Hayley Williams and Brian O'Connor Focus on Mental Health with New Darker Daze Launch from Good Dye Young
Hayley Williams, musician and Co-Founder of Good Dye Young
Often our hair has an impact on how we feel about ourselves. Studies have shown that a bad hair day can have a direct effect on your self-esteem. We can also choose to use our hair as a reflection of our mood and how we want to represent ourselves. One of the ways we can be empowered to express this is through hair color.
Brian O’Connor, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Good Dye Young
Hayley Williams, musician and lead singer of Paramore, and her longtime colorist Brian O’ Connor, are opening up a conversation about mental health and inviting people to express themselves with Darker Daze, the latest launch from their hair brand Good Dye Young.
Williams says that the brand has done some fun and kitchy campaigns in the past and that this one especially focuses on bringing attention to mental wellness —along with a playful side of the brand’s unique kitchy, sarcastic, and ironic style.
The Darker Daze Collection for Good Dye Young
“This opens up the floor for us to talk more about mental health which is a huge foundational piece to what Good Dye Young is about and who we are as a company,” says Williams.
It’s not uncommon for people to drastically change their hair when they are going through a big change or crisis. When we joined the co-founders for the Darker Daze Zoom launch event, Williams shared that during her own crisis she wanted to get to know herself again, and part of that was changing her hair. She explained that she was going through a divorce and felt pressure to be an almost cartoon character of herself. Williams turned to O’Connor for a big hair transformation, bleaching her signature red hair to a platinum blonde.
Currently, Williams is finding herself drawn to color again, and was rocking Good Dye Young’s Toxicity, a vibrant copper, for the launch event.
Darker Daze All In This Together
The new Darker Daze launch features seven semi-permanent hair colors that are designed to bring awareness to mental health challenges and toxic positivity, often with a sarcastic approach. For instance, one topic that the colors address is presenting yourself in all the right ways and “having your shit together” on social media, but still struggling on the inside.
Darker Daze Dream Big
The brand shares, “Darker Daze seeps its claws into the irony of modern day mental health motivation and slogans that encourage false positivity. Our new line of jewel tone shades give you the freedom to express yourself, even if that means feeling a little dark and doomy.”
Darker Daze Live Laugh Love
When coming up with new colors for the brand, O’Connor often finds inspiration from the Pantone scale. The new Darker Daze collection’s jewel tone colors include:
Darker Daze Collection of Jewel Tone Hair Colors
All in This Together - Red
Dream Big - Blue
LiveLaughLove - Magenta
Make It Happen - Purple
Move Mountains - Green
Along with the hair colors, Good Dye Young has also released a clean, soy wax Darker Daze candle benefiting Bring Change to Mind, a non-profit the works to end the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness.
The brand is kicking off the launch with a makeover giveaway tour, partnering with hairstylists in major US cities to give away free hair makeovers. The grand prize winner will get a makeover from Co-Founder Brian O’ Connor and get a meet-and-greet with Hayley Williams. Enter the giveaway by November 4th HERE.
Lizzy Sherman is an award-winning digital content writer/editor. She has been a featured guest speaker at Cal State University Northridge, Digital LA, and The National Association of Audience Marketing Professionals. When she's not writing, Lizzy enjoys yoga and playing guitar. Follow her on Instagram: @zillizy