Activator Mentor Scheme Joins Forces With Ground-Breaking Colour Brand Bleach London

Creative HEAD and The Industry are thrilled to announce that this year’s Activator mentoring scheme will be powered by Bleach London, the revolutionary salon and colour brand launched by hairstylist and entrepreneur Alex Brownsell.

by CATHERINE | INFORM

Alex Brownsell in the Bleach London salon, Los Angeles

Activator sees hairdressing business owners paired with a leading industry name who will mentor them for a full 12 months – acting as a sounding board, providing honest feedback, introducing valuable contacts and networks, and helping the mentee to learn and grow.

This year’s mentors come from across the UK and Irish hairdressing industries, including business owners Kaye Sotomi (Chop Chop London), Pont Smith (bebop), Cyril Morgan (Cyril Morgan Hair) and Nicholas Nicola (Allertons), session stylist Lauren Bell, independent hairdressers Cristina Fazzone and Chris Foster, educators Darrel Starkey, Nancy Stripe and Rachael Lomax and environmentalists Anne Veck and Keith Mellen.

The new partnership will see Brownsell meeting with the 2026 Activator mentors and mentees throughout the year, sharing practical advice and ideas and offering an insight into her own inspirational business story.

Brownsell displayed her entrepreneurial flair from a very young age. She started Bleach as a makeshift salon in her living room, aged 22, where she would colour her friends’ hair (appointments were charged at £50 “and a bottle of wine”), quickly attracting media attention for her dip-dyes and full heads of grey, white and pastel pink.

Under Brownsell’s stewardship, Bleach grew into stand-alone salons, a partnership with Topshop and a DIY hair colour product line that she co-created with Boots, focusing on the cult, punk-inspired shades Bleach was known for – the unconventional colours had names like The Big Pink, Slime Light, Blue Weekend.

Since then, Bleach London has gone from strength to strength. Alongside opening further stand-alone salons in London, in 2021 Brownsell opened a salon in LA. The following year, in partnership with Walmart, Bleach London products launched in 3,500 stores around America, collaborating with everyone from Wolf Alice to Heaven by Marc Jacobs.

Meanwhile, Brownsell herself has worked as a session hairstylist for brands including Diesel, Miu Miu, Vivienne Westwood, Vetements and Valentino – a sign of just how mainstream and high fashion the Bleach aesthetic has become. She has worked with Gucci on its campaigns, overseeing all the hairstyling, colour and wigs to achieve the soft and raw looks dreamed up by creative director Alessandro Michele, then spent four years working at Celine with Hedi Slimane, bringing his vision and characters to life. 

Distinguishing between a Gucci blonde (“cinematic and creamy”), a Celine blonde (“punk and not toned”), and a Vetements blonde (“hard silhouettes and solid shapes”) offers a glimpse at the nuance of Brownsell’s artistry, which she likes to describe as precisely imprecise. “What I prefer is that everything looks a bit home done,” she says, “and that’s the thing about Bleach. We’re doing it perfectly, but it doesn’t look like you just went to the salon.”

Now, in 2026, the brand has global expansion in its sights. Launching into new markets has been a key focus over the past year, with timely arrivals in previously under-served markets including the Netherlands and Belgium. Demand for bold, trend-focused hair colour remains high around the world, with Bleach socials garnering over 36 million views and 2.2 million likes in the last three months alone and increasing their TikTok reach and following by 600 per cent. 

Despite this, Bleach London has stayed true to its origins and values – “We’re still small and about 98 per cent female,” says Brownsell – which is why she is so well placed to connect with and advise the 2026 Activator cohort, many of whom are just starting out on their entrepreneurial journey.

Says Brownsell: “I’m so proud Bleach London is supporting Creative HEAD’s brilliant Activator mentorship scheme this year. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to have some amazing mentors, from Daniel Hersheson to the late, great Lyndell Mansfield. As hairdressers, we’re naturally creative but that doesn’t always translate to the best understanding of business, which is why I’m so thankful for the advice I’ve received over the years. Activator is a great opportunity for those of us who’ve tried, failed and tried again to pass on what we’ve learned in the process. I can’t wait to be inspired by the next generation of entrepren-hairs!”

Says Creative HEAD publisher Catherine Handcock: “There’s a natural fit between Activator and Bleach London, and it’s all down to Alex Brownsell. She’s smart and entrepreneurial and has built an incredible product brand, but she also knows all too well what it’s like to own and manage a salon and completely relates to the challenges our mentees are facing. It’s an incredible opportunity for our 2026 cohort to spend time with her and be inspired by her. We can’t wait to bring everyone together over the coming year.”