Are you worth it? A practice-orientated approach to everyday hair care to inform sustainable consumption strategies
This thesis investigates the potential in applying a practice-orientated approach to women’s everyday hair care routines to inform sustainable design and sustainable consumption strategies. It seeks to develop an understanding of the multi-relational elements that make up the practice and to recognise how these elements influence what women do to their hair, and how often, and how these actions therefore impact on resource use. A practice-orientated approach is argued to provide insights into aspects of the dynamics of everyday life that can help design for sustainability to engage with the complexities of routines that are not accessible to current sustainability strategies. This thesis builds on Shove’s (2004; 2003) work on sustainable consumption. Shove (2004) has identified some limitations of current sustainable consumption approaches that try to address people’s behaviours and consider the environmental and social implications of products in their use phase. She has recognised that everyday routines are complex and difficult to change through approaches that only consider people’s attitudes towards the environment and choices they might make to change their behaviours. In order to overcome such limitations, Shove (2004) has advocated an alternative approach inspired by practice theory (Reckwitz 2002). Her recommendation instigated the need for this research study that examines whether explorative research orientated to practices remedies the current limitations. It does this by reflecting on the potential for design to change practices.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations