Paramore’s Hayley Williams, a Grammy Award winner, can add hair color guru to her resume.  The singer teamed up with her long-time stylist to create Good Dye Young, a new color line and recently inked a deal to stock the line in Sally Beauty shops nationwide.
 
Good Dye Young touts two options—a semi-permanent and Poser Paste, which the brand calls “hair makeup.”
 
Good Dye Young Semi-Permanent Hair Color ($18) comes in nine colors and a fader. The vibrantly pigmented, customizable cream formula is vegan and cruelty-free and contains ingredients like bergamot essential oil and sunflower extract. The fader can be mixed into any of the shades to create a lighter pastel look. 
 
For those who want a fun color, but with less of a commitment, there is Good Dye Young Poser Paste Hair Makeup ($18). It is available in the same eight colors as offered in the semi-permanent formulation. They are mixable and wash out with shampoo, according to the brand.
 
Williams loves the chemistry of the Good Dye Young line, noting that attention was paid to key attributes beyond the color payoff. For instance, she wanted to get the thickness of the formula just right—think  “enough to not run all over the place, but creamy enough to feel lux,” she explained.
 
“My personal favorite thing about our products is how gentle and nourishing they are to the hair. We formulated our semi-permanents with sunflower seed oil to protect from color-fading UV rays, and most of the ingredients are conscious of keeping moisture in the hair. We also scent our products with essential oils that not only aid in scalp and hair health, but even have aromatherapeutic benefits. We chose oils that can help lift your mood and combat sadness,” she said. 
 
How could one be sad with hair that’s radioactive neon yellow? That shade, which is called Steal My Sunshine, was the first color that Williams wore during the testing phase. 
 
“I joked in the beginning that we should call it ‘Acidic Piss’... obviously, we went in a less gross direction. It’s so bright and for a yellow tone, I can’t believe how flattering it is on skin tone,” Williams said.

For Williams, seeing Good Dye Young inside Sally stores is meaningful.
 
“For me personally, it’s very sentimental because their stores were the first place I could go to find really loud and bright colored hair dye to experiment with...and having Good Dye Young there feels like a full circle moment,” she told Happi.
 
And, the retail move marks a major step for the brand.
 
“As a business it’s a huge step forward, because this puts us directly in touch with so many people who have never had access to our products before. For people to put their faith in our brand but not be able to touch and feel and see our packaging and formulas up close is asking a lot. We were a direct-to-consumer brand for quite some time before, and now, being on shelves at retail, we have the opportunity to introduce ourselves to people with a lot less of a barrier,” said Williams.
 
For Sally Beauty, the versatility and formulation of Good Dye Young’s products helped seal the deal.
 
“We’re thrilled to offer this exciting new line to our customers seeking more creativity with hair color,” Maryann Herskowitz, vice president of color and care at Sally Beauty, said in a statement when the alliance was announced in June. “The professional-grade ingredients in the semi-permanent and temporary poser paste provide Sally customers with quality results, all while encouraging them to think outside of the box with hair color and confidently experiment with their look.”
 
Williams credits the expertise of her long-time stylist, best friend and brand co-founder Brian O’Connor, whom she considers GDY’s “in-house Bill Nye.”
 
“He really worked hard with the lab to make our products perform well and feel incredible. We are both so proud of what we’ve made thus far,” she said. “Now we just continue to dream and formulate the future of GDY.”