Life crisis leads to Hong Kong's first green hairdressing salon

Hong Kong has it first organic and natural hairdressing salon. Opened last month in Central's new Nexxus Building by French couple Emmanuel and Severine Faipoux, the Emmanuel F flagship eco-salon and beauty centre might use the greenest of products to keep your hair shiny and fab, but it took a major personal trauma to open up the hairdresser's own mind.

'Fourteen years ago, I had cancer.' the boutique's eponymous owner recalled.

'Before I was not unlike everyone else, I didn't care about things. I was working in Taiwan for a big salon franchise. Then I realised I didn't have any balance in my life.

'Today, I have balance. I eat organically, live naturally and I wanted to extend that to my work. I still want a successful business but I have more concerns, about the environment, about my client's hair. We're still hairdressers, not doctors, but we're offering a solution. We look for three things: products that are professional, natural and organic.'

From a modest hairdressing shop on Pottinger Street, the couple is taking a risk in opening a much larger salon complete with a product boutique and beauty centre offering an array of pampering treatments that are good for clients and the planet. 'I knew it was not a trend (to go natural). We've gone too far with chemicals. Two years ago I stopped using aluminium foil for hair colour treatments. Aluminium takes 400 years to decompose. We're unique in the city now using a cotton fabric in colouring and it gives a better result and lasts longer. It's true. It's not just marketing.'