Sue Cornell and Jen SS show off "obnoxiously bright" 'dos.
Photo by George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin

Anywhere kids hang out, you're bound to spot at least one oddly colored head in the crowd, and their secret is not in alien DNA, but Punky Color or Tish & Snooky's Manic Panic semi-permanent hair colors.

Jelly's stores each carry about 18 Manic Panic gels and creams, at $8 each for 4 ounces, "all weird, all obnoxiously bright," said Patti Sullivan, manager of the Market City store's book department.

"In the olden days of punk rock," Manic Panic co-owner Snooky Bellomo says, "it was kind of a shock value thing, but now I think it's more just a cosmetic thing."

Unless you're blond, you probably need to prep your hair to accept the color, which washes out in about four weeks (depending on how often you wash your hair). For this, Jelly's also carries the Punky Color bleach kit for $8.50.

Then you might want to go for the total look with the appropriate color lipstick ($6) and nail polish ($3).

At the Dark Side on Waimanu Street, sales clerk Kathy Hymer said, "There are a lot of kids walking around thinking they're vampires, so they wear the all-white (Manic Panic) make-up."

The store carries Manic Panic eye shadows, foundations and powders to complete the ghoulish task. But their choice of hair color is Punky Color, with about 30 hues from daffodil to jet black, selling for $9.95 each.

"They're vibrant from yellow yellow to orange orange," said Hymer, who says the most popular colors here are the blues and purples.