Choose Beauty: Umberto Savone

Umberto Savone is a salon owner (three Umberto salons in and around Beverly Hills with a total of 250 employees) and product developer/founder of UColor.

Year I Obtained My Beauty License: 1964

I grew up in Boville Ernica, Italy, 45 miles south of Rome. My friend Georgio had a brother who was a hairdresser. We were so impressed because all these girls would come over to his house and pay him! I come from a family of gardeners. Gardening is a very impressive art—trimming and cutting like a hairdresser, but you get dirty. I wanted to trim, cut, meet girls, get paid and stay clean.

Umberto Savone

I moved to the United States in my teens. I told my high school principal I wanted to be hairdresser and he connected me with a barbershop to do a work-study program. When I graduated high school I was able to get my license right away. I was paid $1.99 a cut in my first salon. When I was drafted in the army I continued to do hair for $1 a cut. 

After the war, I returned to New York and opened my first salon in Syracuse in 1970. Then I discovered California. I opened my first salon on Melrose Place in 1977. Eventually I relocated to Beverly Hills and opened a 5,000-square-foot salon. Business was and continues to be great.

I now have three “hair emporiums” with a staff of 250. The main salon is on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. It’s 15,000 square feet and always busy. I have my own wet line and am getting ready to launch a professional color line.

There is really nothing like being a hairdresser. It has been and continues to be the most incredible experience and profession. I look forward to tomorrow’s accomplishments.