Image has always been an essential part in music where artists not only self-express through their lyrics and sound, but also through their style and how they present themselves. For generations, hair dye has been a way to boldly emphasize ones character, making a statement before actually: saying, singing, rapping or even screaming a single word. Being easily available, (mostly) reversible and doable at home, its ever-growing popularity in the scene and amongst the general population comes as no surprise. Plus, the increasingly more open-minded social climate is abandoning social taboos of past, freeing people to experiment even more. In addition to us ‘being worth it’, there are many reasons for hair dyeing today and a very rich history to it.
The intricate details regarding the birth, growth and coming of age of today’s hair dye can be quite tiresome. For years there were many natural uses and examples all over the world; leeches, plant extracts… prominent in places like Ancient Rome and Egypt. The beauty practice as we know it however, commercially emerged with L’Oréal and its founder Eugene Schueller in the early 1900s.
Women bleaching and dyeing their hair in America became quite popular with Jean Harlow being the first blonde bombshell as a platinum blonde in the 1930s. Achieved through using a toxic mixture including Ammonia and Clorox bleach, which despite bringing her fame, played a large part in her death at 26. This was before even Marilyn Monroe became the icon she is today. Following this, hair dye became commonplace amongst women despite being slightly taboo. It was only in the 60s where it truly became open and was no longer a “Is she or isn’t she?” deal.
Along with this change of mindset, we soon started to see male icons dyeing their hair too, with David Bowie being an early example. He had taken inspiration from a female model in a magazine and decided he’d emulate the spiky red look to transform into Ziggy Stardust. This obviously wasn’t the norm; Bowie was a unique act, and eventually more and more of the ‘unique’ bands started incorporating hair dye in their looks. The Cure had heavy black hair to reflect the aesthetic of their post-punk/gothic rock music as well as members of synth pop band Depeche Mode. Another notable example within 70s-80s rock music has to be Kurt Cobains pinkish-red, an early male example of going past the natural shade spectrum. Cyndi Lauper was known for her bright orange locks. These ‘highlights’ aren’t dismissing the ‘overgrowth’ of zany hairstyles that ‘twisted’ all throughout the 70s&80s, these were just ‘a cut above the rest’ in a ’tangle’ of mess…Sorry. There are a number of metal bands that could be mentioned as well or even funky hip hop acts like Kid ’n Play.
one of Dennis Rodman’s best hair dye looks
In the 90s a lot more figures started openly and loudly dyeing their hair. It even became quite trendy. Professional wrestler Jeff Hardy cycled through many notable hair color phases and paired with his long disheveled hair, his looks remain on-trend today. Dennis Rodman, an iconic NBA player, led the way for eccentric hair dyes during some of his on-court career. Whilst Dennis’ style holds well today, there are also some looks people would rather forget. Some would consider it a shame that when male hair dye properly rose to the mainstream, it was through the trend of frosted tips. Most memorably adorned, if adorned at all, by Justin Timberlake and none other than the infamous, undying meme that is Guy Fieri. Still sporting the same frosted tips today, living as a rebel to fashion, society and culture (the absolute madman). Other 90s icons known for their colurful locks include the notorious Lil Kim, Pink and Gwen Stefani repping pink hair and Eve with bright red hair. The members of punk band Rancid were rocking bright red mohawks and other wild styles.
photo credit: Vanna Venom
Soon after came the invention of the Internet, allowing people from all over the world to instantly connect with each other, especially through early YouTube and Myspace. Scene culture, inspired by alternative fashion, ranging from punk to grunge to emo, was most prevalent at this time for young people globally. Chunky highlights and coon tails were the go-to for girls and guys hair often had big sections dyed in bright pop colors. This was the era where kids worldwide started dying their own hair and finding their own identities through it, experimenting with all types of colors on all looks. Some of the most well known scene and emo artists with colored hair include Blood on The Dancefloor and Hayley Williams from Paramore. It would be a shame not to mention iconic scene hairspray queens Kiki Kannibal, Audrey Kitching and Vanna Venom. Standout pioneers of self-driven Internet fame and inspirations at the time include Jeffree Star and Soulja Boy. Despite coming from entirely separate realms, both icons had respectively outstanding unique looks. Jeffree Stars pink: a true embodiment of the scene-kid explosion, and Soulja Boy’s (rare) blonde: a subtle foreshadowing of what was to come.
With hip-hops growth and mainstream attraction coming into fruition post 2010, young artists began rocking lots of attention grabbing looks as social media culture has made it essential to stand out among the crowd. ‘Colored dreads’ have quickly become synonymous with the term ‘mumble rap’ which has become the umbrella term for a select style of emerging mainstream hip-hop, with its most well known stars being Lil Yachty and Lil Uzi Vert. Ever since Yachty’s start he has stayed true to his personal brands bold red, whilst Lil Uzis locks have been all over the color wheel.
The XXL Freshman list year by year has been a solid documented way of displaying the surge of hair coloring. The emergence of hair dye was tame with just two bleached heads in 2015, OG Maco and Fetty Wap. Then in 2016s issue we saw colored dreads for the first time on Uzi, Yachty and even Denzel Curry. Last year’s cover saw more colored hair then ever on XXXTentacion, Kamaiyah, Kap G and Madeintyo, despite being less vibrant in color. The rumours circulating around this year’s list would lead us to believe this trend has yet to even reach its peak.
photo credit: Jack Angell (@jackimissyou)
The current underground scene also reflects this trend. There are artists rocking pretty much every color you could possibly think of. Artists smartly link their hair color and style to their brand identity. A good example of this are Boyfriendz, an underground boy band featuring Lil Lotus, Lil Aaron and Smrtdeath. In addition to the potentially head turning name, their bold look consisting of purple, green and red hairstyles, leaves an impression on followers and supporters alike. Much of their album artwork, branding, and social media strategy plays off of their hair colors. The hair dye craze isn’t only restricted to rappers and vocalists as producers have also begun experimenting with it as well. The members of Gothboiclique are some of the most notorious hair dye enthusiasts within the scene as most of the artists not only have been through countless hair dyes but also sometimes make music about it (Lil Peep – Hair Dye).
At this point, there are a handful of artists within the underground with every hair color of the rainbow. Red – Trippie Redd and Rex Reid. Orange – Riff Raff, Bootychaaain and Lil Gnar. Yellow – Asian Doll, Lil Cheez and Riiottt. Green – Dommy Divine and Lulo. Blue – Famous Dex, Rich The Kid, Spicegirlpurp and Juice Wrld. Purple – Cold Hart. Pink- Lil Pump, Spacegirl Gemmy, Blackheart, Ka5sh, Gemm Forza, Candy Ken and a countless number of Lil Peep stans.
photo credit: Nico Ballesteros
One of the latest and newest hair dye trends in the underground might be couples hair dyeing. The scene has seen many figures couple up and some of the most stylish are even sharing hair dye. Adamn Killa and Killavesi, Yung Cortex and Internet Girl plus Bootychaaain and Sickboyrari being the most prominent examples. Relationship goals and even hair goals for some.
The underground, thriving at the moment, has always been able to innovate and create trends for the masses to later bite, imitate and flock to. So there’s no doubt we’ll be seeing a lot more creativity when it comes to the fusion of colored hair dye into music and style in the coming years.