TEMPE, Ariz. — Verbena Hair Salon in Tempe wants to be part of a solution: The salon, which opened in 2021, wants to end poverty in all forms.
Verbena's owners decided that part of their business model would include 17 sustainable development goals made by the United Nations in 2015. The first goal, “end poverty in all forms,” is what Verbena is tackling through a donation-based initiative to provide blow-dry services to members of the community who are in need.
Their way of doing it: Providing blow-dry services to low-income individuals.
“We have a mission to sustainable business practices,” said Zachary Novak, the salon's manager. “Not just in the products that we use and how we handle our waste but also how we treat our employees and our customers.”
Community members can make donations which will be put toward certificates for blow-dry services. People can also give the salon nominations to receive the certificates.
Novak said that in addition to individual nominations and community members, the salon will also give certificates to charitable organizations, such as women’s shelters and organizations serving survivors of domestic violence.
“I think that it is fair to say that many people in the United States have faced some type of poverty in some way,” Novak said. “I think because that's something we can all share, as a common image, I think that it was just very important to us to come together in a way.”
Donations can be made directly to Verbena Salon in-person, whether as part of a booked service or as a standalone donation. At this time, digital donations are not accepted.
Novak said the initiative is just one action Verbena is doing, but he would love to see other businesses do similar things.
“This isn’t patented, this isn’t exclusive to us,” Novak said. “I would hope that other salons can follow a similar model.”
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