Paramore’s Hayley Williams on Her Iconic Hair, Inspiring Gen Z and Her Forward-Thinking Brand

As far as celebrity brands go, Paramore’s Hayley Williams’ colorful endeavor makes perfect sense. The 33-year-old singer has always sported iconic Manic Panic locks that inspired and defined a genre as well as countless fans. Her vibrant, inclusive and sustainable hair-care brand, GOOD DYE YOUNG, is a natural progression of all those things.

With the help of her cofounder and “day-one makeup artist and hairstylist” Brian O’Connor, Williams has put all those years of organic hair color research to good use. “When we realized we could not procreate children together, we figured we should procreate something,” she jokes. “So, why not hair dye?” With temporary products like DYEposit ($18), a color depositing mask, and I’m Bored Hair Makeup ($10), the opportunities to experiment are endless.

Williams’ own signature hue is also accessible: “As far as Hayley’s color goes, it took some color matching since I was using three to four brands mixed together in the beginning,” says O’Connor. “Our yellow-orange hair dye Biz mixed with the gold Ko and Copper DYEposit is what we are currently using to get her back to her orange hair roots.” 

Williams is currently touring with Paramore and working on a new album This Is Why set to released in early 2023, but she took a moment to talk with us about all things beauty, hair color, millennial influencing and her trick to better skin while on the road. 

Do you associate any of your hair colors with mood? Which one makes you happiest? Which one is the fiercest?

“I would say as I get older, yellow is the color that makes me the happiest. I’ve only had actual yellow hair once because most of the time I tried to be yellow it was more highlighter green. But a sunflower yellow is my favorite color. Being platinum blonde also made me feel the most like myself, which made me feel more confident after I had gotten to a place where I felt like my orange hair belonged to everybody else. That was more like a projection of me, but now I’m trying to own it for myself again in my 30s and that’s a nice feeling, too.”

What is the one product from your line everyone should try?

“Our DYEposit mask. I have been using the Copper while on the road and long before that. It’s the best.”

We love seeing your influence in this new generation of singers. What do your collaborations with singers like Billie Eilish mean to you?

“It’s really humbling to be at an age where you can look around and see a younger generation coming into the music scene and citing your music as one of the reasons that they got into it. That’s something that when I was 16 and we were just starting out we would joke about because I don’t know if we ever believed it would happen. In that sense, coming full circle is unbelievable. Especially when it happens to be someone like Billie Eilish who I think is a once-in-a-generation type of talent. She’s so special and I wouldn’t care if she had never heard of Paramore before, I would still be cheering her on. It means a lot that she and her brother Finneas both love Paramore. It gave us an easy in to connect with each other, and once I connected with them on that level I realized they are very similar to how Paramore works. It’s always really exciting meeting people who do the same thing as you and have a really good heart.”

Is there anything you’re doing differently for your skin in your thirties that you weren’t doing before?

“Moisture, moisture, moisture! Brian has been trying to tell me since my mid twenties that my skin is dry, and I was like, ‘No I’m breaking out I need to dry it out!’ Now, I’m just piling on the most expensive creams and praying they will do something for me.”

What is your favorite way to unwind after a stressful day?

“Yell into the void.”

Why was it important to you that GOOD DYE YOUNG have a sustainability focus?

“It should be a focus for any business nowadays because it’s the responsibility of the industry to make bigger shifts in how we work. Especially when it comes to consumerism, it should be our responsibility as companies before even individuals. The more we implement sustainability practices and learn more about what they can do to lessen their footprint, the more it becomes commonplace and trickles down into everyday life. We’re just trying to do our part and it’s an ongoing conversation that everyone should be having because our planet is dying.”

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