Ex-'Real Housewives of New Jersey' Star's Salon Dodges Full Blown Fire, By a Hair

The hair salon co-owned by Caroline Manzo's daughter narrowly escaped going up in flames when an electrical fire broke out in the basement ... TMZ has learned.

Lauren Manzo's Westchester, NY branch of Full Blown -- co-owned with her pal, Lia Cagliostro -- filled with heavy black smoke last weekend while customers were mid-styling. Lia tells us the only warning they had was flickering lights. She thought it was just a blown fuse, but then everything went dark in the smoke cloud.

Firefighters battled for hours, and everyone got out safely. The salon itself wasn't as lucky -- even though firefighters beat back flames, there was severe water damage from fire hoses. Lia says they had to trash all their hairdryers, brushes and clips ... which reeked of smoke.

The building still doesn't have power, and will need rewiring, but they're planning to reopen next week.