Manic Panic Review

            

          For the past few months, I have been rocking some green Manic Panic streaks in my hair.  My experience with Manic Panic products was different than I anticipated so I’ve decided to do a review of their Flash Lightning bleach kit and Classic hair dye.  Overall, I am happy with the way my hair turned out but disappointed with the Manic Panic products.  Honestly, some of my disappoint stems from my own lack of research but other issues are inexplicable.

           Manic Panic is a cruelty free company, and all of their dyes and bleaches are vegan as well as some of their cosmetics.  They label their Classic dyes as semi-permanent, and they have a rather large variety of unnatural hair colors.  Using this brand was convenient, since unlike my other hair dyes, I could pick all this up at my local Sally’s, and the bleaching kit included a bowl and brush.

          I purchased the Flash Lightning 30 bleach kit because, on top of having dark hair, Manic Panic recommends bleaching your hair first to get a vibrant color.  I followed the instruction manual exactly but had issues.  I had a friend help me apply the bleach from tips up to roots in an even coating.  However, within ten minutes the hair at my forehead and temples was almost completely bleached and the rest of my hair was still black.  I also didn’t realize how yellow my hair would be after the bleaching process without a toner.  Manic Panic’s website and the bleach kit made it sound as if the kit was all I needed to get a true color so I assumed a toner or something was in the mix.

          I colored my hair with Manic Panic’s Classic dye in Midnight Blue.  Now you may be thinking ‘Didn’t she say she had green hair not blue?’ and you would be correct.  The yellow in my bleached hair mixed with the blue dye giving me green hair.  I was happy with my hair eventually, but it is disappointing to spend money only to have issues with a product that seemed pretty popular.

         The thing that has annoyed me the most is this product’s lack of staying power.  I’ve used semi-permanent dyes in the past, and I would not categorize this dye as semi-permanent.  The vibrant color you get is gone after only two washes (I’m being generous here), and it fades revealing the bleached hair in less than six washes.  It came off on pillows and stained the floor of my shower, but couldn’t manage to stay in my hair very long.  So little of my hair was properly bleached that I kept re-dying the small sections as they quickly faded.  However, I will not be repurchasing this now that I’ve run out.

         I’m baffled as to why this is such a popular hair dye company and wish I had done more research before purchasing with them as it seems other people had the same issues.