The loopholes of avoiding waste

A tale of two post-waste mentalities, and one product type

Greetings from snowy Toronto! ❄️

New snow and sunshine makes me giddy with child-like delight… every time.

For this week I wanted to share with you a two-part experience I had which ties into how we consume in our consumer-centric societies.

Both are about waste, and about hair dryers. Enjoy!

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Part 1: On the waxing cycle of a product 🌘

When I first saw it, I was immediately a skeptic.

There was something about the design of this new product that made me hesitant.

I mean, look at it:

The Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer

It’s supposed to be a hair dryer. Not a weapon in a sci-fi world. Not a looking glass.

How does this thing even work?

The head is so small, and there’s a gaping HOLE in the part where air is supposed to come out 🤷🏻‍♀️ it’s so ridiculous.

…of course, I am being dramatic.

But people who know me are aware that I’m a Dyson fan-girl.

I’ve been a happy user of several of their products. I’ve sent them as gifts to family. Their devices are workhorses that I rely on daily.

So it’s surprising that I did not take interest in this product at all… until I noticed one day my hair stylist had replaced every hair dryer in his salon (10 dryers) to these. I’ve been going to him for 8+ years, so I asked him about the change. He raved about these units. Clearly, this was a no-nonsense move for his business.

I would be remiss not to mention that this hair dryer costs 1.5x more than an average high-end hair dryer in the market. It retails for bout $500 Canadian Dollars, which is nothing to sneeze at 💸

OK, I told him, I will look into it.

Five odd years later, I bit the bullet.

I bought the Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer.

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I had to tell you this story, not because I want to follow up with a product review, but to prime you for the next part: with premium products, you come to expect exceptional unboxing experiences📦.

Dyson unboxing has usually been an average experience, their product clearly the star of the show. This time, I noticed they had really stepped up their game with packaging. Not only was it a delightful unboxing experience (almost on par with Apple products), I was also super duper pleased to learn that 100% of the packaging was made out of recyclable cardboard!

Look Ma, all paper! Even the main box (not pictured) was paper.

As a reluctant consumer (remember that it took me 5 years to make a purchase decision), 100% cardboard packaging made me so happy. I cannot count how many times I’ve lamented the wasteful, unnecessary packaging that is forced on us.

Why do we make it so hard to just have the thing/item/food/drink, without the waste?

I’ve already received more positive vibes from this unboxing experience versus a comparable Apple experience, just because it had easily-recyclable parts.

Because if there’s something I really hate, it’s packaging that is of the unrecyclable type.

Speaking of unrecyclable… what about my old hair dryer?

Part 2: On the waning cycle of a product 🌒

I didn’t replace my old semi-pro hair dryer for so long, even though the high heat/fan setting (my go-to setting) stopped working ages ago.

Me still having it had to do with two things:

1/ a realization after it broke that maybe I should stop looking at my hair as something to “tame”, and instead love and accept my hair for what it was: a wild, coarse, and naturally beautiful yet temperamental appendage of me.

2/ my super-strong aversion for throwing away electronics

Electronics are the worst. They are highly complex in material composition, often containing many rare earth metals and other toxic composites that will never “naturally” break down in a landfill.

However, my old hair dryer still partially worked.

But who would want a hair dryer on its last legs? No one.

So then, I looked up the City of Toronto’s website on where it needed to be disposed.

They listed two options for donation and reuse before suggesting the Garbage Bin.

Sigh. Guilt was welling up in me as I imagined a dystopian future where my old hair dryer - not fully broken but not fully functional either - was dumped among diapers and dirty take-out containers, forever denied its unrealized potential. Just thinking about all the almost-fine things that end up in the landfill makes my heart so sad 💔

In a different, more solarpunk future, I would have a go-to “fixer”. Not for drugs, but for fixing out-of-warranty things like this. It would be someone working out of their apartment like a side gig. Anyone who is decent at troubleshooting and loves tinkering would be really good at this practical job. But best of all, this repair business would divert a lot of waste that otherwise would end up in landfills, and would be doing society a huge service.

Alas, I have no such wonder-fixer.

But! Since it was going to the garbage anyways… I thought: why don’t I try opening it?

Disclaimer: tinkering with electronics is dangerous. Please do not try this unless you have basic knowledge of electrical wiring and are confident about your ability to troubleshoot and problem-solve safely.

So, I open it:

First step in disassembling the hair dryer.

I won’t drag you through the details but after disassembling the whole thing I inspected everything from back to front.

I searched online for wiring diagrams of hair dryers to try to understand how they were put together. Based on that, I found a wire that looked disconnected from where it was supposed to connect. I didn’t have a soldering machine available, but found another way to keep the wires connected. Then I reassembled it.

And now, the real moment of truth: I was ready to test it.

I thought to myself: if I fried it - fine. It was going to the trash heap anyways.

First, I flipped it to the LOW setting that always worked.

And… It worked — good.

Then, I flipped it to the HIGH setting.

…

OMG. it worked.

After years of dysfunction my hair dryer was finally fully functional again! 🎉🎉

Since its restoration, it now enjoys a second lease on life. I can choose to keep it, or give it away. Most of all, I am relieved that I no longer have to feel guilty about needing to throw it in the garbage, for now.

… Really, the things I do to avoid waste.

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I hope you enjoyed the two short stories. I’d be curious to know what you feel about waste on an everyday basis. Does it occupy your mind, or not at all?

Until next week,

Stay safe, and stay curious 🔎💨

— Fei