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A post shared by Lara (@knobbygirl) on Apr 13, 2020 at 2:36pm PDT

I didn’t dye eggs on Easter…but I did dye my hair.

Shortly after the quarantine started I ordered 3 new samples ($11 each) from oVertone: Extreme Teal, Pink for Brown Hair, and Purple for Brown Hair. Shipping was slower than usual and it took a bit to get here, and then…procrastination. I finally got around to dying my hair on Easter Sunday.

I just went for it and used all of them. I didn’t mix them all together – I sectioned my dry hair and applied separately. I used Extreme Teal on the right side – it did not take well on my hair. It wasn’t teal, as much as a swampy grey-blue. I used Purple for Brown Hair on the center and Pink for Brown Hair on the left side. I am much more impressed by the “for Brown Hair” formulas. The “Extreme” formula did not color the brown portion of my hair at all, just the highlighted portion. There is a “Blue for Brown Hair” – maybe I’ll try that one?

I can get about one more use out of the remainder of the three sample jars. $16.50 per dye session is a bit pricey – but that’s because I bought samples. The full size is $29 and I can get 2.5-3 applications, (if I remember correctly), which is $11.60 to $9.67, if I stretch it, which is a bit more affordable. It’s still more expensive than Clairol Color Crave or L’Oreal Colorista, but my hair feels so much better after using oVertone. It’s definitely a luxurious product and absolutely worth it.

A post shared by Lara (@knobbygirl) on Apr 14, 2018 at 7:39am PDT

I think I’ve found it – the holy grail of semi-permanent hair color!

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, all we had was Manic Panic. Don’t get me wrong, it did the job…but it was hard to apply and stained EVERYTHING. Good luck not staining your scalp, your forehead, your clothes, your bathtub, your towels – everything. Manic Panic was somehow permanent and not permanent at the same time. Even though it permanently stained everything it touched – it tended to fade quickly (and unevenly) from your hair. I spend more time than I would like to admit with half pink/ half bleached blond hair than I would like to admit. Oh, did I not mention that Manic Panic was useless without bleach? But in your teens and twenties, who gives a shit, right? Hair grows…

Now in my 40s, I definitely give a shit about my hair. Women don’t want to admit that our hair thins, too, as we age – it fucking DOES. (Just ask my husband about our shower drain…) There’s got to be a better way to add adventurous color than bleaching and dying forever…

And then I discovered oVertone. I admit it, I first saw it on Facebook and Instagram ads. They were hyping a new color called “Rose Gold for Brown Hair”, which was my color goal the last time I got my hair professionally colored – and I ended up a bit disappointed. I clicked and the product sounded really amazing – a duo of semi-permanent products that promise to keep your hair bright and tight. I then saw that samples were available, so I decided to try them out…

A post shared by Lara (@knobbygirl) on Apr 14, 2018 at 1:32pm PDT

I ordered samples of “Rose Gold for Brown Hair” Deep Conditioner ($11) and Daily Conditioner ($8). A bit pricey, but if it works and keeps my hair healthy…it will be well worth it. Full Size prices are $28 for the Deep Conditioner and $17 for the Daily Conditioner. If I got two uses out of the sample Deep Conditioner (I used less than half), the full size should last a few months at least.

The sample Deep Conditioner is to be used first – you put it on your hair for 10-15 minutes and then rinse. That’s IT. The Daily Conditioner adds a color boost between weekly Deep Conditioning Treatments. Best of all, no harsh chemical odor – it smells like Wintergreen!

I was surprised at how deeply pink some of my hair turned. This is because I had chunky highlights last summer, so those highlights sucked the color right up. The picture to the left is immediately after application, but I got the perfect rose gold color after the first washing.

In addition to “Rose Gold for Brown Hair”, there’s original “Rose Gold” AND the whole rest of the rainbow: red, orange, pink, silver, blue, purple, teal, green and yellow. I don’t see myself going nuts – it’s taken me nearly 18 years at the same company to dye my hair slightly pink. This is probably as much as I can get away with right now…Baby steps…

The most recent similar product I’ve tried is L’Oreal Colorista…and it doesn’t even come close on quality.  It’s ~$8-~11 a tube and even though it promises 4-8 shampoos, it’s gone after a single shampoo. There are lots of other semi-permanent products on the market right now, but I’ll pay extra for oVertone.

If you’d like to try oVertone, this referral link will get you $10 off your first order (and $10 for me, too).