How I Made It: John Frieda & Color Wow Founder Gail Federici

We wanted a name that said what it did on the tin. A name like Kleenex that you would just start referring to as the product – like, “Do you have a Kleenex?” That’s how we came up with Frizz Ease. The only thing that bothered me about that serum is that it didn’t hold up that well in extreme humidity. I said to our chemist, Joseph, we have to figure out a way to protect hair from humidity once it's blown dry. It's terrible when you spend all that time doing your hair only to go out and see it destroyed. Ever since – all those years ago – Joseph has tried to come up with a solution. It was only when I started Color Wow that Dream Coat would come to life.

We sold the John Frieda business in 2002 to Kao. After that, I wasn’t planning to go back into haircare at all. John was focused on other things and I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to take. Because I had a non-compete, I went into music for about five years. My daughters were singers – they’d appeared in the Sheer Blonde commercials – and while they didn’t love the modelling side, they were open to the performance side. That period was a whole adventure in itself; I could write a book about the music business, it was so wild.

It was only later that the spark for Color Wow came. My sister, who has gorgeous hair, went grey before I did. I asked her why she wasn’t covering it, and she said everything on the market was messy, obvious or unwearable. Sprays went everywhere, and other products looked like shoe polish or left her hair wet. I started watching people in malls and realised how many women had those tell-tale grey roots showing between colour appointments. It seemed crazy that no one had solved it. 

We developed our first root cover-up powder almost as a family solution. When my sister tested it, she went swimming and called me in shock: “It stayed put. It didn’t move. You can shampoo it out, but it doesn’t run down your face.” That was the moment I realised we had something. At first, I resisted – I thought I’d done haircare and didn’t want to go back – but the product was too good to ignore. We launched Color Wow in 2013, starting with root cover-up powders.

I really missed the kind of creative partnership I had with John. I’m more of a strategist – I like being in the office, thinking through the business and the science – but I wanted someone who could take the brand message out into the world and collaborate on ideas. I thought I knew everyone in haircare after so many years but I had never heard of Chris Appleton until my sister showed me his portfolio. His red-carpet work was unbelievable. You can’t retouch red-carpet hair – it’s either flawless or it’s not – and his looked extraordinary. At the time he was working with Rita Ora, doing bold, edgy looks but always with a cool, editorial finish.

We arranged a Skype call. He was hilarious, articulate and we instantly had chemistry. He once joked I reminded him of the woman in The Devil Wears Prada. I laughed so hard. We decided to test the partnership for six months, and it was seamless from the start. Our visions aligned, and we could read each other creatively in the same way I had with John. That’s rare. Seeing him at his first professional show sealed it. I thought I knew everything after decades in the industry but he used products in ways I’d never imagined. He’s truly one of those once-in-a-generation talents.

We run Color Wow the same way we ran John Frieda: always looking for white space and unmet needs. The root cover-up was our entry point because it was such an obvious consumer problem. Then we started thinking more broadly about colour. Hair colour had changed dramatically. In the past, people wanted it to look natural but in the last decade, colour became a way to express identity. People went from blonde to brunette to pink to blue – constantly changing, often following celebrity trends. That meant more damage, more stress on hair and existing products weren’t keeping up.

We scrutinised ingredients and eliminated 70-80 commonly used ones – including some we had even used in Sheer Blonde – that can distort colour or make it brassy. They’re not toxic, but they compromise results. From then on, every Color Wow formula was designed to protect colour integrity. We also refused to compromise on performance. Take volume, for example: most volumisers rely on salt, alcohol or resin, which damage hair. My daughter challenged me on this, so we set out to make one without any of those ingredients. It took years, but that became Extra Large Volumizer.

Even our shampoo is different. We realised that conditioning agents in shampoos dull hair over time and can even impact scalp health. So, we stripped them out completely. Our shampoos just clean – with nothing left behind – and we believe conditioners and styling products should do the rest. At the time, “co-washing” and conditioning shampoos were trendy, but I knew they could suffocate follicles. And sure enough, those products eventually caused problems for many people. Our philosophy is simple: don’t launch unless it’s either a true breakthrough or a real upgrade on what’s out there. Some years that means one product, some years none. We’d rather wait than put something out that isn’t exceptional.

One day, I remember Joseph coming into my office and saying, “You are going to go crazy.” He had two hair swatches, one of which had been treated with a product he’d made. Both were bleached, very porous and he used a pipette to drop a bit of water on both. On one, it sank right in, then he dropped it on the one that had been treated and it just beaded up and rolled off. I could not believe my eyes. I said, “Let's get this out right away.” I knew it was going to make such a difference to so many people who spend time doing their hair for nothing. 

I invested from the proceeds from selling John Frieda into Color Wow and for years, we remained self-funded and profitable. But in recent years, growth has been so rapid – doubling sales year after year – that it became clear we needed support. Not just financial investment, but operational expertise and global infrastructure. We were approached by many companies over the years, but in June 2025 L’Oréal acquired Color Wow. It felt like the right fit. The group completely understood our philosophy and the thought process behind every product. That’s not easy – brand DNA can be hard to grasp – but its global reach, expertise and teams are exactly what we need.

I can’t say I ever saw myself as this entrepreneur. My drive initially came from a very personal place – making enough money to ensure my daughter had the right care. That urgency shaped everything. With Color Wow, the motivation shifted. I didn’t set out thinking, “I’ll build this and sell it.” It was about solving problems for women – making haircare faster, easier, more effective. I’ve always said: if you make something that matters, you’ll make money. But money can’t be the only driver. The real reward is knowing you’ve created something that genuinely improves people’s lives.

My advice to someone starting a beauty business today would be to build a strong team from the outset. Surround yourself with people whose skills complement yours, who share your vision and have no ego. At John Frieda, when I suggested bringing in Sally Hershberger to front Sheer Blonde instead of him, John immediately agreed. He supported her without hesitation. That kind of collaboration is invaluable. Also, challenge your own ideas. Don’t fall in love with them without testing every angle. I always tell my team: I want bad news to travel fast. Good news is nice, but problems are what we need to fix together. John once gave me a book called Only the Paranoid Survive, because I’m constantly thinking about what could go wrong. And it’s true – something always does. But every obstacle makes you better.

Collaboration and openness have been the keys to my success. At Color Wow, everyone has a voice, no matter their role. People feel comfortable telling me if a product name I’ve chosen is terrible, and I feel comfortable pushing back on their ideas too. It’s always direct but never personal. We respect each other completely. And you have to keep learning. Business changes constantly – especially now with social media, algorithms and e-commerce. You master one thing and the next week it changes. It’s exhausting but exciting. If you stay curious, collaborative and resilient, you can weather the chaos.

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