Hairdresser to the stars Joey Scandizzo opens up about living life in the fast lane
From high school drop out to stylist to the stars, Joey Scandizzo has opened up about his epic ride to becoming Melbourne’s highest profile hairdresser and his favourite celebrity clients.
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From Logie Award red carpets to the Brownlow Medal count, film award nights, fashion campaigns, photo shoots and thousands of celebrity moments, Joey Scandizzo has defined the look of a generation.
As Melbourne’s highest profile hairdresser and a four-time winner of the Australian Hairdresser of the Year title, Scandizzo, 45, has built a career out of making sure no one ever has a bad hair day.
His skill and reputation for creating the crowning glory for any look has taken him around the world. Just back from Australian Fashion Week in Sydney, Scandizzo is in Italy this weekend and before heading to the south of France to look after the red carpet requirements for a bevy of stars at the Cannes Film Festival.
By his own admission he lives life in the fast lane – but he likes it there – and his success has come from hard work.
His irrepressible drive, positivity and entrepreneurial courage comes from his father and the lesson to make every moment count.
“I think I live life in the fast lane all the time because I am on the go all the time; I try not to miss a minute of the day,” he said.
“I do not sit down and do nothing, I do not watch TV, every day is just full of activity.
“I lost my father at 64, he was young, and that is why I say to myself, ‘enjoy every minute you have got on this earth’.
“It is a gift to have a good life and enjoy what you do, so make the most of it.”
Based in the heart of Melbourne’s South Yarra with his namesake Joey Scandizzo salon, Scandizzo is a go to for visiting stars such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Elle Macpherson, Spice Girl Mel C, Brandon Flowers, Natalie Imbruglia, Charlie Sheen, Ruby Rose, Christina Milian, Ellie Gonsalves, Sofia Richie and Priscilla Presley among many.
Looking after Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour during her Australian visit in 2019 was a career highlight.
“To be asked to do her hair was great,” he said.
“She was in town for eight days for the tennis. She would have two blow-waves every day, one in the morning and then when she would come back from the tennis she would have a blow-wave at night before she went out.”
Australia’s F1 ace Oscar Piastri is another stand out for Scandizzo.
“I am a mad sports fan and I have been doing Oscar Piastri’s hair,” he said.
“He has invited me and a mate this weekend to the Imola Grand Prix in Italy.”
Despite his success, hair dressing was an unlikely path for Scandizzo, who describes himself as a “high school drop out.”
“At the age of 14, I was at school, doing Year 10 and I really was not going anywhere,” he said of his days at Carwatha College in Noble Park.
“One day the teacher pulled me aside and said, ‘I think you should find yourself a trade.’
“I tried a few different things, I went out, did some carpentry work, I did some plastering, I did some rendering. I remember lasting half a day on the rendering job. I rocked up to this site in Toorak, it was wet and you had all this mud that you had to slap on the walls. I was mixing buckets and I thought, ‘What on earth am I doing?’
“It just was not for me. It came to lunchtime and I put my hand up to go and pick up the lunches and never came back.
“I went home and mum and dad said, ‘You have to find a job’.
It was his father who suggested he give hairdressing a go.
“He said, ‘look, you get to work indoors, you get to work on women all day,” and I thought, ‘that doesn’t sound like a bad idea’,” Scandizzo said.
He quickly joined a salon in East Bentleigh run by a friend and began an apprenticeship.
About six months into his new job he found his inspiration at a hair dressing industry night at Twister (nightclub) in St Kilda.
“I did not expect much, just thought it would be a couple of hair shows, and out on stage came Edward Beale.”
Edward Beale was Melbourne’s hairdressing rock star of the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s – glamorous, successful, connected and exciting.
“Everybody wanted to be Edward Beale,” Scandizzo said.
“He started talking about how hair dressing had taken him around the world, how he worked on photo shoots, how he worked on fashion weeks, how he worked on celebrity clients; he just told his story about his journey and that was the turning point for me. I realised this industry had a lot to offer.”
Scandizzo moved to Glen Waverley’s rokk ebony salon – “they were young and hungry to grow” – completed his apprenticeship and threw himself into learning his craft and networking.
“I have trained hard and worked hard to be the best I can,” he said.
“I have to work hard to be good at what I do, it just does not come naturally.”
Nine years later, in 2005, ready to take a risk, he went into business with rokk ebony, opening a salon on Toorak Road in South Yarra.
“Some people said buy a house and I said I want to buy a salon,” he said.
“I wanted to be in the heart of South Yarra. I had the burning energy and was doing well and decided to back myself.
“I had just turned 25 that day that we opened up in 2005.”
A couple of years later Scandizzo and his business partner went their separate ways and with new partners, including his brother, John, onboard, he rebranded the salon Joey Scandizzo.
“We were on a mission to be our best,” he said.
Scandizzo’s entrepreneurial drive kicked in as his namesake salon grew. In 2013 he co-founded the Kings Domain Barber Shop, initially with one location on Toorak Road across the street from his salon. Kings Domain is now in eight locations and has a training academy and a product range.
He is a partner in acclaimed hairdresser Marie Uva’s celebrated UVA salon in Prahran. He and Uva are great friends, with Uva having worked closely with Scandizzo at his salon from 2005 until she established her own brand in 2013.
The giant of his business portfolio however is the haircare range ELEVEN Australia that he co-founded in 2011.
“I wanted to create a hair care product range,” he said.
“I got together with some partners and created ELEVEN Australia which has gone through the roof. It is a global brand now that is available in more than 38 countries.
“The most popular item in the range globally is the Miracle Hair Treatment. That is the product we started with. It is a wonder product which gives your hair 11 benefits that it will love.”
Having people leave his salon feeling better about themselves than when they arrived is the goal that still drives Scandizzo.
“There is no better feeling than when someone sits in your chair, you give them a makeover and they have the biggest smile on their face, they are super happy, they feel great and they have confidence,” he said.
“That is what I love about doing hair.”
For Scandizzo the overarching trend at present is “super beautiful, polished hair.”
“Hair needs to look healthy, it needs to look shiny. Gone are the days of ratty, dready hair,” he said.
“Everyone wants to look good and feel beautiful at the moment – and look expensive. Even in a time when cost of living is an issue, people still want to feel good about themselves.”
He wishes more people would trust their hair stylist.
“Listen to your hairdresser, being safe is not always great,” he said.
“Try things, be different and don’t be afraid.”
Coming through the hairdressing ranks in a time before social media, it was knowing Melbourne’s after dark landscape and the cool kids who influenced and energised it, that helped shape Scandizzo’s awareness of trends and fashion and networks.
“I had an older brother and I used to use his fake ID to get into clubs and this is where you would see fashion,” he said.
“I was 16, under age, getting in and looking at all these people with cool trends and cool hair, it was all happening. This was in the mid-90s. Fashion was huge.
“When I started building our business, it was about meeting people and doing collaborations.
There was no social media back when we started, you had to go out and meet people and build a reputation and a name.
“Later on when social media started coming into it, the business started to evolve and we continue to evolve.”
A key part of Scandizzo’s success is his wife Jane. The former model is one of Melbourne’s most stylish women and she appeared in the Channel 7 reality series Yummy Mummies.
Jane was pregnant with the couple’s second child, Jensen, during filming and the show resulted in one of Scandizzo’s most unusual requests for a hair do.
“Jane woke up around 4am and said ‘my water has broken, would you mind blowing out my hair’,” Scandizzo recalled.
“I was like, ‘What? We have to get to the hospital right now,’ and she said, ‘No, we will get there and have to wait around, can you just blow-wave my hair?’
“They (the production) were going to film her at the hospital, so I did what I was asked.
“She was sitting there not feeling the greatest, it was 4am and I carefully did her hair. Like any Dad would do, when your wife is in need and she asks you to do something, in situations like that you step up. Then we went to the hospital.
“I remember walking into the theatre and she looked great.”
The couple have three sons, Jagger, Jensen and Juke, and maintaining a work life balance is Scandizzo’s priority.
“I have invested many, many years in the industry and I still love it dearly,” Scandizzo said.
“We have a great, solid business in Melbourne, I still love doing the shows and shoots and working with celebrity clients. I am very focused on our haircare brand, ELEVEN Australia.
“I want to continue to grow that brand. That is where my passion is now, working with chemists and using great ingredients to create best performing products.
“The most important thing for me however is having life balance. I have three boys who love sport; they play soccer, they play basketball, they ski in the winter.
“These kids are active and they need their father around, so it is about finding that balance.
“I have really got the attention of the kids until they are 18 and then they are going to want to hang out with their mates, dad is not going to be the cool guy anymore, so I have been told.”
Off the record
What was your first job?
I sold drinks, chips, pies, lollies and peanuts at the footy. I used to walk up and down those aisles at Waverley Park with the concession box around my neck. The minimum wage you could make was $5 and sometimes I would make $50 or $60. I would go to school and be the richest kid in the yard. That job taught me how to work. Everything was on commission back then so the harder you worked the more you made. It was a good learning curve.
If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be doing?
I’d probably be a photographer.
Name five people dead or alive who you would invite to a dinner party.
My wife Jane. Elvis Presley, the rock star of all rock stars. Queen Mary, I’d like to find out what happens in her world. David Beckham, a super cool bloke. Madonna.
What book should everyone read?
I have read two books in my entire life. One was Looking For Alibrandi which I had to read or I would have failed year 9, the teacher told me, and the other book was Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis. I got to the last chapter and I was in Sicily in Italy on the back of a Vespa and it fell out of my bag and I did not get to read the last chapter, so I gave up reading after that.
If you could live anywhere in the world besides Melbourne, where would it be?
Byron Bay.
What was your first concert?
Michael Jackson at the MCG. I had the worst tickets in the back row and I snuck into the front row with two other mates.
Who inspires you?
My family. They inspire me to do what I do.
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Keep daring to dare. Just keep trying.
First car?
Suzuki Vitara.
Current car?
I am a BMW ambassador. I get to change into a new BMW every couple of months.
Dream car?
A red Ferrari. I have always wanted one.
What is your biggest career regret?
No regrets in life.
Best piece of advice you’ve received?
Never look behind, always look forward.
This year I’m most looking forward to …
This weekend, the Imola Grand Prix (Italy), Piastri winning and celebrating with him.
The one thing I’d love to change about Victoria is ….
The only thing I would change if I could, but I can’t, is I would turn the bay into an ocean so we could get waves that we could surf.
The one thing I love most about Victoria is …
Football and the Carlton Football Club. I love going to the footy with my family and kids.
Originally published as Hairdresser to the stars Joey Scandizzo opens up about living life in the fast lane
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