The days of salon small talk being limited to “Are you going anywhere nice for your holiday?” have evolved. In this blog, ECI researchers Dr Sam Hampton and Dr Briony Latter explore how hairdressers are emerging as everyday influencers on climate change — and how their research, recently published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, inspired a conceptual art installation in Germany, turning ordinary salon conversations into spaces for reflection on democracy, sustainability, and society.
Our recent research into the influence of hairdressers for climate action has inspired German conceptual artist Martina Geiger-Gerlach to create an art installation in Stuttgart.
Hairdressers as ‘everyday influencers’
We explored the potential for hair salons and hairdresser-client relationships to be used for public engagement with climate change and sustainability. Hairdressers are a prime example of ‘everyday influencers’ on climate change, but their potential has not been fully realised.
Our interviews with sustainable hair salon owners and directors across the UK found that hairdressers have unique interpersonal skills which equip them to engage with a broad range of clients. They strive to create appropriate spaces for holding climate conversations. These conversations are already happening in the hair salons who took part in the research and are somewhat influencing clients. However, there is an opportunity for greater public engagement as well as the potential for training and development for hairdressers about climate change and sustainability.
Our research as artistic inspiration
We were delighted to hear about Martina Geiger-Gerlach’s interdisciplinary pilot project titled Arbeit am Kopf (Work on the Head) and how our recent research about hairdressers and climate change has influenced this.
Martina’s project explores how to defend democracy with the help of hairdressers, posing the question:
Could this often underestimated and underpaid professional group end up saving our democracy, and thus also the climate, if they were to deliberately use their salon conversations to care for the inner beauty of our society as well?”
Arbeit am Kopf (Work on the Head) was held in Stuttgart, Germany, in November 2025 and we provided a welcome address for the opening event. The installation space was set up as a hair salon. It had two hair stations and a small table of reading material with magazines from across the political spectrum, with the aim of creating a space where people could encounter information and perspectives they may not normally come across. The opening was attended by visitors and hairdressers, with spontaneous haircuts and conversations.
Briony and Sam’s welcome address about their research truly set the tone. Because of it, the visitors immediately took the whole setup—and the spontaneous haircuts by four hairdressers!—deeply seriously. It wasn’t perceived as “just” an art installation. It became clear very quickly that this “work on the head” was meant to happen not only in theory and art outwardly but within their own minds as well.”
Martina Geiger-Gerlach
Wider engagement with hairdressers
Martina also gave a presentation about the installation and underlying research at the annual meeting of the Stuttgart/Ludwigsburg Hairdressers’ Association. This involved many hairdressers across the region, with some even stating that they want to start trying to have these types of conversations with clients straight away.
Martina Geiger-Gerlach’s work deals with current social and political issues, and she has held shows and performances both nationally and internationally over the last 25 years. For example, shortly before Brexit she photographed in the European Parliament to create the photo installation The Parliament Dreams – A Poetic Picture of the European Parliament.
Our hairdressers research was part of a wider project led by Dr Sam Hampton and hosted by the ECI (GoZero) investigating the opportunities for small businesses to become more active participants in addressing climate change.
About the authors
Dr Sam Hampton is a Senior Researcher at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford.
Dr Briony Latter is a Research Associate at the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) at Cardiff University.
Read the paper in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications: Public engagement and climate change: exploring the role of hairdressers as everyday influencers
Read the non-academic report: Hairdressers as ‘everyday influencers’ on climate change and sustainability