Manic Panic Hair Dye - Oh the Colors!

Tish and Snooky's Manic Panic hair dye has been around for over 20 years now brightening the lives of many rockers and punks out there, and today it's still going strong building a huge market within the younger generation. Maybe even you have thought about doing something a little dramatic with your hair; maybe highlighting it with a blood red or maybe even purple color? Or maybe you have thought about dyeing your whole head of hair a bright orange? Well in this step-by-step guide you will learn all you need to know abut Manic Panic hair dye and how to use it so that you get those bright and unusual color to stay put for longer than a week and easily remove the color when you no longer want it - or it begins to fade, whichever comes first. This product is like no other that I have used (and that's a lot) because of it's long-lasting capabilities as well as its long-lasting name. It's all easier than you think when you use Manic Panic hair dye!

Your hair should be clean and free from any styling products before you begin this process. Dirty hair will only prevent the pigment or dye from clinging to your hair as it should. It is best to wash your hair about 24 hours before attempting to bleach or dye it for this reason. Do not put any conditioners or styling chemicals in your hair because this will hinder the coloring process and could end up leaving light spots.

Your natural hair should be bleached or lightened as much as possible without causing too much damage to it. Using a 30 weight developer usually works best without frying the hair follicles. If you have black or dyed black hair, you might want to start with a 40 weight developer. Sometimes it takes more than one bleaching to get your hair to a color light enough to be dyed over, make sure that you keep an eye on your hair during the bleaching process; if there is excessive burning, wash the bleach out immediately. The scalp can be burned from being exposed to hair bleach, especially heavier weight developers because they are stronger. Also make sure that, during this process, your hair does not start to feel gummy or sticky - if it does, again, wash out the bleach immediately; it is damaging your hair and if you don't rinse it out soon, you will sadly end up losing some hair. Do not leave hair bleach in the hair and on the scalp for longer than the recommended time on the bottles. Some people think that doing this will give them some extra lightening, but normally, after a certain period of time, a developer will stop working and needs to be rinsed out. Please don't try to bleach your hair from dark brown or black to white all in one time.

Try soaking your hair in vinegar and wrapping it up in a towel for about half an hour prior to dyeing it. The vinegar will soak into your hair follicles and assist in opening them to help the dye cling to each strand, help it stay put inside the follicle and thus keep your color brighter for a longer period of time. When you wash out the vinegar, use warm water - this will open the hair follicles to allow the color to penetrate the strands easier. Vinegar will remove any left over hair products or pigments from previous dye that have not been completely rinsed out.

Manic Panic colors are great because their pigment does not dry out your hair like normal hair dye! And the colors can be easily mixed to create awesome custom colors. The only thing that I would change about Manic Panic dyes is that they come in such a small container; if I could buy a 16 oz. jar of my favorite color I would be a lot happier. Manic Panic dyes are sometimes hard to find in local retailers and have to be ordered off of the computer sometimes. If you are lucky enough to find your favorite color in a store then I suggest you grab as much of it as you can, popular colors such as blue, reds and yellow sell out quickly.

Most salons use a pigment, that you will find, fades way too easily for the price of the dye job. Make sure the dye you're about to use is fresh and not runny or too clumpy - it should be creamy, or it won't stay in your hair no matter what you do or how long you keep it in. When applying the hair dye it is best that you wrap a towel that you don't care about around your neck and put a little dab of Vaseline on your ears so they won't be dyed as well. It takes about 3-8 days for hair dye to come off of the skin and on and underneath the fingernails can take even longer. you just have to leave it in for like1-1/2 hours or so, to make sure it stays in your hair.

When the time is up, wash the dye out of your hair in as cold of water as you can stand - this will help close the hair follicles and lock the coloring in. Apply a little bit of water and then bring the dye to a lather and work it through your hair before washing it all out. This will help ensure that you get full coverage and no light spots. Some light spots are normal and cannot be helped no matter what you do; your hair can be resistant to any dye or pigments naturally or due to over-dyeing.

The more you wash your hair, the faster it will fade; so try to not wash the dyed parts as much, if possible, and if you do, use COLD water. To freshen up the color after it has faded it is not necessary to bleach your hair again unless it wasn't lightened enough during the first bleaching and has gotten a muddy tint to it after mixing with the hair dye. Simply apply a new coating of Manic Panic dye and wait for about an hour, then wash out with cold water as you normally would.