John Frieda, the British celebrity hairstylist and haircare entrepreneur, has died aged 75, his salon announced on Tuesday, November 3. The John Frieda salon said in an Instagram post that he passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family.
In the post, the salon called Frieda more than a mentor and “a true icon of the hair industry.” It said he was the person who taught its team everything, believed in them and made them better. Cetera Lamb, creative director at the salon, said the industry had lost “a true legend, a real maverick in hairdressing.” The announcement was made through the salon’s Instagram account, where the business paid tribute to his influence.
A London apprenticeship and a salon empire
Born in 1951, Frieda came from a family of hairdressers and trained at the House of Leonard salon in London. He established himself in the 1970s as a hairstylist to stars and high-fashion magazines before opening his own salons, which grew into an international haircare empire.
Over his career, he looked after the hair of Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, Twiggy, Mick Jagger, Nicole Kidman and Madonna. The list spans royal, political, music, film and fashion circles, showing how his salon work connected with celebrity culture and magazine photography.
His product brand, John Frieda Professional Hair Care, was behind the cult Frizz-Ease line. The business was sold to Japanese cosmetics conglomerate Kao in 2002. The sale placed the brand within a larger consumer-products group and marked a commercial expansion beyond the salon setting where Frieda built his career.
The salon’s tribute dwelt on his role as a teacher and standard-setter as well as a stylist. By saying Frieda “taught us everything,” his colleagues emphasized his influence on the teams he built, not only on the high-profile clients he served. Lamb’s description of him as a “maverick” reinforced that view of his professional character.
Frieda was married twice and had four children. His death was announced by the John Frieda salon. The response from its creative director framed the loss in personal and professional terms, remembering a leader through the people who worked with him and an industry figure whose name reached beyond the salon.
The details released by the salon also record the span of his career: early training in London, celebrity and magazine styling, the growth of his own salons and the sale of his haircare business. Together they describe a stylist whose work moved between the chair, the editorial page and the retail shelf.