06/02/2025
When expert hairdresser Amanda Musolino was coming up with a salon name after 16 years of working for other people, she knew she wanted something that really stood out. “I was looking for something fun, easy to remember and different from the other salon names out there,” she recalls. Together with fellow stylist Timothy Grasso and beauty therapist Patricia Amadio, they came up with Fred, a catchy name that ticks all those boxes.
Though she originally rented space in the salon, earlier this year she took over the business and moved it from near the corner of Glynburn Road to a larger location at 152 Magill Road. In just over a month, she and her three brothers transformed the space from a furniture showroom into a salon. That meant leaving the structure of the handsome heritage building largely intact and the result is exactly what she wanted: a salon with a difference.
“Every time someone comes in for the first time, they just go 'wow!',” she laughs. “It's so different from most salons, it looks more like a house.” Instead of white tiles and plate glass windows, clients are surrounded by blond timber floors, original fireplaces and some of the remaining bluestone walls, which are a perfect fit for the atmosphere Amanda was trying to create. “We wanted it to be fun and vibrant, but also as comfortable as possible,” she says. “And it's such a welcoming atmosphere that lots of clients walk in and say they feel like they're at home.”
The first stop for most clients is the basin area, which is “a very quiet and private space, almost like a laneway.” After relaxing with a coffee, they are welcomed into the main salon where the four hairdressers share twelve stations. And unlike many salons, there are no apprentices – because everyone who works at Fred rents space from Amanda, all the hairdressers are at the top of their game.
That also means that each hairdresser runs their own independent business, but Amanda has worked hard to foster a strong sense of community at the salon. “Because our beauty therapist Patricia is also a makeup artist, we all do a lot of weddings together and we're happy to travel offsite,” she says. “So even though we work for ourselves, we also work really well together as a team and that's a big part of what I wanted to create here.”
Instagram: Friends of FREDS
