Lavender Grey Hair + Manic Panic Review (part 1)

I always wanted to play around with my hair color. Once you bleach it, you can get your hair to be any color of the rainbow.

It was soooo weird to see myself in the mirror with purple hair. I kept squealing and appalling at myself “Omg, I have purple hair! Gaaah!” It was my first time doing an ‘unnatural’ hair color. I know I’ve been blonde, but at least that is still a natural color (even if it’s not on me).

I was happier with the color after a few washes, as it was too purple on the first day.

I also had a really interesting time matching outfits and makeup with purple hair.

I find safe and neutral colors like white, grey, and black will work well with any hair color, especially grey because there is a lot of silver-grey in my hair.

Also, a nice splash of bright color like my bright blue pants or multi-colored neon bracelet helps my hair stand out.

On the opposite end of the wheel chart, yellows, golds, and greens are supposed to go well with purple. I have a pair of bright yellow neon stud earrings (thank you unnie!) that didn’t go well with my blonde hair (yellow on yellow), but looks so awesome with my purple hair.

How to

I recently stumbled upon the brand, Manic Panic, a semi-permanent vegan hair dye. After a lot of careful consideration and picture searching, I chose Electric Amethyst. Lots of people mixed it with conditioner to get a lavender color.

I also knew the purple on top of dark blonde, especially once it washes out, will give a silver grey color. It was exactly what I wanted because I didn’t want completely purple hair. I wanted some sort of gradient between white, silver, grey, lavender, and purple.

I didn’t even do a streak test (no time!) and just went with it. I started with my hairline and the top of my hair, with 70% conditioner, 30% Electric Amethyst. As I got to the underlying and darker layers, it was about 50/50. Because my bleached hair is naturally uneven (darker roots and lighter ends), the grey and purple mix came out unevenly in a very nice way. Future video for this.

Pros
- very well known and accessible product
- easy to use
- conditions hair and not damaging at all (especially if you mix it with conditioner, my bleached hair is SO soft now)
- can control the color outcome by mixing with conditioner or other Manic Panic colors
- strongly pigmented and results are true to the original color
- semi-permanent for people testing out colors
- no need to mix with or purchase a developer (damaging, costs money, knowledge of use required)
- apply straight from the jar without a mixing bowl (unless you are diluting or mixing colors)
- reasonably priced
- vegan product (no animal testing)

Cons
- almost completely washes out after 5 washes (and stains your hair a different color)
- requires bleaching beforehand for true color results
- small bottle, little product
- need to use a lot of conditioner to dilute the color
- does not recommend application to scalp (I did to some parts and it felt fine)
- doesn’t offer much variety in natural colors like blacks and browns

I mixed Electric Amethyst with a few different conditioners and a hair retaining mask product because I didn’t have enough of any one product. It was a terrible idea because my hair smelled so weird after. Also, I’m not sure which product caused it, but my hair started smoking up when I was drying it! I probably would’ve set my head on fire if I wasn’t watching carefully.

Once I started using just one conditioner, it’s been fine.

The parts of my hair I burned, though, turned pink, so it actually looked kind of nice. However, that eventually washed out as well.

See the pink streaks from the burn?

Inspiration

This was the very first photo that set in my mind, I gotta have purple hair.

I was literally looking at these photos again and again, working out in my mind how I would mix and apply it on my head. I would have been happy with any color similar to these, and I think it worked out pretty well?

In part two, I’ll show you guys how I touch up my hair after it washes out and some pictures from my upcoming hair styling video ^^

P.S. I actually already filmed a hair styling video, but I don’t have much time to edit it as I have to study for my TOPIK test next Sunday. Eeek! I’m trying to go for Level 5. Wish me luck~^^