Bleach Please!
Bleach Please! Not your usual pun unless you happen to live in Edinburgh, Scotland near the hair salon of the same name. The salon itself has been around for six months, founded by Rossella Petta and Marco D’Agostino, two Italian cousins and business partners. They offer hair services of all kinds to all genders and races, starting at £30 for a cut and £140 for coloring treatments, of which they offer a specialty of shatush, an Italian, low-maintenance, bleaching technique. And, get this, the Bleach Please salon is entirely pink.
I had a digital conversation with the owners of this quirky salon across the pond about their pink environment and personal outlooks on beauty.
Sarah Sickles for Pink Things: Thank you so much for taking the time to digitally answer some questions! Let’s start with the basics. Tell me about yourself!
Rossella Petta of Bleach Please: I am Rossella Petta and I’m from Milan. I moved to Edinburgh six years ago and I have ten years of experience in hospitality. After managing restaurants and hotels, I decided to start my own business with my cousin Marco D’Agostino. He moved to Edinburgh only a year ago, but he owned and ran two salons in Florence before leaving Italy. Marco is a professional hairdresser with 20 years of experience in the hair industry, working as a hair stylist for Milan and Florence fashion weeks in addition to his salon work. I have, instead, a degree in communication, which has been useful in the building of this brand new business.
Pink Things: Why did you start Bleach Please?
Rossella Petta: We decided to start Bleach Please, first of all, to create something we would be proud of and happy to work for. Owning my own business has always been my dream and I couldn’t choose better business partner than my cousin, who’s always been more like a friend to me. Also, we wanted to start a concept salon with alternative vibes and funky interior, like nowhere else in Edinburgh. Now we have Bleach Please.
PT: From your point of view, what is it that makes Bleach Please special? Is it just the pink? Is it the atmosphere that comes with it?
RP: Bleach Please has already been recognized for our unusual pink interiors, a tribute cactus wall, Netflix on TV, and a chill, relaxed atmosphere. We feel Bleach Please is the place to be for those who want a new salon experience where the clients are looked after one at a time. Marco makes each customer feel special and gives them the best treatment with no rush, having time to chat and get to know them.
PT: How did you get into beauty?
RP: I personally got into beauty for the first time with Bleach Please, but I am responsible for all the marketing, social media, communications, and business development, leaving Marco to be the hair expert and in charge of the hair, assisted by his wife, Yursalem, and his close friend, Marco M.
Marco’s path in the hair industry started when he didn’t want to keep studying, but was looking for a practical job, a proper profession. So he started at a hair academy in Florence and after one year he was working at the age of 16.
PT: How old were you when you first experimented with your look?
RP: My look is quite natural since I’m not obsessed with makeup and don’t change my hair drastically. I’ve embraced my hair color, but gave it a sun-kiss a few months ago when we started, obviously trusting Marco’s suggestion.
When Marco’s experience in the hair industry started, he also started experimenting different looks on himself and even dyed his hair and beard green. Many crazy looks followed!
PT: What are some of your favorite go-to looks from the salon?
RP: Bleach Please is very supportive of natural looks and we have been recognized for a technique called shatush. I’d say shatush is our signature service, as a low maintenance bleaching technique that allows clients to keep their natural roots colour with a perfect blend that gets lighter at the ends. This was born in Italy about 10–15 years ago by well known European hair stylist Aldo Coppola, and Marco received personal training by him in Milan. But we also do a lot of crazy colours, but it is Edinburgh-vibes, and Marco is very good at it!
PT: Is there any beauty advice that you’d like to offer?
RP: Marco’s advice is to understand your own taste, what you like, and create your own style, instead of following trends. Often, trends won’t match someone’s style or won’t look good on them.
The beauty advice I can give, after listening to Marco, who has more experience in the beauty industry than me, is to always listen to the client’s wish, but not always do what they ask. Being honest is key and every hairdresser should tell a client if the haircut or hair color they want doesn’t suit their face shape or their skin tone. A hairdresser is more than a figure who provides a service. They are an expert there to give the best advice.
PT: As the manager and marketer with a background in communications and hospitality, can you talk to me about the intersection of hospitality and beauty, as you see it at your salon?
RP: After ten years in hospitality, jumping into the beauty industry was a very big change in my lifestyle. Working different hours and having the evenings off is a positive change. It has also been very exciting because I love to learn new things. I had to challenge myself with the hair and beauty world to be up-to-date on new techniques, products, and trends.
The customer service skills I’ve developed during my experience in hospitality gave me confidence in the way I’m treating my clients now in the salon. I can say that I’m applying what I’ve learned in the past to a different industry, but people are people; if you know how to treat them in life and be nice to them, it is not hard to do the same at work.
PT: So why make Bleach Please pink?
RP: We decided to make the salon completely pink, first, for branding. I felt that a salon with a sassy name like Bleach Please could only be pink. But pink is not only for girls and we actually have a lot of male clients who are excited about the salon. Ultimately, pink is a warmer color that makes the space fun. We wanted to be different, bold, and pretty.
PT: Pink is often associated with femininity and beauty, obviously! How do you navigate the potential gender stereotyping that can happen in a pink environment like yours?
RP: We didn’t want to market ourselves as a “girls only” salon; pink is for boys too. Pink gives off a relaxing and fun vibe and we are definitely over the pink gender stereotypes. At Bleach Please, we don’t want to create any sort-of division and we service and welcome all races and genders.
PT: We ask everyone we speak with about their relationship to the color pink. What’s your relationship with it, beyond work?
RP: My relationship with the color pink started quite late in age. I’ve never been a pink obsessed girl. Actually, I used to love wearing all black and dark tones. But it’s been about two years since I changed my style a bit and gave closet space to other colors too. Pink is delicate, but bold. It can be worn in sporty clothes, but also can be worn as a nice summer dress. It’s all about style and I love a bright pink detail.
Marcos fell in love with the Chanel pink dress worn by Jacqueline Kennedy back in 1963. When he started his interest in fashion and saw that picture, he just loved the lines and the use of this bold pink in fashion.
PT: Do you know the exact shade of pink your salon is painted?
RP: The pink shade used at Bleach Please is:
Pantone Magenta 0521C
CMYK 5/40/0/0
RGB 243/178/219
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