Ben Gregory is an international hair colour artist whose work moves between fashion, celebrity, salon and creative business. His credits include Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, Valentino, Gucci and Moschino, alongside defining colour moments for Dua Lipa and Ryan Gosling.

In this conversation, Ben traces the path from an outrageous, Boy George-obsessed teenager to a technically assured artist working at the highest level of fashion. He explains how test shoots, relentless curiosity and a willingness to say yes built his session career, while his partnership with his husband Dean grew into the Gregory Dean salons and brand.

The discussion reaches beyond career highlights into authorship, comparison, authenticity and the future of the profession. Ben argues for colourists to be recognised as a creative division in their own right — properly involved, credited and valued — while speaking candidly about ambition, self-doubt, leadership and the need to know what you truly want.

Tracy Hayes has spent four decades at the forefront of professional hair colour, building a career that spans salon work, education, fashion, product development and creative collaboration.

A former Creative Director at Sassoon and ambassador for Schwarzkopf Professional and Fudge Professional, Tracy has travelled the world teaching, launching colour collections and working on shows. Her creative work includes a long-standing collaboration with artist Julie Verhoeven and hairstylist John Vial, creating extraordinary looks inspired by everything from birds of paradise and cockatoos with Mohicans to monks with shaved hairlines.

But what runs through her career is something less tangible: a belief in collaboration, generosity and sharing what you know.

From her earliest days at Sassoon, Tracy understood colour as a conversation between the client, colourist and stylist. It is an approach that has shaped not only her work, but the way she has mentored and created opportunities for generations of hairdressers.

Josh Wood is one of Britain’s most influential hair colourists: a creative whose work has helped elevate the colourist from behind-the-scenes technician to an expert with a distinct voice, profile and value.

In this conversation, Josh traces that journey from Barnsley and his early training at Vidal Sassoon to fashion, celebrity work, salons and the creation of Josh Wood Colour. He reflects on the curiosity and hard work that have sustained his career, while remaining clear that, despite the scale of everything he has built, he is still first and foremost a practising colourist.

The episode also opens into a wider discussion about identity, leadership and the future of hairdressing. Josh speaks candidly about growing up gay under Section 28, his work as a patron of AKT, learning from younger generations and the need for salon businesses to respond to the way people now want to work and consume colour.