*UPDATE 2021: I not longer use or recommend oVertone.*

Recently I have learned (through experience) that oVertone is not semi-permanent as advertised. It is very difficult or impossible to remove, even after not using it for 6+ months. I wish I had heard about this before I decided to try it out years ago. I recommend reading the negative reviews here thoroughly first if you are considering trying it. And if you are ever planning on lightening your hair after coloring it, I would recommend not using overtone. I thought oVertone would be a less damaging option for my hair, but it wasn’t worth it, and I wish I’d gone to a salon instead or found a better option. I threw away my leftover oVertone because I would never consider using it again.

oVertone also stained my bathtub, as I mentioned in my original review. I thought it was because my bathtub was very old and crappy, but I was always careful to rinse my hair after using it in our stainless steel sink in our new house just in case (since we had brand new tubs I didn’t want to risk staining). And a bunch of reviews on Trustpilot report people staining their bathrooms as well, so it wasn’t just me.

Original post (2018): 

Now that I’ve been a redhead for over a year using oVertone, I figured I should do an updated review/hair color evolution post. If you missed my original oVertone review, check it out for more details on my initial experience, or if you’re interested in their Ginger Coloring Conditioner check out my post about it. Also check out my post about how I match my eyebrows to my red hair. 

oVertone makes vegan and cruelty free (Logical Harmony approved) color conditioners–you can use them to color your hair and/or keep your color vibrant. How much/what color you’ll get from oVertone conditioners depends on the hair color you start with–there are swatches of each oVertone conditioner on various hair shades on their website for reference, but the best thing to do if you’re not sure how to get the color you want is to email them and ask.

How I Use Overtone

The first time I tried oVertone, I used the Vibrant Orange Deep Treatment (update: oVertone “Deep Treatments” are now called “Coloring Conditioners.”) to go from my natural dirty blonde color to orange/red (it took me two deep treatments to get the color I wanted.) Then I used the Vibrant Orange Daily Conditioner after shampooing my hair and did another Deep Treatment every month or so to maintain my color.

After a few months, I switched to Extreme Orange, which is more pigmented. (The pastel conditioners contain 20% pigment, vibrants contain 60% pigment, & extremes contain 100% pigment.) It’s better for maintaining my color and is also a better overall value since it contains more pigment (and only costs $1 more.) One Deep Treatment of Extreme Orange makes my hair more even and vibrant than Vibrant Orange, and the Extreme Orange Daily Conditioner helps my color last longer without fading.

The Deep Treatments/Coloring Conditioners are meant to be used weekly, but I don’t find that necessary and only do one every 4-6 weeks or so when my roots grow out.

My husband applies the Deep Treatment/Coloring Conditioner for me (you can apply Overtone yourself, but I have a lot of hair, and it’s easier to have someone do it for me.)

To prevent staining his stands, he wears disposable nitrile gloves. He uses alligator clips to section off my (dry) hair and a dye brush to apply the color. Once all of my hair is fully saturated, I leave it on for about 15-20 minutes and then rinse it out with warm water (in our stainless steel kitchen sink because I’m afraid the color will stain our newly remodeled white shower.)

Sometimes there is a little bit of color on the skin near my roots, which fades with a shower or two, but if I have an event or something and want fresh hair, I color it a few days before rather than the night before.

When using the oVertone Daily Conditioners, I add some conditioner to wet hair in the shower after shampooing and leave it in for 5-10 minutes, and then rinse it out with warm water. Update 2019: I no longer use the Daily Conditioners–I don’t want to risk getting color on our newly remodeled shower, so now I just do the Coloring Conditioner and wash my hair out in a sink rather than the shower.

oVertone Copper Kit

Recently I decided to try the oVertone Copper Conditioner Kit, which comes with Extreme Orange and Vibrant Red Coloring Conditioners. I mixed equal parts Extreme Orange and Vibrant Red (in an empty oVertone container) and did my deep treatment as usual. The change is subtle, but as you can see, it’s more red.

Value

oVertone is pricey for hair dye, so if you’re starting from scratch with no color, you may want to color it with something less expensive like Arctic Fox Dye, which is also vegan & cruelty free. I haven’t tried it so I can’t speak to how it performs, but my blogger friend Morgan has if you want to check out her review, and another one of my friends also uses and likes it.

The reason I decided to color my hair with oVertone though is because I’ve never colored my hair at home and was intimidated by it, and oVertone seemed less scary to me since it’s a conditioner instead of a typical dye. I also thought it would be more gentle on my hair, and while I can’t compare it to normal dyes since I haven’t tried them, oVertone doesn’t dry out my hair (and actually makes it feel softer). Even though it’s not cheap, it lasts a long time for me, and I feel like it’s a good product/worth it, and it’s still a lot less expensive than going to a salon.

Staining

The only drawback to using oVertone for me is staining. oVertone did stain my old shower. It was an old and crappy shower (that probably wasn’t very stain resistant) so I didn’t really care, but now that we have a newly remodeled shower, I rinse out my Coloring Conditioner in our (stainless steel) kitchen sink instead because I’m afraid of staining our new white shower and tile. If you use oVertone too, please comment and let me know if it stains your shower or not!

My Hair Color Evolution–From Vibrant Orange to Extreme Orange to Copper

And now for the fun part–photos of the various stages of my oVertone orange/red hair! I’ve included a few different shots of each since the color depends on lighting.

My Natural Color (Dirty Blonde)

Vibrant Orange

Here’s what my hair looked like while using oVertone Vibrant Orange Conditioner (after 2 initial Coloring Conditioner treatments):

With Vibrant Orange, the color showed up more on the lighter sections (previously highlighted years ago) towards the bottom of my hair. In bright light, it looked vibrant and orange, but in darker lighting or in Polaroids, it looked more strawberry blonde than red/orange.

Extreme Orange

Here’s my hair after switching to oVertone Extreme Orange Coloring Conditioners:

With Extreme Orange, my hair looked bolder and more evenly orange/red and vibrant, even in lower light/Polaroids.

Copper Kit

And lastly and most recently, here’s my hair after an oVertone Copper Kit treatment (a 50/50 mix of Extreme Orange and Vibrant Red Coloring Conditioners):

Update 2020: I continued to use the oVertone Copper Kit for another year and a half after this post, and I loved it. This year, I tried oVertone’s newer Ginger Coloring Conditioner–check out my post about it to see photos. Also, if you’re interested in my initial experience trying oVertone Vibrant Orange for the first time–check out my first review of it.

Have you used oVertone Conditioners or another cruelty free hair color/dye like Arctic Fox? How did it go? Let me know in the comments!