Daniel “Danny” Moon is an acclaimed LA-based hair colourist, salon-owner, business man, and overall artistic spirit. He’s worked with just about everyone, from indie rockers to rappers, and actors to reality stars; and it’s not surprising why everyone trusts him with their manes. Moon has mastered his colour knowledge and skillset, plus he’s proved to always be a step or two ahead of the times. If you scroll down his Instagram account, you will see green dip dye as early as 2011, years before it was cool. In the noughties, crazy coloured hair was only really seen on punks, emos and scene kids. Then came the turn of the decade and with it came Katy Perry’s California Gurls and Nicki Minaj’s Superbass, setting the tone for years of unnatural coloured hair and wigs to come.

People who had tumblr would have been at the forefront of hair dyeing in 2011 and 2012, but it took a few more years plus Kylie’s teal dipdye in 2014 (also Moon’s work) until the mainstream finally caught on. When other hairdressers started making the switch from subtle ombrés to bold colours, Daniel Moon was there, prepared and ready to go with years of crazy colour experience already. He quickly became the go-to colourist for most of LA’s residents and his business started booming. He now owns his own salon HAIR, sells HAIR merch, Major Moonshine glitter gels, and Major Aprons for hairdressers.

When did you first open your salon HAIR? Can you describe your journey from beauty school to being a salon owner? I was taking private clients at my art studio in the industrial area of downtown Los Angeles as of September of 2017. The salon HAIR Los Angeles was launched in March of 2018, alongside my second brand HAIR, which also includes merchandise like t-shirts and hair accessories. This added to my first product line Major Moonshine, which includes glitter gel and PVC see-through aprons.

My journey has been very colourful. There have been a ton of challenges. Finding an identity and a passion for hair that resonates with me could have only been created the way that it was. Being around numerous celebrity hairdressers such as John Sahag, Christiaan Houtenbos, Andy Lecompte, Chris Appleton, George Papanikolas, Christopher Pierce, Jen Atkin, and Sally Hershberger, to name a few, has inspired me and touched me in a way that has allowed me to continue down this colourful path set in front of me.

I was once told that I should stop doing colourful hair because I would be branded as the rainbow guy in the industry, which the rebel side of me would not allow me to ever listen to. So, I was branded the rainbow guy in the industry. Working with celebrities like Zoe Kravitz, Katy Perry, Nicole Richie, Kanye West, and Kylie Jenner, and creating iconic looks for artists inspired me to take it to the next level and open up my own space that would create a higher vibrating environment to continue this journey with special people and creators.

How do you think did being a US marine impacted your work ethic? My training as a marine prepared me for uncomfortable and risky situations. Doing things for the first time in the industry when it came to bleaching and hair colouring with celebrities helped me keep my composure and pretend like everything was perfect while deep down I was sweating bullets and trusting my intuition.

You are the trusted go-to colourist for the likes of Flatbush Zombies’ Juice, Avalon Lurks, and Rihanna’s Fenty. How do you make yourself visible to big names and collaborations? By mastering my craft and being very conscious of how I present my work online, as well as maintaining relationships that I’ve created in the past. I believe that, like my work, I try to keep visuals on my social pages just as original and evolving as the hair colour that I do.

Having the experience that I did and putting in the work and time in multiple locations such as Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and now the industrial area surrounded by galleries and artists, has kept me fresh and in front of people in fashion, art, hair, and music, which fuels all the diverse people that want to contact me.

Earlier this decade, vividly coloured hair went from not very popular at all to explosive in the mainstream, and you were right there doing bright colours when the rest of the world caught on. What was it like witnessing that shift? And what motivated you to keep doing bold colours when most people still stayed away from them? I knew it was eventually going to happen because I knew the effect it had on the people that I worked with. It was only a matter of time before the world caught onto this energy. It was very special.

The work that I created in the past and the relationships that I built made me accountable to continue evolving, just like a musician would write another album or like a painter would do another series. Knowing that my work had been replicated took me down the route of creating other products and pieces that were just as satisfying to me as doing hair colour, such as the creations of Major Moonshine, Major Aprons, and the new HAIR merch.

How did you first come about doing the graffiti hair? I was interested in graffiti as a child. I like the free flow of it and the colours graffiti artists use. To me a colour spray was another tool that I could layer on top of the hair colour that I created, something I didn’t see being used much.

Another hair trend you’re responsible for is the sparkly hair created with Major Moonshine glitter gel. What was the process like for figuring out the formula? One of my clients asked me, because I was mixing all my custom colours at the time, if I could create a chrome, or a gold, or a copper. My response being, “Yeah I’ll figure it out.” I wanted to create a consistency of glitter gel that would be contained and could be shared to a large amount of people in a short amount of time without a gigantic mess. Then Major Moonshine was born. With the concept of balayage highlights, working with Major Moonshine glitter gel felt very familiar and fun, except this was a styling product that could be taken out of the salon and into any party environment. I didn’t realize how crazy people were for glitter, all I knew was when I wore it out people were excited to see it sparkle under the moonlight.

What colour and cut trends do you see happening for 2019? I see two types of people. One is the time travel colourist, who goes from platinum to pastels, from rainbows to brunettes. People are understanding that they can move from all these categories without having their identity connected to any one specific colour. The second one is the bohemian naturalist, focusing on texture, creams, and essential oils, and interested in length and the preservation of rich hair. The yin and the yang.