About the Salon 

The name ‘Leopold’ comes from Mr Robert Leopold who arrived in Australia from Britain in 1962 and set up many hairdressing salons in Melbourne.

 

Within a few years he had several salons, the one that Ross started her apprenticeship in was in The Hub Arcade and that was in 1971.

 

Mr Leopold was friends with Vidal Sassoon of London and the Hairdressing group Mods Hair and Jean Louis David in Paris, so with this Mr Leopold and his friends continued to educate future hairdressers with a unique training modality conducted in French and English.

 

Mr Leopold hung up his scissors around 1984 and retired, lucky for Ross she was offered the opportunity to purchase the salon in South Yarra. Ross continued to train future hairdressers with this French method, and this learning included the first type of Beliage colouring method  or sometimes spelt Balayage.

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Ross's first apprentice in 1984 was Angela – the very same Angela that works here today. The picture to the right is here of those lushes’ curly long locks, which have not seen the light of day for at least 30 years.

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In 2021 Ross's career at Leopold’s will clock over into 50 years and in her words "I am grateful every day that I had the opportunity to work and be trained by one of the best."

 

Ross's career has taken her into remarkable and interesting places such as working in Paris with her dear friend Greg and spending time in Mods hair and Jean Louis David studios. Ross also spent several wonderful periods with photographer Helmut Newton when Leopold was working with Vogue magazine.

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In 2016 Ross completed my BA in archaeology, which to most people does not marry up with hairdressing at all, but add the purpose to delve into the mysteries of and research into ancient hair and colouring, dressing and style, from the beginning of documented ancient times to now, it gathers illumination to a great diverse working medium of hair.