Bobby: What are some of your favorite stories from fans you’ve impacted?

Tish: Cyndi Lauper was one of our early shoppers at the store, and she decided to color her hair and it really gave her a certain edge, you know, made her look different. And she’s continued to use Manic Panic, ever since whenever it was, the late 70s, early 80s when she came in. She’s our number one favorite poster child.

Snooky: And Prince came in the store one time. And we weren’t there at the time but a friend of a friend of a friend had a bunch of stuff that he wanted us to sell. And, you know, we weren’t really sure about it. It wasn’t so much our style, they were all one-of-a-kind pieces, like satin and fringe, not punk. But he said, “Oh, just stick it in the window and you’ll see, it’ll sell.”

Tish: So we put it in the window thinking that once he left, we could move it out. And then we kind of just left it in there for a day or two. Then Prince pulled up in his limo and said, “Do you have more of those?” And they said, “No, it’s the only one. It’s one-of-a-kind.” He says, “I’ll take that.” And we were laughing. But yes, we have had people writing us beautiful letters telling us that they were suicidal and they dyed their hair and it changed their lives and made them happy. Color is therapy. And, you know, sometimes a change like that is just the perfect medicine. We had this woman who was in her 80s or something, a woman from Canada named Rose, and she felt invisible. Then, she dyed her hair purple. And all of a sudden, people started talking to her and sitting with her and taking pictures with her and all this stuff. she wrote to us and said, ‘You know how wonderful it was?” Everybody called her Purple Rose.

Snooky: It gave her a whole new lease on life. She had so much fun in her twilight years. And it really changed her life and those around her, too. At her funeral, all her relatives dyed their hair purple in her honor. And we thought that was just so beautiful.

Bobby: I would empathize with Purple Rose. I feel like I’ve suffered depression and anxiety my whole life. I can distinctly point to certain seasons where I felt like things were a little bit more out of control. And I always say when the world is out of control, the one thing you can control is your hair, right? So dyeing my hair or bleaching my hair in those moments gave me a sense of control, helped me stabilize my mood, and just gave me a better outlook on life. And it really is such a great therapy and medicine like you were saying.

Both: It really is!

Tish: And you notice when a lot of people go through some kind of depression or something, they cut their hair off, just to do something with their hair, but dyeing is a way better alternative because most people can’t cut their hair very well. It’s just a wonderful change that you can do over and over to suit your moods or just refresh your look.

Snooky: It’s funny, it’s come full circle because our mother was an artist and she became an art therapist, and that was all about color therapy. And that’s kind of what this is. It makes you feel better and it gives you a lift.

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