I recently tried Overtone. If you haven’t heard of it I’m assuming you live under a rock or are a full grown adult who has enough money to go to the salon lol. Either way, I’ll tell you what it is. Overtone is a hair color company that sells conditioners that dye your hair by depositing color into the strands. It is less damaging than hair dye and is less permanent. They sell it in a large range of colors from pink all the way to blue and sell it in different intensities (i.e. pastel, vibrant, color for dark hair, etc.). I really wanted to do something different with my hair but I don’t personally use box dye and I don’t feel comfortable going to a salon at the moment, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out Overtone.
I’ve had red hair, purple hair, brown hair, black hair…but what I haven’t had is blue hair. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to have navy blue hair but I’ve been too nervous to do it, until now. I purchased the Blue for Brown Hair Healthy Color Duo after taking the Overtone quiz. I have pretty dark hair naturally so I knew I needed to get the one for brown hair. If you have lighter hair, the website will guide you to the different shades and intensities of hair color. I was worried it wasn’t going to show up, or that if it did it would be a really ugly greyish brown, but I had to try it.
WHAT I USED
I spent $47 on the duo which included the actual hair coloring conditioner as well as a bottle of daily conditioner that you can use to deposit more color into your hair after you wash it. It is not as intense as the actual tub of color though, it’s meant as a supplement and is completely optional.
The color came with a set of gloves and instructions. It works best on clean dry hair, so I showered earlier that night, let my hair dry and got to work. I put on the gloves, put a towel over myself and GENEROUSLY put the color over my hair. I made sure to get it on every strand because I was worried it would be patchy. It took about 10 minutes to apply and I used almost the whole container of color, which was disappointing because I only bought one. I do have a LOT of hair and I have had other friends with thinner and shorter hair that said they got several uses out of their overtone tub of color.
THE APPLICATION
I waited 15 minutes, honestly maybe 20 because I was worried it wasn’t going to show, and then I rinsed it out in the shower with warm water only. Be prepared for the color to get EVERYWHERE in the shower. It didn’t stain my shower (thank GOSH) but it definitely was messy since the water was bright blue. The hair color also stains clothes and towels so make sure to use a towel you don’t care about. I made sure to wear a black t-shirt after getting out of the shower and made sure my hair was mostly dry before going to bed.
THE RESULTS
The next morning I woke up and honestly my hair was blue! It was a very subtly navy shade, but hey that’s still blue. In the sunlight it looked really nice, and in the regular light it looked kind of like my normal hair but a bit darker. That’s something to look out for – the blue dye definitely darkened my hair while making it blue! I don’t know if it’s because of the fact it was blue or if it actually was darker than my hair, but that’s something to be aware of.
I really loved how my hair looked initially! It was exactly what I was looking for and it did not damage my hair at all. The only downfall was the amount that I had to use for my hair. I then wanted to see how long it would really last… I heard from several people that it lasted a few weeks for them and others have said it only lasted a few days. Since I liked the color, I was hoping for a few weeks.
DID IT LAST?
Fortunately, it lasted a few weeks on me! I used the daily conditioner with it every time I washed my hair, and the color lasted for several weeks. I re-dyed it after about a month and stopped using the daily conditioner for the most part because I wanted to see just how long it lasted, and the color is just now fully faded from my hair after 7-8 weeks, so this stuff really lasts. If I washed it more, it likely wouldn’t have stayed as long, but I am happy with how it lasted. The fade was really nice as well, it didn’t look weird or really noticeable. This may be different for a brighter color.
DAILY CONDITIONER WORTH IT?
The daily conditioner is nice if you want it to last longer, but beware the conditioner stains your hands in the shower. Everytime I used it I had blue hands for a day after, which was really annoying and not worth it for a minor touch up. If you have lighter hair, the daily conditioner might be more worthwhile, but for me it was just annoying. It also did not leave my hair as conditioned as my normal conditioner. It didn’t detangle my hair or nourish it much, so I say skip the daily conditioner unless you are really worried about fading.
FINAL VERDICT
Overall, I really liked Overtone since I didn’t have the ability to go to the salon. It’s easy to use and is healthy for my hair which is the most important thing to me. I won’t buy the daily conditioner again but I will probably dye my hair with the overtone color once a month or so.
Overtone Blue for Brown Hair Color – $27