Apparently, this partnership came about due to an old musical connection; Manic Panic’s head salesman, Ken, was once in a rock band with Noah, Emily the Strange’s Director of Licensing. After more than five years of distance, they happened to bump into each other in a club in Athens, Georgia. Noah was wearing an Emily shirt, and Ken asked him about it. After learning about Emily, Ken decided her style and attitude would make her a perfect match for Manic Panic’s customers. So he arranged for Noah and Emily’s creator, Rob Reger, to fly to New York to meet the Manic Panic sisters, Tish and Snooky. Possibilities of what both the Manic Panic market and Emily’s market would appreciate came together, and the rest is history.

The Dye Strange line differs from the traditional line of Manic Panic products in that it is a special assortment of colours specifically created for Emily the Strange, “colours we think that would attract young Emily fans,” Snooky tells us. “The whole kit thing is fairly new for us (the box contains a cap, tint brush and gloves–everything you need to dye your hair). We usually sell the hair color on its own. Plus we gave all the colors fun names that we think will resonate with Emily customers, such as ‘Purrple’, ‘Back to the Fuchsia’ and ‘Seein’ Red.’ In addition, the Emily formula is our new “Amplified” formula, which is stronger and lasts longer than our “classic” formula.

In addition to the hair colour, the new product line includes “Strange Strips” and “Nail Pawlish”. The “Strange Strips” are available in two lengths and eleven colours and are easy to clip in for a temporary streak of colour.

The “pawlish” comes in a toulene-free formula in “Sabbath Black” or “I’m Seeing Red”.

We received a kit to test drive on our male volunteer, who has virgin hair. I bleached out a strip of his hair using Wella’s WELLITE Creme Lightener with a 20 volume developer. I applied the bleach to a section about an inch or so from the roots, let it develop for about half an hour, and then applied the rest to his roots until it lightened. Bleaching hair before using Manic Panic makes the hair follicles more porous so that the colour will show much more vibrantly than on non-treated hair, and the lighter you can get, the better. The colour we received was “U Blue It”, which we painted on and let sit for about half an hour. The process was documented in the photos below.