Study title

This survey assesses 3 main things: 1.how our ecohair presentation affected attitudes and practice. 2. What the key motivators are for adopting sustainable hair practices. 3. The ripple effect i.e. how much impact in terms of water and energy saved has our ecohair presentation had via its effect on trainers teaching, the impact on their trainees and the impact the future hairdressers will have on their clients.Despite efforts to raise awareness of the challenges of sustainable development and environmental issues, individual behaviour has been slow to change. The proposed Knowledge Exchange study is based on the results of a previous study that explored the efficacy of an innovative bottom-up social marketing approach to encourage pro-environmental behaviour, using hairdressers as 'catalytic individuals' to diffuse knowledge relating to responsible chemical, energy and water use across their social networks. Social psychological research and research into behaviour change indicate that a key driver of behaviour is social norms. However even when people are aware of what they should do (injunctive norms) a stronger driver of behaviour is descriptive norms i.e. what everyone else is doing. Therefore, attempts to change behaviour need to take into account social norms. In our original study we targeted hairdressers on the basis that they talk to more people than almost any other occupation and therefore are in a strong position to affect norms relating to hair care. Hairdressers use a lot of energy, water and chemicals, but our research last year indicated that, despite the increased concerns and public pronouncements on the importance of sustainability, little awareness has filtered into the hairdressing sector. This lack of attention to environmental issues by hairdressers then constitutes a social norm that is antagonistic to sustainability awareness, especially hair-washing, drying and colouring, which are activities that are carried out at home. In our...