Danger Jones

Danger Jones is an independent professional hair-colour brand based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by the husband-and-wife team David and Alexis Thurston, who launched it in spring 2023 [9] after building and selling their previous colour brand, Pulp Riot. The company positions itself as an artist-led alternative to large corporate hair-colour houses, and its products are sold to salons through professional distributors rather than directly to consumers.

In its first few years the brand grew quickly, reaching distribution in more than 40 markets. Its operating entity is named on the company's own website as Thurston A&R, and editorial coverage describes the business as largely self-funded by its founders. The brand remains active: its Epilogue permanent-colour range launched in March 2026, by which point trade press reported distribution across 43 markets.

David and Alexis Thurston founded Danger Jones after years in professional hair colour. The pair had previously created Pulp Riot in 2016, a brand known for vivid pink, purple and green shades aimed at a young audience, which was acquired by L'Oréal in 2018 [7]. The Thurstons also own the Butterfly Loft Salon in Los Angeles.

According to the company, Danger Jones was conceived as "a direct response to an industry that has become increasingly corporate, formulaic, and disconnected from the artists it's meant to serve." David Thurston has explained the name as a deliberate contradiction: "Danger" standing for risk and edge, and "Jones" for quality and reliability.

Most editorial sources place the brand's founding in spring 2023 and its base in Los Angeles [8][9]. The company's own about page carries only a 2025 copyright notice and the phrase "in just a few years," without stating an explicit founding date [2]; the spring-2023 date comes from independent trade coverage. One UK retailer blog describes the brand as "UK-based" [10], but this conflicts with the founders' Los Angeles base, their LA salon and the brand's Californian operating company, and is treated here as an error.

Danger Jones is independent and founder-led. Its operating company is listed as Thurston A&R, the entity named in the website's copyright notice [2], rather than an outside parent. Industry reporting describes the founders as having self-funded roughly 95 percent of the brand's start-up costs [9].

The founders' earlier venture, Pulp Riot, followed a different path: launched in 2016, it was bought by L'Oréal in 2018 [7]. That sale is part of the founders' background rather than the ownership history of Danger Jones itself, which has remained separate from the L'Oréal group.

The brand frames hairdressers as artists and builds its identity around that idea. "We believe hairdressers are artists. We believe products are better when they're made by artists. We believe a community that works together can outperform corporations," its about page states. The company says it grows through education, collaboration and long-term professional relationships rather than conventional marketing.

This artist-centred stance is set explicitly against larger competitors. In trade press, David Thurston has described the company as "a serious global alternative to corporate color" and named Wella Professionals, Redken and L'Oréal Professionnel as rivals he argues prioritise end consumers over working stylists [9]. The brand's visual identity reinforces the theme: its packaging carries commissioned artwork inspired by rock-band gig posters, created by several artists across multiple countries.

Danger Jones also runs a certification scheme, the Danger Society, through which stylists complete video modules on the brand's techniques and join a tiered rewards programme. The company has a parallel fashion line, described as made in Los Angeles.

Danger Jones makes professional colour and care products, including blonding systems, gloss toners, semi-permanent and permanent colour. The company identifies its Liquid Demi Gloss Toners as its signature line and best-selling product, and uses the tagline "Home of the World's Best Liquid Demi Gloss Toners."

A recurring feature across the range is a bonding agent, or "bonder," added to colour and lightener for longer-lasting results; the company describes it as a vegan, plant-based bonder [8]. Its Powder Lightener is sold with this bonder together with seaweed. In March 2026 the brand introduced Epilogue, a permanent-colour line of 84 shades developed over roughly nine months; trade press reported that the formula removed the allergens resorcinol and p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and incorporated the brand's bonding agent [9].

Danger Jones has been referenced in beauty and fashion press including ELLE, Teen Vogue, Glamour, InStyle, Byrdie and New Beauty, often in the context of specific colour trends such as "calico" hair. Its colour work has also been linked to public figures, including a butterscotch-blonde look on Addison Rae covered by Teen Vogue. The brand's expansion and the Epilogue launch were profiled by the trade outlets BeautyMatter and WWD.

The brand is active and growing. As of early 2026 it reported distribution across more than 40 countries and over 1,400 salon doors [7][9], with CosmoProf cited as its largest US distributor. Its most recent major launch, the Epilogue permanent-colour line, came in March 2026. Reporting from that period noted projected year-on-year growth of 84 percent and a stated sales target of 50 million US dollars, figures attributed to the company [9].