Our organisation was started in memory of Alex Lilly who was a mature student when he embarked on his dream career of becoming a hairdresser at the age of 33 years old.  Alex had always wanted to be a hairdresser but his strict father advised him to choose a “proper career”. 

On leaving school, he therefore went into engineering.  After many years he decided to follow his dream so he quit engineering and embarked on a hairdressing career as a mature student. Being the oldest student in a class of teenagers, they called him “Mr Alex”, hence the name was born. Alex graduated from City and East London College in 1980 with honours and went on to open a salon in Brixton, South London.  The original salon was opened on the day of the 1^st Brixton riots in April 1981.