With more and more curls and kinks making the world go round, it’s important to know where to go when your locks are in need of a makeover. While it’s easy to be steered off course by salons who proclaim themselves to be curly hair specialists, but really offer chemical straightening and extensions at extra cost, there are plenty of true believers out there who take the time to understand your curls and can transform your kinks into gorgeous tresses.

A New Zealand native who’s built this Prahran salon from the stilts up, Tina Mudd knows what it takes to keep curly hair healthy and hydrated. A master cutter, her work is always natural and effortless, and in tune with realistic trends rather than try-hard fads.

If you’re searching for a salon that really loves curly hair, look no further than Neel Loves Curls. A colourful spot neatly tucked behind a Brunswick Street shopfront, the salon’s giddy murals and burgundy-and-white colour scheme is enough to draw in the curious. But it’s the before-and-after shots on the salon Instagram page that have the curlfriends flocking in their droves. Clients – or ‘curlfriends’ as owner Neel Morley calls them – could walk in with their curls resembling Dulux dog and glide out looking like Renaissance paintings.

Jill at Project One is a curl lover and a deconstructed dry cut expert. She cuts each curl individually and uses and sells salon quality, curly girl friendly Everescents and Jessicurl products. Customers can’t stop talking about how a visit to this home based salon leaves their locks feeling loved and confident. melbourne curly hair salon