So, after three days of rain and gloom, it’s summer here in the Attic. Good things are afoot! All special effects hair dye colors are IN and shipping! Woah! I know. Shocking! We even have YELLOW! Woah! I know. Calm down though, it’s a little crazy.
You *could* go this route, I'm not saying you want to, but you *could.*
And there’s OTHER insanely awesome summer news as well. Remember those amazing bathing suits we had last year? The ones that sold out so quickly that you missed em? Yeah, that was sad. Good news though! We have them again! We’ve got new styles, more stock AND they’ve been recut this year to be a little kinder fit wise!
Goth girls hit the beach too, you know.
So, there you have it, MORE amazing news.
One final bit of news? I’m now known as the crazy chameleon lady in my office, and I DON’T CARE! You’ll all recall that trip to the Reptile Expo a few weeks back. Well, it turned me into a chameleon monster and now I’m in love with Mordrid.
Is it left and THEN right? Curses!
Awww! Isn’t she the cutest? Don’t lie, she is, and you know it. So, yes, dye, bathing suits, AND adorable lizards. What more could you want? Seriously. What else do you want? Let us know, we’ll try and cover it here.
So, you’re wanting to dye your hair, and you’ve read our posts about how to make your hair dye last longer and which kind of dye you should use, but you’re still thirsty for knowledge. I admire that. I love a thirsty customer, particularly when that thirst is for knowledge, as that’s the kind of thirst I have the ability to quench.
We’re getting a lot of questions about why we tell you to use heat when you’re setting your dye, why you should rinse with cool water, and why you shouldn’t condition before you dye, so we thought we’d try to do a quick hair lesson.
Here’s what your hair looks like reeeeeally close up:
I know. Not very sexy, but what can you do. This is where the answers to all of the above questions can be found. For the sake of this post, we’re going to be talking about semi and demi permanent dyes. These dyes only interact with the cuticle layer of your hair.
Permanent dyes employ a chemical process to break through the cuticle and deposit color into the cortex. That’s one of the reasons they smell the way they do, why they last as long as they do, and why they can do the damage to your hair that they do. They’re breaking down your hair as part of their function. This isn’t always a hair calamity, but it can be, which is why there’s about a million warnings on boxes of permanent dye and bleach.
Now, back to semi and demi, or, as we know it, the fun dye. Sadly, while science can put a man on the moon, and it can grow an ear on the back of a mouse, it cannot, yet, make a permanent “fun” dye.
Seriously, science, this is cool and all, but permanently blue hair, PLEASE?!
This isn’t some kind of conspiracy, it’s just the way it is. Trust me when I tell you that the company that DOES invent this technology will be rich beyond the dreams of even Scrooge McDuck, and I’m sure they have teams working on the problem right at this moment.
So, how does the fun dye work? Well, take a look at that first diagram. Fun dye sits ON the cuticle. It’s like a paint going over the surface of your hair. However, certain techniques can help it act a little bit more like a permanent dye. When we pre-lighten hair, we’re helping out the fun dye. Not only are we stripping some of the natural color out of hair, so that whatever dye we deposit “pops” more, we’re also damaging the cuticle layer.
Here’s a close up image of the cuticle layer of your hair.
I bet you didn’t know you had an armadillo on your head! Ha ha! Science, you so crazy! Anyway, see those plates? When you bleach your hair, the damage you do lifts those plates up, leaving spaces that fun dye can work its way into. It’s not going to get into the cortex layer like permanent dye, but it’s going to do a better job than dye that’s just sitting on the outside, which is what you’d find in hair color spray, or hair color gel. This damage, and plate lifting is why your hair looks and feels like straw after you bleach it. It’s damaged! It’s rough, and it’s unhappy. It’s DYING for something to close up those gaps and it will absorb WHATEVER you put on and utilize it as a conditioner. If you use fun dye, it’s going to get sucked in and used. But, if you condition first, the conditioner is going to get pulled into those gaps and take up the space you’ve just opened up for the dye! Yes, the dye will still show up more brightly, because your hair is still lightened, but it’s also going to wash out more quickly, because you haven’t allowed the dye to really get in deep. SOME colors (not all, but some) like blood red, and electric blue Special Effects, can even stain the cuticle. This isn’t permanent, but it means that you’re going to keep your color for a lot longer than you would something like Cupcake pink.
Much in the same way the bleach damages your hair and allows the dye to go more deeply, heat has a similar effect. Blow drying hair while you let your fun dye set not only opens up the cuticles and lets the dye soak in more deeply, but it also bakes the color onto the hair, and helps with that “staining” effect.
So, now you’ve put your dye in and it’s time to rinse, so why the cold water? Well, this is pretty simple. You’ll remember from science class that most things contract when they’re cold. This is also true of your hair. When you rinse it in cold water, those plates that you raised up with bleach and then filled in with dye clamp down. This not only traps the dye inside, but it also smooths the follicle and makes it feel like “real” hair again, instead of that bleachy straw like mess. You can absolutely condition before you do the cool rinse, so long as you do it AFTER the dye. The rule of thumb here is that you want to do whatever you can to get the dye in, and whatever you can to KEEP it in as long as possible. By combining all of these techniques, you’ll have hair dye that lasts as long as it possibly can, and you’ll be a brightly colored, happy camper, and really, isn’t that what we all want? Yes. Yes it is.
Oooook, we just posted a RIDICULOUSLY large shipment. This means one of three things to you! You have a) received your tracking number! Huzzah! You’re excited and dancing and planning your day of beauty. B) You’re *About* to get your tracking number! You’re hopeful and nervous, but about to be rewarded for your patience! C) You’ve got an order that includes Fish Bowl Blue, Deep Purple, or Cherry Bomb and you’re going to have to wait a *couple* (we swear it, just a couple!) more days. We’ve talked ON THE PHONE to the manufacturer and they assure us that our order went out in two large chunks and those colors are in the second chunk. Since the other colors did, in fact, arrive in that first chunk, we’re choosing not to doubt them at the moment. We’ll be calling tomorrow just to make triple dog sure. So, there you go, an update, dye, and all sorts of yay! If you want some, you’d best get it know. Who knows how long they’ll be in stock this time!
We’re sick of these. Are you guys? Yeah, sorry about that.
So, for over a WEEK, Special Effects just wasn’t picking up their phone. This was after we started shipping out some early orders because a small delivery arrived instead of the MASSIVE one, and after being told that “your order is absolutely shipped, we just can’t get the tracking number right now.” We’re doing our best to communicate with all of you, but as you can imagine, being our most popular product by far, we’ve got a LOT of correspondence to follow up on here, so we’re using mass emails (which it looks like most people aren’t reading) and this blog (the same.) While many of you are being understanding, some of you, not so much.
Here’s a mix of what we’re hearing from you guys:
It has been a week since I made my order. I still have yet to receive my product. The blog you guys posted about the special effects was over a month ago. And I am still unable to check the status of my order. The last response I got was truly unacceptable and rude. I truly feel that I should be able to check the status of my order or already have my products. I would like to get a partial refund for the inconvenience.
(Those of you who have been waiting since December can feel free to post a comment below.)
I got your email on the dye. This is why hot topic stopped carrying them years ago… its a great dye the company just needs to get its act together.
Now, this gives me hope for humanity. Look how understanding these people are being! Wonderful. We fully expect 95% of orders to be shipped out by the end of next week. We’re working hard. For those of you who don’t know, the Attic is largely a labor of love. We’re TINY and this is a 4th job. We cannot express our appreciation for our Attic customers enough, and it’s absolutely brutal when something like this happens (as it does at least once a year because of the production methods used by this company.) A lot of suppliers have just given up on them, but we know you absolutely love this dye, so we’ll continue to carry them. The only thing we ask of you is that you’re understanding regarding their methods. From now on, we will always make Manic Panic available as a backup to prevent this kind of first world tragedy from repeating itself.
Again, we thank you for your patience, and we look forward to seeing all of the awesome photos you guys are absolutely going to send in next month of your freshly dyed hair! Those who DO send it in will be getting something they’ll REALLY like in return. You dig? We know that you do.
So keep your eyes peeled. We’ve got dye, new goodies and some more tutorials coming next week. Have a good weekend, and we’ll see you all, freshly dyed, on the other side of April.
This past Sunday, the Attic visited the New York Reptile Show in White Plains, just a few miles away from Amalthea’s Alma Matter. How adorable. No colleges were visited, however MANY animals were cooed over. That’s how we do here in the Attic.
I went in with the goal of returning home with a baby tortoise. I’ve been having a hankering for a tortoise hatchling for quite some time, and this was my moment! I was going to HAVE my turtle.
Let me end the suspense now by saying I did not get my baby tortoise. First of all, tortoise selection was pretty meh. There were a few, and they were indeed cute, but they were a little older than I was hoping for and they were $200 and I just couldn’t reconcile that with my dream of a thumb tip sized creature that would be nearly immortal with my loving care, eating strawberries while saying “om nom nom.” Kind of like this guy with his tomato.
See? Now you want that too. You’re welcome. Oh, I had grand tortoise plans, I tell you. (And before you get all “people shouldn’t just get pets willy nilly because they’re cute, it’s a commitment! blah blah BLAH, I’ll have you know that I’ve now had my first turtle for 26 years and she’s HAPPY AS A CLAM! So, yeah. Take that, downy frownies.
Annnnyway. The place was utterly packed. Body to body reptile nerds and a LOT of snakes. So many snakes that suddenly, you’re thinking to yourself, wow, I haven’t had a snake in a LONG time, maybe I should have a snake again?
That's right, I'm part snake, part egg, got a problem with that? No, I didn't think that you did.
Every one of our eyes was genetically designed for MAXIMUM CUTENESS! DO NOT LOOK AWAY!
Yes, you're the first person to EVER compare me to a baby blanket. Way to go, genius.
Yeah, it’s a tough situation, don’t I know it. Luckily, you start to tell yourself, ug, I don’t really want to clean that and I don’t have the scratch, I’m totally unprepared, and there’s clearly SO MANY snakes out there that it’s not like I can’t change my mind later and boom, you’re snake free. For now. Whew.
Next up are these INSANELY ADORABLE frilled geckos. Holy crap, just look:
I'm my own personal Jimmy Buffet concert.
Awww! But no! I’m not in the gecko market. FOR NOW! There’s all SORTS of crazy stuff. You want a cockroach with a demon’s face on its back? NO PROBLEM!
That's right, I'm the devil. Move along now.
Yeah, it’s like THAT. Cute, but SO stinky. I just don’t dig on bug fumes. NEXT! At this point, my companions and I become distracted by frogs. Budget frogs and pacman frogs and horned frogs and every other kind of frog. We’re so distracted that I have no photos. It’s go time, I have to get CLOSER to the frogs and no lizard nerd will get in my way. There’s no TIME for cameras. There are too many frogs.
Now, we have a break. There’s an all you can eat brunch buffet and if you can’t take time from looking at reptiles to have chocolate cake with bacon and lobster ravioli, well, I’m sorry, but that’s just not a life I want to live.
During lunch, we (my companions and I) discuss. What are we going to do? Are we going to get a frog? Am I going to get a frog out of sheer pet envy? Are we going to see about a chameleon? They’re SO CUTE and fun and pretty but really expensive and ugggg. It’s harsh financial times in the freelancer market at the moment so THAT seems foolish and we leave breakfast about 20,000 calories heavier and with the decision made. No pets. We’ll go home and we’ll THINK about this a bit.
We go BACK to the expo. It’s almost empty now. It’s nicer to walk, but there’s an air of panic! People are cleaning up. Pets are LEAVING. And that’s when it happens. We’re seriously looking at chameleons now, but in the spirit of education, not shopping, when we see it. There’s ONE LAST pair of jackson’s chameleons left from one vendor. We talk to him, and he’s willing to let them go for $70 for the pair! They CAN’T live together! So we EACH have to have a pet! I want the girl! My companions want the boy! It’s almost toooo perfect! We realize that we can periodically bring them together for wild lizard sex parties and sell the babies and become chameleonaires! Why, NOT getting these lizards is suddenly fiscal suicide! It MUST HAPPEN! And so it does.
Meet Madame Mordrid:
I'm a pretty pretty reptile princess!
I've got my eye on you! And the other eye? You'll NEVER KNOW! Ha ha ha ha!
Ignoring my ADORABLE tail for a moment, lets discuss getting that hand stamp off, eh?
So, there you have it. I defy you to leave a $35 jackson’s chameleon that looks like bacon behind. Go ahead. Try it, kids! You can’t. You lose, Sir. So, now I’m high on lizard and I’m walking around with my friends with our lizards and such and we’re heading to the back to buy a cage and this woman says “I have on hermit crab left, you want him?” to her fellow vendor, who doesn’t reeeeally look that interested, so I say “I’ll take him!” and she GIVES HIM TO ME FOR FREE! How cool is that? It was exciting. She was very concerned about his well being and gave me care sheets and told me he was feeling glum and wasn’t being himself so I told her I’d give her an update on him in this very blog. So here’s the update: He’s doing well! The first night, he was alone, and I woke up and he’d made a huge mess in the tank and passed out in his food bowl. My cat finds him deeply upsetting. He likes to hide a LOT. He should have a name by week’s end, I need to get to know him better. In the morning, he got a friend who has far too much energy and too many places to go.
Just last night, this was clean and pretty! Now they've had a frat party in there.
I like to hide in things. Leave me alone!
So, there you have it. They need some climbing sticks, but for now, that huge conch I found in Puerto Rico will do and they can munch on him too, works out well. What did they have for dinner last night? Chicken, cauliflower, banana and some betta food bites. MMMMM. And that messy upper left bowl is sea salt. They also have some sand dollars. I live near the beach, they get fun things. So I want to give a big THANK YOU! to the lady from White Mountain Reptiles! For info, click that link and give them a like on Facebook! They deserve it. They’re super nice people and My crab buddy seems to be doing well. Living next to Madame Mordrid, who wouldn’t?
Update! The hermit crabs now have names! The crab from White Mountain Reptiles is Named Brooks. He’s institutionalized and likes jail, thank you. He’s also coming out of his shell a bit more now. His little buddy, who has now made 3 prison escape attempts by climbing up GLASS? He’s Wentworth. So there it is. Happy crabs, happy lizard, successful expo. We suggest you go to one in your area.
Ok, kids. Today we did our usual “hey, Special Effects, come ON ALREADY!” call (seriously, they’re sick of hearing from us and to be quite honest, we’re sick of being THIS annoying to a supplier.) Thus far, for MONTHS it’s been “it’ll be a few weeks, it’ll be a few weeks.” It’s a nightmare on both ends, and our customers are walking around looking like dye zombies; pale, streaky and moaning for “colorrrrrrrrr.”
Dude, seriously, I am DYING for DYE HERE!
It’s so sad all around, it’s just brutal. However, TODAY was different. TODAY the call went in and lo and behold, the woman on the other end said the phrase “ship date!” “What’s that?” I said (it was me on the phone!) and she said, oh, yes, we have a ship date, let me check where The Attic is in the queue. There was the shuffling of papers on the other end and she exclaimed “oh! You’re DEFINITELY at the front of the line!” I nearly shrieked in joy at the poor woman. Now, the ship date is the 12th. That’s 8 days. They’ll send it to us and we should have it shortly thereafter. Until the MOMENT that dye arrives, we’re willing to honor the Manic Panic switch out offer mentioned in the previous entry, but otherwise, we’ll ship out those orders STAT. We’ll spend all day packaging and getting ‘em out. You CAN DO THIS people. Personally, just the idea of an actual date makes me feel better. Now is the time to be strong! Now is the time to plan! Pick out your date. Decide on the day you’ll re-emerge into the world as a freshly dyed vixen! Get prepped! Make sure you have enough bleach and crappy towels! Plan an entire day of beauty, a spring awakening! It’s going to be GREAT. You know it is. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and it CERTAINLY makes the dying more exciting. So, there you go. It’s COMING. It really, really, really is. I heard it straight from the supplier’s mouth. It is coming, and it is coming soon. And the best part? We will have every damn color on earth at that point! So, yay on that.
Ok? Ok. So, take a deep breath, start your planning and be still, knowing that dye is on the way.
So, we’re back from our inventory/vacation extravaganza. It was excellent. There were fish and horses and all sorts of tropical wonders.
But now we’re back. We’re packing orders and shipping stuff out. And here’s where the badness starts. After yet ANOTHER call to the Special Effects supplier, the new update is that we’ll be getting our order “in about a week.” We know, this is a nightmare. Trust us when we say that we’re not happy about it either. This is becoming one of those long national nightmares that makes everyone’s hair equally hideous. You see, the way Special Effects works is they don’t have a constant manufacturing process. Every couple of months, they pump out a few colors that have a limited shelf life. Because of this, there are times where the system gets backed up and everyone is doomed to pale streaky locks. It sucks. So what can we do? Well, we’ve decided that because this issue happens at LEAST once a year, if not more often, something has to be done. To help you all out, we’re now stocking some Manic Panic shades and those ship IMMEDIATELY. Which shades? The ones that correspond to the worst hit of the Special Effects line. So you pinky pinks and turquoise kids won’t have to live in pale misery. If you currently have an outstanding order for Special Effects, and you’d like to switch it to MP brand, just let us know. We’ll ship out the Manic Panic version and you won’t be charged the additional fee (MP is $1 more.) No, it won’t be EXACTLY the same shade. However, Hot Hot Pink is a VERY close match to Atomic Pink, and Vampire Red works well for Blood Red. Here’s some examples:
Hot Hot Pink
Atomic Pink
Blood Red
Vampire Red
Sonic Green
Atomic Turquoise
So, there you go, not an EXACT match, but close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades, no? And the best part is, that we can stock these colors ALL year, without fail. We’ll still be carrying Special Effects, but because we don’t want you guys to have to deal with this kind of wait, we’re going to stock Manic Panic too. These are the Manic Panic Amplified colors, so they DO last longer than standard Manic Panic and they come in the bottles you’re used to, for easier application. You use them the exact same way and you can even use our application tutorial for the best results. So, there you have it. The good and the bad. We’re only doing the even exchange deal until the Special Effects arrive, and once they do, we’ll ship that out immediately. So live fast, and dye your hair, now, with no waiting!
The cool folks at sock it to me are having a rad contest and you should take part! Here’s the details:
Greetings,
It’s that awesome time of year again. That time when we host our International Design a Sock contest!!! Everyone here is really excited and we must say this is the favorite part of the year. This year we are going big!
First Prize is $1000 and 15 pairs of socks. The winning design will be produced.
Second Prize is $500 and 10 pairs of socks.
Third Prize is $250 and 5 pairs of socks.
Here is the info:
Anyone in the world may enter.
All entries must be received by 5 pm PST March 23, 2012.
No more than 5 entries per person
The design must be the artist’s original creation and shall not be copied or duplicated from previously published art. Sock It to Me reserves the right to alter the design if necessary.
The design is limited to a maximum of 5 colors.
All colors must be flat and solid with no shading, blending, or half tones.
All entries must have your name, email, phone number and location included in the body of your email or within the graphic below the design. Our template has a handy box with all this info for you to fill out.
Designs submitted will remain yours until purchased but will not be returned. Sock It to me will not assume liability for any damage, loss or theft of any entry.
You can check out our website for designs that work. Sock It to me reserves the right to alter the design if necessary. Designs submitted will remain yours until purchased but will not be returned. Sock It to Me will not assume liability for any damage, loss or theft of any entry.
Judging:
Help us vote! The top designs will be chosen and put on our Facebook fan page. Your voting will determine the top 10 finalists. Because of the technical nature of sock production, Sock It to Me will rank the top 3.
Winners will be announced on our Facebook fan page April 6 but don’t forget to check earlier to help us vote!
its a great dye the company just needs to get its act together.
