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Connor Wilson Must Dye: Maryland Edition

Lacrosse head manufacturers have started releasing their heads in multiple colors again.  This went on back in the days of the SAM and the first plastic heads, it went on with Brine’s M Series but then it started to die out around the same time that offset heads came into vogue.

I don’t know that the two are 100% related but it does stand to reason that as companies experimented with more and more styles of head, they would also need to simplify things (or risk making their production systems too complex… the business majors out there know that no one wants that) so the multi-color release stalled as a technique to intrigue new buyers.

Recently, Maverik, Brine, Warrior, STX and others have started releasing their heads in an assortment of bright colors and while I think that its nice to see more color on the field, I also think people are missing a big opportunity here: GET YOUR DYE ON!  Basically, a neon green stick is great but a neon green, blue, red and yellow stick is better.  Although the bright pink sticks that STX gave away via facebook and LAS were pretty sweet.  Congrats to PJ Burrows, Luke Hamilton and Nate Weigel on finding the 3 images embedded in the LAS network of sites.  They will each get a pink STX X10.  I just got one of those heads myself and I must say, it is legit.

STX dyed heads rainbow
STX offers heads in 10 colors (including white)

Some seem to believe that only a lacrosse store like Lax Unlimited can dye you a sweet spoon but to those people I say, have some confidence in yourself and get creative! There are plenty of resources out there online, like www.e-lacrosse.com, which has a large stick tech section, or the LacrosseForums where 12 year old dye masters are just waiting to teach you and then put you on blast for any small mistake.

Adam Sear down at U. Maryland sent me a couple of his heads and asked me to go to town on them. His only request was that I made them Terptastic.  You can check out the pictures… I think I accomplished at least that.

The process can be a long one when you do something complex but a great final product is really unbeatable and in my opinion is one of the ultimate true lax bro battle scars.  For Adam, I did 2 STX 2010 Protons and an STX Professor.

One Proton is red/white with checkers and a turtle.  The 2nd Proton is primarily black with red/white/yellow candy stripe accents and an attempt at tie-dye lettering.  The last one is primarily yellow with a black scoop and a portion of the Maryland state flag on the scoop.  There is one notable mistake there… I inverted the red and white colors but only a true Vexillologist or a 12 year old dye master would pick up on that.

I’ve included a bunch of pictures below so you can check the technique as well as the final product.

I’d throw down the gauntlet and challenge our readers to do better (even though I am still a total amateur) but honestly, I just don’t think you guys have what it takes to make me look foolish.  Prove me wrong?  Ha, good luck!

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About the Author:
After helping to start the program at Weston HS in Massachusetts, Connor Wilson went on to play at Wesleyan University. Post-graduation, Wilson stayed on and coached at Wesleyan for 2 years. He also played in Australia and the American Lacrosse League. Currently Wilson plays for the Southampton Lacrosse Club in NYC and enjoys dyeing lacrosse sticks, eating breakfast sandwiches and having a really pretentious bio on LAS.

Contact him at connor@lacrosseallstars.com.