Manic Panic Magic Eraser: Remove Manic Panic Without Dye

Tuesday, September 9th, 2014

This summer, after much deliberation, I bleached my hair for the purpose of dying it fun pastel colors.

The most common question I get from strangers about my hair is, “how long does it last?” Not considering that most people want their hair color to last for as long as possible, I always answer happily, “not long at all!” to their dismay. That’s because I like to change my hair color as often as possible.

But my love for a new color of the rainbow every 2 weeks was squelched by Manic Panic Atomic Turquoise. When I dyed my hair Cotton Candy Pink, the color faded back to blonde in about a week. Atomic Turquoise was much more stubborn.

The day I dyed my hair Atomic Turquoise. Oooooo, aaaaaahhh.

18 days after I dyed my hair it was a dull, grayish, bluish greenish yellow shade. Not a good look.

I searched the interwebz for tips on how to remove Manic Panic. It seemed every frustrated dye-hard had the most trouble getting rid of this specific color. Many recommended a soap cap, a.k.a. mixing a little bleach with your shampoo to get the color out quickly. But I was afraid of damaging my hair, since it’s already bleached. Other suggestions included washing your hair with Head & Shoulders, as something in it’s chemical makeup gets the color out faster than regular shampoo. Another suggestion was washing your hair with baking soda.

So I decided to mix up a simple concoction of Head & Shoulders shampoo plus baking soda. My very scientific calculations went like this:

It’s a very official formula. Don’t screw it up.

Every time I showered, I rinse-washed-repeated with this mix. I guess you could pre-mix it and put it in a bottle, but I legit just mixed it up in my hand in the shower. I washed my hair two or three times each shower, and then covered my it with Clairol Shimmering Lights shampoo. It’s made to clear dull yellow hues out of your hair. I followed the directions on the back of the bottle, which suggest washing it like you normally would once, then rinsing, reapplying and leaving it on your hair for 3 to 5 minutes, then rinsing again.

This is the big bottle, but I bought a much smaller bottle for around $7 back when I bleached it.

After washing my hair about four or five times, I used Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser conditioner to restore all the good stuff I rinsed down the drain. This conditioner is the sh**. I was very concerned after bleaching my hair that I was going to have fried locks, but I’ve been using this conditioner with every wash, and I’ve never had a problem with dryness or breakage.