MANIC PANIC Classic Pretty Flamingo Semi Permanent Hair Color - Warm Pink Hair Dye for Women & Men That Lasts 4-6 Weeks - Vegan, Ammonia & Cruelty-Free - Create & Mix Custom Shades (4oz)

(See updates below)I have always heard great things about Manic Panic so decided to switch after years of using henna. I figured I would use a paintbrush and dye my grey roots, while leaving the length orange and brown. The bottle came well sealed but the label was covering the instructions. I used a brand new paintbrush and just dipped it in, applying liberally.No stranger to messy dye, I used gloves and kept my work area tidy. Even so, when I rinsed the paintbrushes off, any tiny bit of contact with the countertop resulted in permanent stains, even when I tried to wipe it away immediately. Tried borax and super washing soda combined with lemon juice. No luck. Tried scrubbing bubbles. Nada. Tried hydrogen peroxide. Also no. Manufacturer's web site has some recommendations such as Magic Eraser and/or acetone but we have neither of those. Before you start, test your workspace in a non-visible area and make sure you have a good cleaning solution for it before you start.Even so, I was very tidy. I even managed to keep the dye off of my scalp in most spots, except towards my temples where the hair is very fine. I have very thick hair and figured I'd test a top layer before bothering with lower layers. But I also did apply it fairly thickly on top. It looked great during application. I let it sit for four hours (after running strand tests and finding the white hair to be fairly stubborn if less than 4 hours). When I rinsed the initial dye out, this is what it looked like right away, while still wet. Basically, pink scalp with still white strands.To be fair, I didn't bleach it. I have knee-length hair and am not about to risk that kind of damage. Henna is far more effective and doesn't need to be bleached. You can see some orange henna strands toward the back from months ago. I usually use a tiny amount of acid with henna, such as vinegar or lemon juice, to help the dye absorb. I may try a mix of that on a strand test to see if there's a ratio that wouldn't cause harm.I don't want to give up on Manic Panic but it's ineffective so far and damaging to bathroom surfaces. That said, it smells neutral, which is a lot better than henna. It's also nice that it's premixed and not as much of a royal mess, though at least henna doesn't permanently stain countertops/tubs.I had been hoping to go for buying purple, red, and blue to give a subtle flame-like hue on my grey roots, over the course of a couple of years. But this just isn't really working out so far. I'll probably keep trying and will update the review if I have any success.Update (about a week later):I did another round and am going to increase the star rating. This time, the dye absorbed really well! I did two things differently: I shampooed my roots a day ahead of time and I used about twice as much dye. I also used petroleum jelly on my scalp line, as others recommended. That helped for not having a pink face but I found it didn't really work on the top of my head, as it just meant that the roots became immune to dye, lol. Basically, for my hair, if it's too conditioned/coated, the dye won't absorb. If it's dry, it bonds better. I have almost ankle-length hair, so I usually keep my hair pretty oiled and conditioned to avoid snarls. I do not bleach, ever, as that runs too much risk of breakage/harm.I do love how conditioned my hair feels after using this dye. I've upgraded from 2 stars to 5 stars. I'd probably knock it a half star for the way it dyes the countertop and tub, if I could take away half a star. I'm not sure how well it will hold up with time and may update the review later. I will note that the dye didn't stain the tub if it was diluted, such as during showering, but I also only used this on my roots (I use henna on the length) so volume may be part of why it went okay. My fingernails got badly stained - even though I used gloves, this stuff is strangely itchy for me so scratching it the first day led to messy pink fingernails. Not a big deal though. I ended up buying another color too, as the second round went so much better than the first round.

Manic Panic GREEN ENVY color – This is my favorite green color of all the green dyes I've ever tried! It's a great pine green/emerald green! Not too light (hate neon or light greens) and not too dark (hate when they show up like black). It's vibrant while also being a nice forest green color (not teal, it's like a true green).I have natural 6-7 level hair (light brown/dark blond) and just dye this over my virgin hair. And you can see it NEVER FADES. It's like permanent hair color that grows out! I dyed my hair like MONTHS ago and it's still going strong, like the day I dyed it! You can tell by my substantial roots.As you can see from my photos, it's really growing out and hasn't faded AT ALL. Over virgin hair! The way I get it to stay that way is by using a clarifying or salicylic acid shampoo (no conditioner), blow dry my hair (heat helps open the cuticle), and then I just mush it into my dry hair (cream color is so much easier to use than liquid box dye). Then I put a shower cap over it and use a hair dryer again for about 10-15 min in order to let the heat help set it. Then (and I imagine this is the most important part) I leave it in for over 6 hours, or cover it and my bed with towels and leave it in overnight. When I wash it out, I let the water turn clear and then ONLY use conditioner to wash my hair.Yes it stains my skin, so I use gloves. If I'm not careful it stains my ears, the skin under my side shave, and my neck. But double cleansing my skin with an oil and then some kind of soap gets the worst stains out. And the rest of the stains (like my scalp which I don't touch because I can't clean that without washing the fresh dye out of my hair) fades within a few days. But I'm also an oily person so that might have something to do with it. You could always use Vaseline to cover your ears and neck if you're really worried about stains on your skin. Also, after the initial staining from dyeing my hair, it doesn't really stain anything else. My towels are green so a little green hair dye bleeding from wet hair isn't noticable. And my pillow cases are charcoal so any color bleeding from my sweaty head at night doesn't ruin them.And then my hair stays vibrant and beautiful until it grows out! My hair is even greasy in these pics (and as a man being on testosterone, my hair gets get greasy pretty fast)... hence the braiding to keep it out of my face. And greasy hair sometimes looks darker. But you can tell by my roots that the green color is still vibrant and hasn't faded at all!Unfortunately, I see this color is becoming increasingly difficult to find and is "out of stock" in a lot of places. Also manic panic discontinued the amplified version – which isn't such a big deal because actually I think the classic comes out better and has better staying power. But that's not a good sign from a retail perspective. Since manic panic literally has NO OTHER true greens in their line (even "enchanted forest" is TEAL, not GREEN like an actual forest), that SUCKS. So I might have to experiment with some other brands.But as long as they still make this and I can get a hold of it, I'll always buy Green Envy by manic panic because it's the best vibrant dark-ish true pine green and it's fade-resistance is unparalleled.