N.B. builds hair salon that's eco-friendly and safe for those sensitive to synthetic products

SALISBURY, N.B. -

Chantal Moreau-Short has been in the beauty industry as a hairstylist for more than a decade.

Early on in her career, she realized the synthetic products often found in salons were causing her health problems.

"I put myself in a situation that I absolutely loved the work, but what I needed to work, the tools that I needed to work with, was making me ill," says Moreau-Short.

The stylist began searching out and using more eco-friendly hair products in her daily work. During that time, her daughter-in-law, Laci McCann, was diagnosed with leukemia. While receiving chemotherapy treatment, McCann turned to Moreau-Short in the hopes of finding organic products that would be safe for her to use, and environmentally friendly.

Sadly, McCann lost her battle with cancer in 2013.

"Sometimes an illness in a loved one really makes you rethink your life choices and your directions, and that's what Laci did for me," Moreau-Short says. "She pointed me in a direction to create a space that was safe for whoever wanted to enter."

With the memory of her daughter-in-law inspiring her to explore more organic options, Moreau-Short decided to open her salon and called it My Green Scissors.

With my daughter-in-law's illness progressing the way that it did and in the short amount of time with her passing, I made myself a pact that I would make sure that I built a salon for those that needed a safe place to come and get their hair done.

The shelves in her boutique-style salon in the basement of her home in Upper Coverdale, N.B., are lined with organic products.

"I'm going to use a product that's 100 per cent clean to the environment and to you. All the ingredients are food-grade, they're edible. If you wanted to spray it on your skin and lick it, you could do so safely, not that you'd want to do that," says Moreau-Short.

Client Jackie Lloyd, says like many of her friends, she didn't know much about the world of environmentally friendly beauty.

"I didn't really think about any different options other than the mainstream, so this is a new territory for me that I didn't know I needed," says Lloyd.