Manic Panic Flash Lightning Kit

For once in my life I decided to do something crazy, but so completely sane at the same time, and I went full unicorn hair. I was recommended this bleach by a friend, and I ummed and ahhed about the price for a while, but I thought bugger it and bought 3 boxes, two 30 volume and a 40 volume.

On the day I used both 30 vol boxes. Inside the box was the developing cream, a mixing bowl, a brush, amazing gloves, a cap and the powder. I mixed the first box together and set to work, and once both boxes were in my hair I placed the cap over and went into the sun. Sun opens up the hair and lets the bleach penetrate better.

After an hour I rinsed and was surprised, 2 boxes of 30 volume made my roots go white blonde and the rest was a nice blonde, and some parts that had never been bleached in general just went a nice darker blonde (... ginger). I waited the rest of the day and night to use the 40 volume but I was disappointed with the results of it.

The difference between 30 vol and 40 vol is how many shades lighter your hair will go. 30 vol got me to white blonde (at my roots at least), so when I used the 40 vol on the bits that needed to be lightened (nowhere else), I was surprised at how crap it made my hair feel after I used it, and how much breakage at the ends I had. I wouldn't use the 40 vol again, that's for sure.

The results of this bleach is honestly amazing though. It's the first bleach that doesn't fry my hair, and it leaves my hair surprisingly soft. It doesn't come with a conditioner and I hadn't used a mask so I was pleasantly surprised by that fact. For $25 a box, with the results I got, I would definitely purchase this again in the 30 volume.

So I have long dyed black hair and decided I wanted to dye purple about 20cm from the ends up. I purchased the 40 vol as I thought I would need the strongest to lift the black. It was pretty easy to use and the results I got were to be expected...kinda gingery with blonde areas but it was a perfect base for my bright purple dye. I did find it fried my hair quite a bit so perhaps I should have tried the 30 vol first. Have been using deep treatments to get it back into better condition and it seems to be working. Would use again but try the 30 vol for sure.

With any lightening kit there is going to be some damage to your hair no matter how much precaution you put into the process but the Manic Panic range just seem to be easier and less harsh than other box kits on the market and is the reason why I only use theirs when I am changing hair colours.

The kit comes with all the items you need, and very clear instructions. I find that the development time is very fast with these kits and there is a lot of product to ensure that you cover every inch of your hair, especially if you have thick hair which we all know requires 2 boxes of colour normally as there is just so much of it.

A little about my hair first, it is thick, dry, curly and slightly damaged (or so I thought) from many years of artificially colouring of which the last 4 years I have been red. The red hair dye in my hair before I used this kit was done at a salon every 8 weeks for the last 4 years so it was pretty well ingrained! I had already tried to rid the red by using a hair colour remover that just took the darker red away but left it brown red with ginger accents. When I decided I wanted to go blonde I wanted to do so without much damage to my already over processed mane but with the colour remover failing I knew I had to resort to the bleaching method, so after reading one of the reviews for this lightening kit I knew it was going to be the best route.

Firstly I have to say what an amazing quality the whole kit is compared with others on the market. Mainly being that the gloves included were surgical quality not flimsy plastic bag type that are designed for those who have giant hands these were snug and help with the whole even application of product through my hair. The formula wasn’t overly toxic either, I did do this in my bathroom with the windows open to keep it well ventilated but even still most at home kits be it dyes or bleaching have an overpowering toxic smell that can at times leave me teary. Seeing how mild and easy this was going into my hair (note I used 1 box only and I have shoulder length hair that is really thick!!) I did think that I was going to have to repeat this again as I feared it wasn’t going to have much of a lightening effect but I was very wrong!!! I popped the whole contents through my hair (leaving the roots to last of course) and then wrapped my head up in cling film as this helps the development. After waiting for 45 minutes I unwrapped and rinse thoroughly, then shampoo and conditioned it.

Amazingly strong, this had taken all red out and left me with a very slight copper to blonde all over, that nothing a box of blonde toner couldn’t fix. I was extremely happy with the results, not only the lightening but my hair condition, in the past I have been left with straw like hair after bleaching but it was really soft! I put it down to the formula being gentle and also my overuse of conditioner on a regular basis, using the correct products for my hair type, and letting my hair have a cool down period before reapplying another hair dye or lightener. It’s now a lovely sandy blonde, with a soft texture to it and its laying in curls so pretty like. One very happy customer, glad I went with only 30% now as I think the 40% would have left me white! Highly recommend to anyone this product is fab!!!!

I got this in preparation to use pink dye on the underside of my hair. The ends of my hair had faded black dye and the rest of the hair was completely undyed (so dark brown). I bought this in 40 Vol.

The instructions on this are very simple and straightforward to follow although I recommend reading and adhering to them/ I hadn't used Manic Panic before this so was unsure what to expect.

Where my hair had no dye in it, this made my hair very, very light blonde. Where there were remnants of dye it stripped my hair back to an orange-ish colour. I left this in for about an hour and a half (under my sister's instruction - she trained as a hairdresser so I assumed she knew what she was talking about).

I wanted the ends of my hair lighter, so I did bleach that twice and the second time this made my hair a more blonde colour. It didn't match the top half of my hair but because I was dyeing over it, I wasn't worried.

I used a purple toner to try and make the ends slightly less yellow and then applied the pink dye over the top of the bleach and it worked well.

Because I bleached my hair twice, it was slightly damaged. Luckily for me my hair is in really good condition so it wasn't too damaged - it just doesn't feel as soft as the unbleached hair. If your hair is damaged though I wouldn't recommend bleaching it more than once or leaving it on as long as I did. I managed to get away with it because my hair is in really good condition.

Overall I was really pleased with how this bleached my hair and how little damage it did in consideration to how long I left the bleach in for. The fact that this comes in a way that you need to mix it means you can make as much or as little of the product as you like - which means that you can only use say half of it, and then keep the rest for later.

Also this comes with a brush which makes application super easy. After using the brush I washed it and am keeping it for future dye jobs.

I will absolutely purchase this again (I used the entire kit because my hair is very long and very thick). For those with long and/or thick hair - if you want to do your entire head, I would suggest getting two of these kits.

If you want to bleach your hair and get a really strong result then I definitely recommend this. I am unsure how much it would damage your hair if your hair is already damaged, so be sure to read the instructions.