Here are....
we received from experienced users of Manic Panic Hair Color here are tips and suggestions for you. Whether you are a "Dyehard" or a first time user of MANIC PANIC the info on this page is to DYE for!
IF YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FROM YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SUBMIT PLEASE EMAIL ME AT manic_dyehards@yahoo.com
- GOOBY THE MANIC PANIC WEBMISTRESS
FOR YOUR BASIC MANIC PANIC HAIR COLOR INSTRUCTIONS, CLICK HERE.

FOR TIPS ON ACHIEVING specific MANIC PANIC Hair Colors, check out BEST OF THE BEST
DYEING WITHOUT PRE-BLEACHING
Yes it is possible to have wild MANIC PANIC colored hair without bleaching as 11 year old Casey will attest. His mom, Krista, used Vampire Red Gel formula. She writes us: "We just washed and towel dried, applied the gel with a tint brush, and combed it through.we covered it with a plastic bag and left it on for about 2 hours...I was afraid of the mess he would make if I had let him sleep with it in. We did learn a cool trick to keep the color off our foreheads, etc....I used tape around the hairline (just some bandage tape that i got from my work at the animal hospital). Put the tape on your skin during the dying process. When you're done, peel the tape off and you've got clean non-stained skin...". Krista really knows her stuff when it comes to MANIC PANIC Hair Color as you can see from her photo.
DYEING WITHOUT PRE-BLEACHING
All the way from romantic Rome Italy comes a tip from this dyehard, the lovely Gemma. She sports waist-length UNBLEACHED Vampire™ Red hair. She writes us: "I used an entire jar of Vampire™ Red cream dye on unbleached hair after having washed it. Then I pinned the hair to the top of my head, covered it with a plastic bag, and left the dye on for two hours, applying heat with a hairdryer avery now and then. The result is perfect and I didn't need any extra help at all!". (See her also on our Best of the Best Vampire Red page.)
NOW, THAT'S WHAT WE CALL A STUNNING HIGHLIGHT!
TIP ON STREAKING:
Hey I have a pretty decent tip. If you want to different streaks of color over or right next to each other. after much struggling with the subject myself, some hair saint decided to suggest vaseline to cover the part your not yet d ying. and NO, this is a warning cause I care. Never do the vaseline unless your really willing to spend all nite removing it.
Instead, simply coat the hair in conditioner. Yep. If any hair dye does drip on there just wipe it off and move along. It helps revive your hair and keep it from givin up on ya after all that bleach and itll rinse right out when you wash out that hair dye. It's great, you get a super sweet dye job and your hair feels happy afterwards.Yay.
-rachizzle
AWESOME STRIPED HAIR:
My hair is *ahem* less than virginal, so, I don't have to bleach the color out first, all I do is saturate my hair with Vampire Red, leave in for 2 hours, apply heat, wash and then take pieces of hair, add Raven, rap in foil (to keep it from going into the other hair, apply heat again and voila! DYEHARD!
To keep up the color, I add Vampire Red to my shampoo (1 tbls. to a bottle, I buy a small applicator bottle at the beauty supply and mix it).
-Billie
VAMPIRE STREAKS:
First, I got streaks of my chocolate brown hair bleached professionally and then I went out and bought a jar of Manic Panic Vampire Red cream dye. Then I went home, and washed my hair in the kitchen sink.Then I put vaseline all along my hair line so as to not dye my forehead. After, I applied the dye all over my hair with the tint brush, combed it until it became frothy and put a plastic cap on my head for 3 hours, applying heat occasionally. When I took the cap off and rinsed out the color, i was left with these wonderful streaks! (The color didnt really stick to the brown parts of my hair). So far, ive had Vampire Red, Wildfire Red and Pillarbox red Streaks! Next is the Ultra-Violet! Thanks to Manic Panic, I make heads turn!
- Roxxxanne (15 year old Dyehard!)
CREATIVITY AND LONG LASTING COLOR:
In May I decided to put some Hot Hot Pink™ dye into my white blonde hair, and I am still sporting the neon locks.(This letter was by us received in September). There are so many different, new things that can be done with hair dye, and I am an example.With my hair, I put the pink on the bottom, underneath half of my head, as well as some in the front. The rest of my hair is white blonde. I cut my hair in a way to flatter the dye job. I get complimented all of the time. After bleaching my hair to a white/blonde, I put in Hot Hot Pink™ for about 5 hours. While it was in my hair, I put a plastic bag over my head to keep the dye from getting all over. I washed it out and put in a 30 minute deep conditioner. When I wash my hair, I shampoo normally but when I condition I add some of the pink dye into the conditioner. That way (the color is replenished and) stays vibrant. I wash/condition/dye my hair every other day.
-Alexa (17 year old Dyehard!)
YIPES! HORIZONTAL STRIPES!
Yes, that's none other than our Tish (pictured here with her friend Luigibabe) and her fantastic hair style for 2007: Vampire Red™ and Raven™ stripes! How'd she do it? She bleached her natural dark hair with Flashlightning and then her hubby carefully painted alternating horizontal stripes of Raven™and Vampire Red™ with a tint brush directly on to her hair, then rinsed with cool water. The result is positvely breathtaking! Very 70's punk.


PROFESSIONAL TIPS ON REMOVAL OF COLOR FROM HAIR:
Hot Oil treatments, hairspray, shampooing and exposure to water will result in gradual fading of your MANIC PANIC Hair Color. A professional hair colorist tells us to remove the last bit of residue or stain on the hair (or to get color out immediately) make up a small batch of bleach mixture (MANIC PANIC FLASHLIGHTNING), and add it to 2 tablespoons or so of shampoo in a cup. Stir it up. Shampoo hair with this mixture, "kneading" the hair ... that means twirling the hair strand by strand in between your fingertips. Start at the root of the hair and work your way down to the end, and then back up. You should see the color disappear right before your eyes!
PERSONAL TIPS FROM AN EXPERIENCED USER:
"I always bleach my hair white before applying color. After rinsing out bleach, blow dry completely so hair is porous as possible and will absorb the greatest amount of dye possible. Leave on dye for AT LEAST one hour. Soak hair in white vinegar before and after rinsing out dye. After shampooing hair apply a deep conditioning color sealing mask to hair and leave in for about 5-10 minutes before rinsing. For color maintenance I recommend washing hair only once a week and only use shampoo when ABSOLUTELY necessary."

WHAT COLORS did she use in these photos? "After Midnight Blue (which I twisted into crazy braids for Prom), Enchanted Forest (with some Shocking Blue mixed in),Vampire Red, Enchanted Forest again, Fuschia Shock on top with Purple Haze underneath, and Electric Lava (which I dyed specially for my high school graduation).

-Ally
COLORING DREDS:
"Prepare to use WAY more dye than for straight hair, I'd say about a third of it soaks into the dred. Pretty much just mush it in there and inspect it to make sure you didn't miss any spots"..

WHAT COLORS did she use in these photos? "Atomic Turquoise™, Pillarbox Red™, Electric Lava™, and Fuschia Shock™".

-Nova
USE MIRRORS FOR EVEN DISTRIBUTION!:
"I used the Flashlightning 40 volume to get my brown hair a darkish blonde to get a deeper Electric Lizard™ color. I went through every stand of my hair (applying the dye) making sure that I did not miss any and I did just a little at a time until my head was covered - definitely use a combination of mirrors to see what you're doing in the back. I put a bag over my head and sat down in front of my video games. I kept the dye in for about 4 hours just to be sure and when I looked in the mirror I was ecstatically happy! The first thing I did was went out and bought myself a lack light to see the amazing glow. It's so awesome!
My best tip after dyeing my own hair by myself a while now: Be sure to use mirrors to have a way to see the back of your head so you're sure you're spreading it on evenly.
-Bryan (16 year old Dyehard!)
GOOBY'S TIPS REGARDING COLOR STAYING POWER:
A PRO trick to making your MANIC PANIC Hair Color more permanent is to rinse your hair with white vinegar immediately after coloring. This raises the pH level of the hair color and gives it more permanence. Here's how: mix equal parts of white vinegar with water, say a half a cup of each and put in a bowl or cup. Rinse out your Manic Panic Hair Color with lukewarm water until the water runs clear. Then pour on your vinegar/water mix, comb through your hair. Rinse it out with warm water.
Many of you have written me and said that shampooing with cold water instead of hot keeps the color in longer.

- GOOBY/LIVE FAST & DYE!
TIPS ON REMOVAL OF COLOR FROM SKIN:
"Rubbing alcohol removed Manic Panic from my skin. I knew that alcohol would remove inks from experience with it in crafting.  So, when I got Manic Panic on my hands as well as a bit on my cheek bone, purple isn't a good blush color for me <lol> I tried rubbing alcohol and it worked like a charm. "
-Cathy