It's okay to be sad, you're just 'randomly blue'.

Review: Overtone Coloring and Daily Conditioner on Asian Hair

Introduction

Ever since the hair dyeing craze last year in 2020, I noticed that there have been a lot more hair dyeing videos on Youtube. Of course, I enjoyed those myself. And among these videos, Overtone seems to be one of the highly mentioned products in DIY hair dyeing. However, I do notice that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of in-depth review regarding Overtone products, especially on Asian hair. Well, here are my thoughts about their products.

*This post includes affiliated links from Amazon, where I will be earning a small percentage from.

What is this product?

Overtone is known for it’s damage-free hair dye that is different from the usual oxidative hair dyes. It’s a vegan, cruelty-free and damage-free pigmented hair conditioner that allows people to easily change their hair color when applied on bleached or brown hair. They provide product lines catered to these two hair base colors, with a range of three different levels, pastel, vibrant, extreme, for bleached hair. There are a wide variety of colors, which are mostly unnatural, such as green, blue, purple, and so on. But it is currently only available in the U.S. and Canada, unless you have an APO address.

Price

Coloring Conditioner (8oz/236ml): $32 or $13 (2oz/60ml)

Daily Conditioner (8oz/236ml): $18

Ingredients

Since the ingredients are pretty much similar except for the colors, below are are the ingredient list for a couple that I purchased.

Vibrant Silver Coloring Conditioner: Water/Aqua/Eau, Cetearyl Alcohol (from Mixed Plants), Cetyl Alcohol (from Vegetables), Stearyl Alcohol (from Vegetables), Glycerin (from Vegetables), Behentrimonium Chloride, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Organic Shea) Butter, Simmondsia Chinensis (Organic Jojoba) Seed Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Oil, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Linum Usitatissimum (Organic Linseed) Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Amodimethicone, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride (from Guar Beans), Polysorbate 60 (from Vegetables), Citric Acid, Benzyl Alcohol, Dehydroacetic Acid, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary Oil), Mentha Viridis (Spearmint Leaf Oil), Basic Brown 16, Basic Red 46, Basic Red 14, Basic Red 76, Basic Violet 16, Basic Violet 11, Basic Violet 1, Basic Violet 10, Basic Violet 14, Basic Blue 9, Basic Blue 99, Basic Yellow 40, Basic Yellow 57, Basic Yellow 13, Basic Green 4, Basic Orange 2

Pastel Silver Daily Conditioner: Water/Aqua/Eau, Cetearyl Alcohol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Behentrimonium Chloride, Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Polysorbate 60, Panthenol (Vitamin B5), Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Oil), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower Seed Oil), Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Crambe Abyssinica Seed Oil, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam Seed Oil), Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba Seed Oil), Persea Gratissima (Avocado Oil), Olea Europaea (Olive Oil), Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose Oil), Sesamum Indicum (Sesame Seed Oil), Linum Usitatissimum (Linseed Oil), Organic Salvia Officinalis (Sage), Organic Equisetum Arvense (Horsetail), Organic Calendula Officinalis (Marigold), Chamomilla Recutita (Chamomile), Organic Panax Ginseng Root, Organic Avena Sativa (Oatmeal), Organic Citrus Medica Limonum (Lemon Peel), Amodimethicone, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Benzyl Alcohol, Dehydroacetic Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hexylene Glycol, Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Citric Acid, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary Oil), Mentha Viridis (Spearmint Leaf Oil), Basic Brown 16, Basic Red 46, Basic Red 14, Basic Red 76, Basic Violet 16, Basic Violet 11, Basic Violet 1, Basic Violet 10, Basic Violet 14, Basic Blue 9, Basic Blue 99, Basic Yellow 40, Basic Yellow 57, Basic Yellow 13, Basic Green 4, Basic Orange 2

A lot of these ingredients are moisturizing ingredients, which support the product’s marketing of damage-free hair dye. It does seem that the daily conditioner has a lot more ingredients than the coloring conditioner, such as the addition of Vitamin B5 and Vitamin E which I find the difference really interesting. Although I would like to note that they do contain a non-water soluble sillicone, which I didn’t realize until I put this list together. I assume that it’s to keep the color in the hair.

Reason for Purchase

After bleaching my hair too much last year, I was looking for damage-free hair dyes, that do not contain ammonia and would easily fade away. As I’m currently based in the US, I end up hearing a lot about Overtone from Youtube and trusted it especially since Brad Mondo highly recommended it.

Since I wanted to dye my hair somewhat purplish tinted grey, I ended up purchasing the Pastel Purple Coloring Conditioner, Vibrant Silver Coloring Conditioner, Pastel Silver Daily Conditioner. I also thought that I would be able to use the purple to somewhat tone my hair as well, since I didn’t even want to use toner mixed with developer. On a side note, I knew they had a toning conditioner line, but I wanted to get something more multi-purpose since toning is usually just a one-time thing.

I only got the daily conditioner so that I could get free shipping, which I regretted the moment I got it, but was too lazy to return. Either way, I am pleased that they provided a guide along with plastic gloves.

Application

The overtone website explains a lot about application instructions here. I also referred to namiicho’s videos on Youtube for a visual tutorial.

Basically, the instructions say to apply the product on wet, clean hair, and wait for 20-30 minutes for the coloring conditioners, or 3-5 minutes for the daily one. But, I didn’t really follow the timing instructions because it depends on my current hair situation and my hair goals. This is especially the case with my daily conditioner, I really don’t want to wait for 3-5 minutes, especially since I apply it consistently after using shampoo. As for the coloring conditioners, I applied it onto my hair whenever I see that the color has faded a lot, maybe about every 2-3 weeks or so.

Application-wise it’s very easy since the texture is not watery, but thicker. When applied to wet hair, it’s quite easy to glide on it, and the product easily sticks to the hair as it quickly changes color to white. However, I never know how much product I should be applying, I always just try to fully saturate my hair.

Experience

I mixed equal parts pastel purple and vibrant silver in a bowl (similar bowl here).

Since my hair was not fully platinum to begin with, the pastel colors only latched on to the platinum parts, and not the non-platinum parts.

It does not look great on my untoned and unprofessionally done hair since it really shows the unevenness. If you look on the top part of my head,it’s more purple than the rest of my hair, since it’s lighter than the rest. Also, I didn’t know the level of lightness I wanted my hair to be, and how the colors would turn out on my specific hair, so it didn’t turn out as I planned. Especially, since I really could not really tell the silver, it just looks a little toned, but not the silver I was imagining.

So I did some more research, and thought that maybe my hair still had orange undertones, which is why the result wasn’t as expected. So I ended up purchasing the Extreme Silver Coloring Conditioner and the mini Pastel Blue Coloring Conditioner, hoping that it will tone my hair more and the color would be more vibrant.

Of course, I made sure to stay responsible with my purchase and finish up the tubs I purchased before ordering new ones. I didn’t have a photo of the process but below is the result of mixing a little bit of Pastel Blue with Extreme Silver on my hair.

I got to say it looks really good. But I may have also added a little bit of Arctic Fox’s Transylvania to make it darker, I don’t remember it exactly since it was about 6 months ago. On a side note, I think the blue does suit me more. But, this did fade into a green-ish tint, which I do not appreciate.

However since I’ve been consistently using the Pastel Silver Daily Conditioner, my hair is still silver to this date. Although I did redye my hair in between, but it’s still pretty much silver with a slight green-ish tint.

Recent hair color under natural lighting

Please keep in mind that I only started using my daily conditioner after I finished my coloring conditioner.

Packaging

I love the packaging, I think there’s no other way it could be better except if it were made of sustainable materials instead of just plastic. I have actually been reusing some of the packaging tubs as storage containers, since they are just the right size for storing items easily.

Check here for their recycling policy.

Scent

I’ll be honest but I am not a big fan of the scent, it smells artificially natural. I don’t know if that makes sense to you guys. I think it’s mostly because they have a lot of natural ingredients, such as various oils, but I think they added another scent, Rosemary and spearmint oil. Maybe it’s not artificially natural, but to me it smells artificially natural.

Function

Overtone products definitely colors and conditions according to their claims. But for my hair, I don’t think it conditions enough, especially the coloring conditioners. I think other intensive hair masks perform much better in terms of conditioning.

And it’s definitely not for toning hair, which I should have known, but of course I had to try it for myself.

In fact, I think it functions more like a color refresher for the daily conditioner, or switching colors in between salon appointments for the coloring conditioner.

Overtone products are marketed as semi-permanent, but I think that depends on hair porosity. Even though my hair is quite porous, the pastel colors actually fade quite well. I can’t say for other hair types, since I have Asian hair. But I would say it definitely washes quicker than Manic Panic or Arctic Fox.

Overall

Pros

There’s a lot of product
Stays for a long time on the hair IF you use the conditioner
Easy application
No usual damage from dyeing hair
Pastel color fades well

Cons

Can’t switch hair colors that often (unless you can purchase multiple colors at a time)
Color is not as pigmented as other semi-permanent hair dyes
Color fades faster than other semi-permanent hair dyes
Pricier per unit, thus costs more to mix different colors
Shows unevenness on DIY bleached hair

Would I recommend this product?

NO for the Coloring Conditioner. Even though the second tub turned out better than I expected, I still don’t recommend it if you:

have Asian hair that is unprofessionally bleached
bleached your own hair, and it’s not platinum blonde
easily get bored with one hair color, since the tub is huge
plan on using it to tone your bleached hair

Otherwise, I would say just go for it.

YES for the Daily Conditioner. This is the perfect product if you want to maintain the same hair color for a long time but can’t give up washing your hair often. My silver hair hasn’t faded in more than 3 months, and I wash my hair every 2-3 days. This product is also much easier to incorporate in your routine as you can just replace your current conditioner with Overtone’s.

If you are planning to purchase from Overtone, please feel free to use my referral link to get $10 off your order!

Final Thoughts

Even though I highly recommend the Daily Conditioner for the above reasons, I don’t think I will be repurchasing Overtone products anytime soon. I realized that my unnatural hair color phases are really short and I do not want to keep it. I also just love seeing hair color fade and getting excited about switching to a new color, so Overtone products do not really suit my lifestyle.

I guess I was too influenced the trend of healthy hair dyes, but hey there’s no such thing as a healthy hair dye. So, might as well just use a real hair dye and extra condition the hair with an intensive hair mask.

Thank you so much for visiting! Please let me know in the comments if this helps you in any way or whether you’ve tried any Overtone products. I would like to know your thoughts as well 🙂

P.S. I finally finished my Pastel Silver Daily Conditioner and after 6 months of maintaining the same hair color, I’m looking forward to a hair change coming up soon!

5 Things that Improved My Life in 2020

Happy new year everyone! Even though it’s 3 months into 2021, I wonder why it still feels like 2020. After reflecting my 2020, I wanted to share with you guys some of the things that has helped me go through uncertainty, as with in the year 2020.

*This post includes affiliated links from Amazon, where I will be earning a small percentage from.

1. Hair brush

One of the items that improved my life in 2020 is my Tangle Angel hair brush. As you have seen from my previous posts, I have had various hair changes this past year, which led to serious hair damage. I’ll be honest, but I have never really brushed my hair consistently, even when I bleached my hair a couple years ago.

I grew up with the idea that brushing hair too much is not good for the hair as it causes damage, in the sense that it pulls the hair out. But this time, I wanted to take better care of my hair since I want to keep my hair bleached, so I researched about various hair care habits. One of the first things that was available everywhere was brushing the hair. It seems that, brushing bleached hair, both when wet and dry is very important since it prevents bleached hair from getting tangled and breaking apart.

I also found that this Tangle Angel brush has been a popular brush in South Korea, known for being the best at detangling (it was recommended by Youtuber Sarang Choi). Of course I have heard of the tangle teezer, but also one of the reasons why I never really brushed my hair was because I did not have a proper brush that I enjoyed using.

Please ignore the dandruff, I know it’s gross but that just shows how much I use it.

Somehow there is a lack of information regarding Asian hair care in the US, and thus I have looked into more of the Korean information, which I trust more. And guess what? After it arrived, I have consistently been brushing my hair everyday (mostly). This brush makes my hair look and feel great, and it makes me want to keep brushing my hair. It’s amazing how important compatibility is in developing a new habit.

2. Routine

Especially during these uncertain times, I now realize how important having a routine is. As everything became online, my activities have all been focused at home, thus making it difficult to set boundaries as to my different activities. Skincare, hair care, and cleaning are the main routines that I am appreciating much more this past year. These make me feel better and greatly improves my well-being. Of course establishing a new routine is very difficult, I’m still having difficulties keeping my skincare, hair care and cleaning routine in check. But in a sense it gives me something to do, and I can definitely tell when something is missing. I am trying out a routine in which I only do academic tasks on the weekdays, and personal ones (including my creative projects) during the weekends.

3. Consistent bedtime / downtime

Sleep is one of the most underrated activity, especially in my life. Unfortunately, sleep has always been the first thing I sacrifice when it comes to school, social, club life and so on. But, this past year, I have been trying my best to maintain a consistent bedtime in which it is within the 12am range and waking up either at 8am or 7:40am. Of course this is such a difficult thing to do, but it highly improves my focus and health in the sense that it is something I put an effort in trying to ensure.

Thankfully, I use the Downtime feature on my iPhone that allows me to control my phone usage after certain hours, although recently I have found a way to go around it, but it does help to a certain extent. I also turn off notifications after hours, which creates an environment for me to naturally get bored and doze off to sleep. But of course, even if this were put in place, when I do get excited at night, it is impossible to bring myself to sleep, so I am trying my best to only do tasks requiring much brain power during the day and trying to watch something light-hearted during the night to help wind down (although of course I get distracted quite often).

Limiting apps and turning off notifications (left); reminder to go to bed (right)

4. Life Organization System

My life is very messy. I have a lot of stuff going on, family, social, school, club, blog, other projects and so on. And as I continue to add on more stuff to the list, I end up giving up on one or two things on my plate in order to make room for another.

One of the reasons for my poor life management is because I have never really set up a life organization system before. All I do is keep taking on responsibilities and giving up others and myself in order to maintain those responsibilities. But the reason why it became too much to handle in the first place is because I don’t even know what I signed up for. With the uncertainty going on, I had to really take a break and create some form of a life organization system in which I am separating personal, social, professional, creative life.

I have tried several ways to do this the past year, including bullet journalling. And what I’ve realized is that, I need different spaces for each. I’m now using my iPad Air for creating things such as cover letters and videos, while my laptop for researching and entertainment, and my phone for social activities. Of course there are some overlaps, but enabling this separation of space, allows me to organize better and become a little more productive.

I am also utilizing the Notion app, which gives me a platform to organize all my thoughts, ideas, and projects. Creating this system took quite some time, and of course it is still a work in progress, but it helps me to separate different aspects of my life and to establish those boundaries. It also highly increases productivity, since I make sure that my device does not have non-productive apps installed.

How I organize my life: from ideas to assignments

5. “One step at a time” mindset

Last but not least is the mindset of “one step at a time”. This is one that I have a difficult time applying, but has greatly improved my life. For the most part, I have this image of me as my goal, but I always get frustrated because it seems like I am unable to become that person which leads to an “I can’t do it” mindset. Thus, leading me away from the person I want to be.

One of the examples for this is with my hair. I experimented with my hair multiple times, and kept planning what my next hair will be, leading to hoarding multiple hair dyes. This led me to dislike my hair color the moment I dyed it into a new color and kept me away from enjoying the new look that I had achieved. Through 2020, I’m learning to be okay with sticking to one hair color, and I haven’t been bleaching my hair for a while, mainly because I am trying to become a responsible consumer by using up the products I got.

Embracing my current hair, along with its unevenness and long roots

This year has been the year where I really am learning to step away from immediate change into gradual changes with slow but sure steps. Since it’s about the process, not about the end result.

New Year Resolution

Although I usually come up with a new year resolution, I never actually thought about one for this year. I only thought of it some time into the new year. Well, my new year resolution is to reduce overthinking. Basically, thinking less and just doing more. Hopefully this will be something I can maintain throughout the whole year. What are your new year resolutions?

4 Tips on Making Friends Virtually Through Zoom

Summer’s already over but the pandemic is still prevalent around the world, which means….. fall semester at Zoom University!

As a senior who graduated this Spring, I thought I was unfortunate for having commencement cancelled. Looking back, I’m considered lucky since I got the chance to spend most of my senior year with my friends. I know that it must hit the current seniors harder than expected, and of course the freshmen who are starting college as well. But, don’t worry! As I’m also starting graduate school, I’ll be sharing a few tips on how to make friends in the virtual world.