Machele Alessandrine

So nice to meet you! First off, what’s your name? Tell our readers a bit about yourself: where you’re from originally and where you live now.

Hello! My name is Machele (pronounced Michelle). I am a Philly girl through and through: born, raised and lived in every area of the city for most of my life. Now, at 51, I am settled in a suburb just outside of the city known as “Delco.”

I am the 3rd generation living in my grandparents’ home, with my 2 teenage children, Lux and Cash. I own a salon called Lux and Roses minutes away and am in the process of opening a second location just across the street from my house.

Tell us one thing you love about where you live now.

I have had every Christmas in my current home since birth. It was my grandparents’. My aunt purchased it from them in the ’90s, and we purchased it from her about 7 years ago. This house is very special to me. It is and always will be the family house. We host every holiday and big Sunday dinners with my very large Italian family.

Tell us a little more about what your company does and how it started. How does it help your customers?

We are a small boutique salon located in Ridley Park, PA. It started as a small studio space for myself and has grown, with a few renovations and 12 employees, over the 8 years we have been open. We are not a basic salon. My inspo for the decor was “Stevie Nicks and Ozzy Osbourne shared a dressing room.” We nailed that vibe, and the clientele love the energy and atmosphere. We welcome every type of client and personality, from a soccer mom’s bob, 90-year-old ladies, the gals with a hipster shag and a man with a modern mullet or tight fade, to kids with rainbow peekaboos or outrageous vivids.

We work with budgets, and even though doing your hair is a luxury, we make it affordable for all.

If someone wants to start a business, what advice would you give them?

Just do it! Be kind to people and know you have to hustle. You have to put the work in to make it successful. Putting myself out there, whether it’s on social media, community networking, or talking to strangers and making them feel good about themselves, goes a long way.

What is one piece of feedback from a happy customer or client that you won't forget?

I have been posting texts from clients in my Instagram stories, sharing their experience and thanking us. This feels better than even a review: they are taking their time to reach out and tell us how happy we have made them. If you feel good on the outside, you will feel good on the inside.

Where do you see your company in the future?

I realized recently that every single year since we opened, we have upgraded our space. We added a second floor for everything face and spray tanning, we opened the head spa last year, and we redid a few rooms for waiting/processing and made a break room for my employees or clients to have a cup of coffee or work quietly on their laptops, making our space more accommodating to our stylists and clients. At 51 I should be slowing down, and with the second location opening, I’m just getting started.

What is the biggest misconception about your industry?

The hair industry has certainly made a turn. There is a lot of debate on TikTok, where stylists think they should be making $200-$500 an hour and customers think we are price gouging.

With the current state of our economy, things have certainly gone up. We keep it right there in the middle where everybody can afford us, and we stay within people’s budgets. To be clear, I am certainly not making $200-$500 an hour :) If we charge $250 for a full highlight that takes 3 1/2 hours… maybe $30-$50 will actually go in my pocket after product usage and overhead.

What has been one of your biggest struggles building your business, and how did you deal with it?

Finding the right team and staff! We have definitely struggled over the years, but at the moment, all of my “roses” are like family.

Besides the fact that it’s hard to get 12 ladies in a room together to all adore each other, they have to be talented enough to take any type of hair that walks in from the street and nail it.

What was your favorite music artist and athlete growing up?

Madonna was always my person. Still inspired by her on the daily.

Any shoutouts you want to make?

My aunt Margo was a hairdresser when I was a child, and I always thought she was the coolest. She had a full book of clients, wore high heels and drove a Corvette. I always knew I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. She gave me my first job shampooing hair at 13. I darted for hairdressing school the moment I was able and then worked for her again as a stylist until she retired and I had to spread my wings on my own.

Where can our readers learn more about you and your company?

The best way to see what we do and learn more about how we roll is by visiting our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luxandroses_ (@luxandroses_).