In 2016, Good Dye Young began as a creative collaboration between our resident rockstar Hayley Williams and celebrity hair stylist Brian O’Connor. As friends and longtime creative partners, they shared a joint ambition to reinvent vivid hair color with a brand rooted in creativity, artistry, accessibility, hair health, and — last but not least, community.
What started as experimentation quickly became something more. As Good Dye Young reflects on their Decade of Dye, Hayley and Brian are opening up a living time capsule of color moments and snapshots from ten years of bold color. Shaped in real time by our pro stylists, customers, and creative collaborators, Good Dye Young has evolved into a safe space for self-expression and a global movement of creativity, thanks to all of you.
Backstage on tour, we caught up with GDY co-founders Hayley Williams and Brian O’Connor to reflect on the past decade: how it all began, what it’s become, and what lies ahead. Get an exclusive look inside that unfiltered conversation as Hayley and Brian take a nostalgic trip through the GDY archives.
How does it feel for your first solo tour to be GDY Presents?
Hayley: I can’t believe it took 10 years to overlap what I do with music to what we do with hair. It feels overdue, but at the same time, it seems like it was the right first foray into mixing the two. There have been so many synergistic moments that we didn’t really plan... we dream really big and are at a place in the business where we’re able to execute on a lot of those dreams pretty quickly. I love how much color is involved in this live show... Brian sat with Michael, who did a lot of the light design for the show, and talked about color... that’s another aspect that GDY is involved in that may not necessarily be obvious, but it’s there.
In what ways has your friendship evolved after 20 years of friendship and 10 years of building a business together?
Hayley: Ten years ago when we started Good Dye Young... our friendship was very sweet. I would have never told anyone I thought our friendship was surface at the time, but knowing how our friendship is now, it was absolutely... like we were living on the surface of each other. And then 10 years ago that changed. I feel like we’re blood-related. I truly live my life with Brian and Kolten, his husband, and I love it. I love that they’re my chosen family. We’ve earned this place in each other’s lives.
Brian: Business with a friend can always be terrifying, and I’m not saying it’s for everybody. It’s definitely worked for us and that I’m really, really thankful for. The personal depth is the coolest part of all of it... outside of my husband, I have no one that I am this close to.
What is your favorite Good Dye Young memory?
Hayley: I have this vivid memory of us being in Salt Lake City... we had a lot of the dye samples laid out across the table and you were swatching... going outside all day long because the dressing room had no windows... now I think about those things and I’m like wow, all of that got us here.
Brian: 10 years is a long time but we were babies. I think about how young we were and how so much there was to learn, both professionally and personally. I’ve had to spend some time reminding myself... I really didn’t know what I was doing. And now I’m kind of like, ‘huh, maybe I kind of know this a little bit better than I give myself credit for sometimes. Dyeing my hair with Steal My Sunshine for the first time... it really got me through not really wanting to see myself in a mirror or otherwise. We were children who had no clue... I’m way more confident in my ability of who I am and what I’m able to bring to the table than I was 10 years ago.
With the ambition you two have, a lot of having a business has just been about being bold enough to do it.
Hayley: We reflect each other’s strengths back to each other and it’s motivating. We’re not really deterred by hardship; if anything we’re more motivated, and I think that is where our ambition does tend to match each other. For a really long time, I’m not gonna lie, it didn’t pay off... it was really hard to keep believing... are we gonna have to shut our business down? Like, do we know what we’re doing? Are we idiots?
Brian: Yes, all of the above.
What do you hope for the next 10 years of Good Dye Young?
Brian: Ultimately it’s not just hair or hair dye; it’s a community. It’s a place to just creatively exist as yourself in whatever form that is. I hope that Good Dye Young inspires multiple generations to just be themselves... anything that society deems as unnormal or unfit.
Hayley: The only thing I can really speak to with any authority is community... I wanna see that continue to get fostered and just keep encouraging people to express themselves. I really wanna see the pro thing happen... I would like to see him be able to share what he’s learned in a real tangible way with people, and I’ll just be back here cheering everyone on.
NEW & TRENDING
View all
