Melanie McCallum opened Stylistics in 1997. She laughs as she recalls how she picked the name of her hair salon: “I met with friends over drinks. We thought of all kinds of crazy names like Coiffe-ateria and Curl Up and Dye.” But it was Melanie’s sister who proposed Stylistics. Melanie says, “I was so into an eighties band called the Style Council so I loved that Stylistics sounded like that.”
Hairstyling wasn’t Melanie’s first career. After graduating from high school she worked at the processing centre at RBC but had the itch to see the world. She thought, “Hey, maybe I should just learn to do something so I can travel and make money too.” She enrolled in the hairstyling program at George Brown College and spent her school breaks visiting her two sisters who lived in Crete. She would do cuts, colour and perms on the beach.
Melanie had already established a loyal clientele before opening Stylistics across from Chester subway station. She had worked in other salons along the Danforth while pursuing her hairdressing licence and after graduation. She explains, “I was living in the west end but my clients were on this side of town so I opened here. And now I live here too.”
