John Frieda, hairstylist to Princess Diana and creator of Frizz-Ease, dies aged 75

John Frieda, the British celebrity hairstylist whose name is on bottles of Frizz-Ease serum around the world, has died aged 75. His London salon announced on Instagram on Tuesday 3 November that he had died peacefully, surrounded by his family, the BBC reported.

"John was more than a mentor to us; he was a true icon of the hair industry," the salon said.

Stylist to the stars

Born Alan Howard Frieda in London in 1951, he grew up in the trade: his father owned a salon in Ealing and his grandfather was a Fleet Street barber. He trained under Leonard Lewis at the House of Leonard, the salon behind Twiggy's crop, and worked on shoots for British Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

His clients over the years, as listed by the BBC, included:

• Twiggy, Mick Jagger and Jackie Kennedy in the 1960s and 1970s
• Joanna Lumley, for whom he created the Purdey bowl cut in The New Avengers in 1976
• Diana, Princess of Wales, Madonna, Nicole Kidman and Scarlett Johansson later on

He opened his own salon in central London in 1976, which was booked months ahead, and later branches in Barbados, Ibiza and Los Angeles.

From salon to global brand

In the 1990s he stepped back from cutting hair to build his product range. Frizz-Ease serum, created in 1988, became the best known, and the brand spread through the US and beyond. In 2002 Frieda and his business partner Gail Federici sold the company to Japan's Kao for $450 million, about Rs 125 billion at today's dollar rate. John Frieda products are still widely sold in Pakistan through pharmacies and online beauty stores.

His advice to young hairdressers, given to the British Beauty Council in June: think about the haircut, not the money. "The reward is giving her the best haircut she's ever had."

Family and tributes

Frieda was married to the singer Lulu from 1977 to 1990; their son is the actor turned food entrepreneur Jordan Frieda. He later married Avery Agnelli, widow of Fiat heir Giovanni Agnelli, with whom he had two children and a stepdaughter. Stepdaughter Asia Agnelli Lagrange wrote that the family had "lost the best man to ever exist". The British Beauty Council sent its condolences, and Cetera Lamb, creative director of his London salon, called him "a true legend, a real maverick in hairdressing".