Manic Panic Amplified Hair Color
I haven’t
dyed my hair in years due to an allergy to a chemical commonly found in permanent and semi-permanent hair dyes. The chemical is para-phenylenediamine (PPD)
and from my personal experience, I recommend avoiding hair dyes containing PPD,
even if you have successfully used them many times before with no adverse
reaction. Even the “natural” hair dyes sold in most retailers contain this chemical
or some variant of it. An easy way to check to see if a particular product has
PPD is to see if the dye has two components that have to be mixed together prior
to use. If so, this is a chemical hair dye requiring a chemical reaction during
the mixing. Be especially careful with chemical hair dyes if you have ever used
black henna temporary tattoos.
Having mousy,
dirty-blonde hair gets old after a while. Even though I waited most of my life
for my first full hair dye experience, I was accustomed to having at least highlights or lowlights or both. Once I discovered I was allergic to PPD, I
thought I was destined to live with the dishwater blond until I turned gray.
Enter Manic
Panic semi-permanent hair dye. My oldest daughter introduced me to the product.
She works at Hot Topic, a retailer in malls that specializes in pop culture fashion and accessories. They also happen to carry Manic Panic hair color. Manic
Panic is also available online via Tish and Snooky’s Manic Panic website (http://www.manicpanic.com/)
or through Hot Topic’s website (http://www.hottopic.com/). The product is vegan;
it contains no animal ingredients and it is not tested on animals, but tested
on celebrities. The best part for me is that Manic Panic is PPD free!
I was ready
to dive into the wonderful world of hair color again. The classic cream formula
comes in about forty different colors. I chose to try the amplified version because it is touted to last as much as thirty to
forty percent longer than the classic cream. The color selection in the amplified line is a bit less diverse,
with only fourteen of the most popular colors currently available. Let me warn
you, if you are looking for a “natural” color, you are not going to find it in
the Manic Panic line. These colors ROCK!
After
checking several Pinterest boards and doing extensive before and after Google
searches, Vampire RedTM and Purple HazeTM are the colors
I chose, while my daughter went with Rockabilly BlueTM. Not being
very experienced in the hair dye process, I found it very helpful to have a partner. I dyed her hair and she dyed mine.
For the most
part, we followed the instructions on the bottle, which are clear and easy to
understand. For purity of color, the manufacturer highly recommends that you
lighten your hair first and they have products available for this. My daughter
and I opted NOT to bleach our hair and just apply the dye directly over our
natural color.
The amplified line comes in a squeeze bottle and we just applied it directly from the bottle to our freshly washed and
still-wet hair. As the instructions suggest, we combed the color through until
the hair was saturated and frothy. I’m very glad I had my daughter to me, since
I was doing two colors. She applied the Purple HazeTM to the longest
layer of my hair and then wrapped the purple part in foil before she applied
the Vampire RedTM to the two
shorter layers of my hair.
After we
were well saturated and frothy, we applied heat to our hair with a blow dryer set on low for about ten minutes. Then we wrapped our hair in plastic wrap, put
a plastic shower cap on over that, and topped it all off with a knit cap. The dye
is activated by heat rather than chemical, so we figured the more heat, the
better. The bottle says to leave on for
thirty minutes. In our research of before and after pictures, we found that
many consumers recommend leaving the product in your hair much longer, even overnight if possible. This is the method we chose.
In the
morning, we rinsed the dye with water as cold as we could stand until it ran
clear. We followed that up with a rinse of 1 to 1 vinegar and water, which I’ve
since found is recommended on the website, but not on the bottle. You can use a conditioner on your hair and rinse through one more time, but we found our hair
to be soft and shiny without the conditioner. Our color came out fantastic! I am
very pleased with this product. Not only did I get great color, but I had no
allergic or adverse reaction even after leaving it in for ten hours!
Definitely
check Trish and Snooky’s website. There are all kinds of handy tips and tricks
to use when dyeing your hair. Especially pay attention to the eleven commandments.
As the website says, live fast and dye your hair.
So far my
color has lasted a week without any noticeable fading. The bottle recommends not
washing your hair for at least a week after dyeing and only washing your hair
once a week thereafter for maximum color retention. I only lasted four days
after dying and then three days after that. I will post updates as to long the
color lasts for me.
Happy
dyeing!