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Hair guru Alex Brownsell has gone from candycoloring the locks of her friends to building a beauty empire.  

It’s late at night after a 12-hour editorial shoot, and hyperactive hairdresser Alex Brownsell is back at Bleach, her salon in the Dalston district of London. The 28-year-old is dancing to cheeky classics from ABBA while deciding what shade she wants to dye her hair for a party she’s off to. 

Rows of her Bleach London Super Cool Colours products sit before her—there’s Washed Up Mermaid, best seller Rosé, and even the murky green Sea Punk—but Alex has other ideas. She makes herself a cup of  tea, lets it brew, pulls out the bag, and starts dipping her hair into the beverage.

It dyes her bleached-blonde hair a caramel-y tone. A stroke of genius or just a bit bonkers? “I think this is going to be my new range of hair colors!” she jokes. “We’ll call it Earl Grey!” Definitely genius.

Alex is the cofounder and owner of Bleach, the establishment responsible for dip dyes spotted in London and in the upper echelons of Manhattan. What began as an homage to the ’90s in the self-taught colorist’s living room quickly became the hair à la mode for girls and daring boys. With Alex opening her third salon in London’s Soho, and the likes of Georgia May Jagger, Sienna Miller, and Florence Welch enlisting her skills, we’re all wondering what crazy hues—and techniques—
are next. —HARRIET CHARITY VERNEY