Northern Lights Salon is an eco-friendly salon in Marble Hill, Missouri, offering haircuts and styles, hair color, manicures and pedicures, facial and full body waxing and a variety of facials.

"The only thing we don't do is perms due to the harmful chemicals," says owner Michelle Northern. "You will never smell chemicals in here."

The salon, which has been open for one year, does a variety of things to protect the environment.

"We only use Pravana and Surface products," says Northern of the eco-friendly products she uses. "And, we are registered as a Surface Salon on their website. The next closest one is in the St. Louis area."

Northern also uses as little energy as possible to run the salon.

Michelle Northern is owner of Northern Lights Salon in Marble Hill, Missouri.Fred Lynch

"We use as much low-energy lighting as we can, and appliances that use the least amount of energy possible," she says. "For example, our clippers use the lowest amount of energy as any on the market, and our blow dryers use four times less energy that a normal blow dryer."

She also tries to heat and cool the salon efficiently.

"We use alternative heat and air whenever we can," she says. "Our building is made of concrete, so it holds its temperature well. I usually don't have to turn the air conditioner on until the middle of the day in the summer. And in winter, we use an infrared heater to heat the back half of the building. That way, we only have to use one of our furnaces to heat the front half."

She even offers a recycling program at the salon.

"We recycle our own containers, and if a guest brings in an empty container that was purchased here, they receive a $1 discount. Also, if they bring in another brand of product that is at least 50 percent full, we donate those to area nursing homes and give our guest a 15 percent discount on their next purchase."

Northern also works hard to accommodate new mothers.

"We are currently only one of three businesses recognized as Gold Level breast-feeding-friendly places in Bollinger County," says Northern. "And we plan to offer the Infants at Work Program to future employees. With that program, new moms can bring their infant to work for up to 180 days, provided she follows the guidelines we've written."

Northern's future plans are to build both her stock and her staff, and to make her location even more eco-friendly.

"I want to continue to build our retail shelf and I want to hire one more stylist for now," she says. "Down the road, I'd like to have a total of three stylists (plus myself). I'm also still using four lights that I would like to convert to something that uses less electricity."