SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Animals and environmental protection

Hello Zizi Foundation

It all started when Ági was training to become a dog groomer, and for her practical exam she needed a “model” to demonstrate her skills on. ZiZi had been living—barely tolerated—among 16 large dogs. We always loved animals, but Ági wanted a Doberman and I didn’t want a dog (especially not in an apartment), because I felt we didn’t have time for it. When ZiZi spent a weekend with us during the exam, it was love at first sight for me—and deep down it was already clear she would stay with us. Even days after the exam, Ági kept asking when we were taking ZiZi back, but I always brushed it off with “it’s late, tomorrow…” Long story short: that’s how ZiZi came to us.

But the story doesn’t end there, because not long after that we took her to be spayed, and the vet said that if we had brought her a week later, he probably would have recommended euthanasia instead—because it turned out she had a severe, pus-filled uterine infection, which of course you can’t see from the outside.

That was more than 6 years ago, and since then the love has only grown stronger day by day. Sometimes I would just look at this dog and think: if she hadn’t ended up with us back then, she probably wouldn’t be alive today. And sometimes I wonder how many other unfortunate animals are still out there, waiting for a rescuer/owner/companion/family. That’s when I started thinking: “How could I help?”
My first thought was a shelter, but in the end I realized there will never be enough shelters—we should rather work on helping animals leave shelters and move into loving homes.
And that’s how the Hello ZiZi Foundation was born: it connects people who want a dog with animals who are looking for an owner, and then supports people in raising and training their dogs. We believe that “someone who loves animals can’t be a bad person,” but we also try to raise awareness that every decision supports something. In this case: when you buy an animal from a breeder—or from a backyard breeder/puppy mill—think about what you’re supporting.

And think about one more thing: do you really need a purebred dog? Friends of mine bought a purebred dog for 400,000 HUF, and within two years they spent at least another half a million forints on its health—more precisely, on the lack of it. You constantly hear about the illnesses these overbred “fashion dogs” struggle with. And this isn’t primarily about money—it’s about the unfortunate, often non-viable animal that suffers because someone paid so they could upload to Instagram that they have “that kind of dog” too.

Believe me: once you’ve spent some time with that animal and it looks at you—or when you come home from work and it wags its tail so hard it could practically take off—it doesn’t matter what breed it is. The only thing that matters is that it’s happy and healthy, as if it were your child.

Environmental protection

These days, a lot of waste is generated both in households and in workplaces. We strive to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills, so in our salons we pay close attention to sorting and collecting waste selectively.

It’s important to us that every guest receives the best, as promised—so we work exclusively with high-quality products that are skin-friendly and environmentally friendly. The same goes for cleaning: whenever possible, we use cleaning products that don’t add even more harmful substances to our water system.

Our electrical equipment is energy-efficient as well, which we also consider extremely important—because the human population is constantly growing, and with it, energy demand is increasing too. We often hear that traditional energy sources are running out and are also highly damaging to the environment, so we also do our part—and fight against—energy waste.