure all the layers are precise, but I also won’t go to a really upscale salon — I just can’t afford it).  If you really hate Paul Mitchell products, Goldwell is probably not that bad — you could always keep using Goldwell products until something better and 100%-cruelty-free comes along.  (I’m so touched to hear that 50%-cruelty-free is is not good enough for you though! )  If you do find a good salon, please email me and I’ll tell other people about it!  

If any kind cruelty-freeists know of any salons that use Paul Mitchell color in the bay area, please comment about them here!  (Or any salons that use Paul Mitchell color anywhere else in the WORLD, really, I’m sure that will be tremendously useful to someone!)  I know 90% of the female population colors their hair (I’m just too lazy — my old salon used to try to get me to get highlights all the time, and I was just appalled by the amount of maintenance involved, and I like my hair color, even though it’s not platinum blond the way most salons seem to want hair to be.  Once I start going grey, though, all bets are off . . . )

If you have been to any of the salons listed below and know they do not use Paul Mitchell color, please contact me so I can remove them from the list:

Paul Mitchell Salons located within 10 Miles of postal code 94108:

Focus salons that use only Paul Mitchell products:

ADDY FOR HAIR

Tags : bay area, dear emily, hair color, Paul Mitchell
Categories : cruelty free, dear emily