We Tried A DIY Hair Color Makeover with Good Dye Young, The Hair Care Brand from Musician Hayley Williams and Colorist Brian O’Connor
Hayley Williams and Brian O’Connor, Co-Founders of Good Dye Young
Not only is Hayley Williams admired for her musical accomplishments, but when it comes to style, her bold and colorful hairstyle choices have served as inspiration for redheads everywhere over the years.
If you’ve ever wondered who creates Williams’ amazing hairstyles, you need to follow her longtime hairstylist and makeup artist Brian O’Connor. From Williams’ famous bright orange to gorgeous blonde, and everything in between, O’Connor is the artistic genius behind the many stunning colors.
Williams and O’Connor teamed up to launch their hair color and care brand Good Dye Young (GDY) which features products that make it easy for anyone to achieve vibrant color at home. The brand offers semi-permanent hair color options in every color of the rainbow, as well as a variety of hair care products.
I recently had the chance to try out Darker Daze, the jewel tone semi-permanent collection from Good Dye Young. Keep reading to learn about what I thought and see how my hair turned out.
I Tried Darker Daze “All In This Together” from Good Dye Young
While I’m a natural redhead, my hair has gotten darker and duller over the years. I’ve chosen to enhance it, but I tend to stick to shades close to my natural color.
Though I’ve always wished I had the guts to try more adventurous colors, I have very thin hair. Due to this, I have avoided bleaching my hair because I’m already self-conscious about how thin and fragile it is. Unfortunately, this can limit my color options.
It had been a while since I’d colored my hair, and I was ready for a change, so I decided to give All in This Together, a bright Burgundy shade, a try. I’m such a fan of both Williams’ and O’Connor’s creative work, so I was excited to check out the collection they dreamed up together.
All In This Together
The semi-permanent colors in the Darker Daze collection come in 5 oz. tubes and feature salon-grade pigments in a non-toxic formula. The cream-base formula is vegan, cruelty-free, ammonia-free, formaldehyde-free, peroxide-free, and PPD-free.
Here were my observations:
The color really brightened up my hair, especially considering that I did not lighten it first. It took my hair from looking brassy to a really pretty shade of red. If you click on the TikTok video from our brand new TikTok account, you can see the Before and After to get a better picture of just how vibrant it made my hair. (If you want to lighten your hair before color, the brand recommends their Lightening Kit to get the perfect base shade.)
Within hours of doing my hair, two people complimented the color while I was running errands!
I was pleasantly surprised with how good the products smelled. They are fragranced with Bergamot essential oil and feature a light citrus scent that is not overwhelming.
My hair looked shiny and thicker after using this product. Darker Daze is botanically infused with natural sunflower extract and features a conditioning formula. The way it coated my hair helped it look extra full.
My hair felt really soft. I’ve noticed some at-home color products leave my hair dry and crunchy, so I was very happy to discover just how healthy my hair looked and felt after using this product.
My scalp was not irritated at all. Sometimes when I try new products, especially coloring products, my scalp gets irritated and flakes. My scalp was in good shape after using this product.
Brightly colored products tend to continue to transfer after initial application, and during washing. If you don’t want to get it on your hands and towels, just be prepared with gloves and towels that you don’t mind getting a little (or a lot) of color on.
Thanks to my background as an editor at hair magazines, I have a pretty good foundation for assessing hair products. I was really impressed with the quality of this product and would definitely recommend this color to a friend.
Maintaining brightly colored hair can be challenging and expensive. I love that this collection makes it accessible for people to maintain their hair at-home or between salon visits. Darker Daze semi-permanent colors are $18 each or $15.30/mo when you subscribe.
To get a look at the Before and After, check out my video of the results on Spa & Beauty Today’s new TikTok channel.
All in This Together is a color from The Darker Daze collection which features five semi-permanent hair colors that are designed to bring awareness to mental health challenges and toxic positivity. The collection also includes blue, magenta, purple, and green.
In addition to hair color, Good Dye Young also offers a selection of vegan and cruelty-free hair care products. I’ve been using Pre Wash (Weekly Detox and Scalp Treatment) and Rinse (Color Kind Conditioner) from the Color Kind Hair Care collection.
Here’s a look at the final results of my Good Dye Young hair color makeover:
Good Dye Young is currently available at gooddyeyoung.com, Sally Beauty, and will be available at Walmart in June.
A University of Michigan graduate, Lizzy Sherman is an award-winning digital content writer/editor. Her work has appeared in publications including Beauty Launchpad, Nailpro, DAYSPA, CNET, Entertainment Tonight, and more. 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 and Twitter: @zillizy, @zillizy16