John Frieda, Who Built an Empire Out of Frizz, Has Died at 75
The London stylist spent five decades on Princess Diana's hair before selling Frizz Ease to Kao Corporation in 2002, cashing out of a drugstore aisle he basically invented.
John Frieda, the London-born hairstylist who turned a tube of anti-frizz serum into a fixture of nearly every drugstore in America, has died at 75. His salon announced on Instagram that he passed away peacefully on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, surrounded by his family.
Frieda opened his first London salon in 1976 and spent the next five decades building the kind of client list most beauty founders now pay influencers seven figures to fake, styling Princess Diana among others. He turned that credibility into a haircare line built on a single, deceptively obvious insight: humidity was not a personality flaw, it was a product opportunity. Frizz Ease became the brand's calling card, and the lineup eventually expanded into ranges like Sheer Blonde before Frieda sold the company to Japan's Kao Corporation in 2002, cashing out of the category he had basically invented.
Tributes poured in from the hair industry Frieda spent decades mentoring, with his salon calling him "a true icon" who "taught us everything, believed in us, and made us better." For a brand built entirely on taming chaos, it is a fitting legacy: he did not just sell a fix, he sold permission to stop blaming yourself for your hair.
Source: Parade
Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →
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