John Frieda, Hairstylist Who Built a $450m Brand, Dies at 75

John Frieda, the London-born hairstylist who sold his namesake hair care company to Japan's Kao in a $450m deal, has died at 75. His salon announced the news on Instagram, saying he passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family. The cause of death has not been made public.

"John was more than a mentor to us; he was a true icon of the hair industry," the salon's post read. "He was the person who taught us everything, believed in us, and made us better." The statement closed: "Rest in peace, John. You will be forever in our hearts."

What did Frieda actually build?

The numbers behind the tribute are concrete. In 2002, Kao, the Japanese conglomerate, acquired Frieda's hair care business in a deal valued at $450m. That is roughly $450 per unit of a brand whose best-known product, Frizz Ease, launched in 1988 and became a mass-market staple. Frieda retained ownership of five salons after the sale: two in London, two in New York and one in Los Angeles.

His product empire began as a partnership. In the 1980s, Frieda worked with the American hair care executive Gail Federici to develop his own line. Frizz Ease arrived in 1988; Sheer Blonde followed in 1998. Both lines targeted specific hair problems, a formula that proved durable on drugstore shelves.

He styled for British Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and his client list ran from Twiggy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Scarlett Johansson, Madonna and Nicole Kidman. He also counted Diana, Princess of Wales, among his clients. In 1976, at 25, he opened his first salon and created the "Purdey" — a statement bowl cut — for Joanna Lumley's role in The New Avengers. The cut became one of the most copied hairstyles of the decade.

Frieda moved to the United States in 1990 to focus on the growing brand, a relocation that contributed to the end of his first marriage, to the Scottish singer known as Lulu, whom he married in 1977. Their son is Jordan Frieda. He met his second wife, Avery Agnelli, widow of an heir to the Fiat car company, in 2002; they married in 2019 and had two children, Jackson and Leyla. Frieda was also stepfather to her daughter, Asia Agnelli Lagrange.

Agnelli Lagrange confirmed the death on Instagram: "Sadly my J has passed away. Today we lost the best man to ever exist. I share this because I know he touched the lives of so many."

Who was the man behind the brand?

Born Alan Howard Frieda in Kenton, Middlesex, he came from three generations of the trade: his father was a hairdresser, his grandfather a barber. He began at London's House of Leonard salon and adopted the name John because another stylist there was already called Alan. The reinvention stuck; the world knows him by the name he chose at the shampoo basin.

Cetera Lamb, creative director of Frieda's London salon, said: "The industry has lost a true legend, a real maverick in hairdressing. For 50 years, he led our wonderful salon, leaving behind an incredible legacy of passion, creativity, vision and outstanding hairdressing." Fifty years is a precise measure — the salon credits him with leadership from his mid-twenties until his death.

Jo Wood, model, TV personality and wife of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, recalled him as an assistant: "When I was 16 and John worked as an assistant at Leonards, he would do my hair. He was so great… we would go to the pub after… but I couldn't drink. RIP John it was lovely to know you."

What happens to the business now?

Kao owns the product brand; the family controls the salons. The Instagram statement said his legacy "will live on in every single one of us" and pledged: "We will continue to do him proud." The salon has not said who will run the five houses bearing his name. The words are a promise; the succession plan, so far, is the part nobody has disclosed.