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Just a few weeks ago, I used my Instagram Stories for its holiest purpose: polling my followers on what I should do with my hair. I'd been saying for years that I wanted to go platinum before I turn 40, and with that milestone birthday a few weeks away, I wanted opinions on whether or not I should do it. Most voters said I should, but a few trusted colorists reached out directly to talk me out of it; they said my naturally dark, color-treated hair would take several sessions to get nearly white — if it's even capable of getting there at all — and I'd likely lose length. (Not to mention the maintenance is outside my lazy-ass comfort zone.) So, for now at least, no platinum for me.
One of the reasons I'd wanted to go platinum wasn't just because I love the look — and I really do. It's because once you get bored with it, platinum serves as the perfect canvas for so many fun colors, like pastels, vivids, neons, etc. With brown hair, there's really not too much you can do to play with color; without lightening, dye gets lost in the darkness and mixes with the brown to create a not-particularly-cute muddy look. So when I heard that Overtone was launching one of its color-depositing conditioner formulas specifically for brown hair, I jumped at the chance to try it.
And I'm not alone: As soon as Overtone mentioned that it was launching the Purple for Brown Hair Deep Treatment and Daily Conditioner, it amassed a waitlist over 4,000 brunettes deep. Many of which had probably, like Allure beauty reporter Devon Abelman, found that Overtone's existing color-depositing conditioners didn't really show up on their dark hair — not even the much-loved Extreme Purple products. But according to Overtone, what helps make this new purple more suitable and visible on brown hair is that it "contains double the warm pigment of Extreme Purple."
Even before my highly-coveted Deep Treatment and Daily Conditioner arrived, I saw that Allure digital wellness editor Rosemary Donahue had already gotten the opportunity to try it — and holy shit, it looked amazing on her. However, when I told her I wanted to do it too, she issued a word of caution. "Use gloves, no matter what," she told me. "And also know that you'll have to rinse for a very long time." She even recommended lying down with my head under the faucet — as opposed to rinsing while standing in the shower — to limit how much purple would get all over the tub.
Slightly freaked out by the potential mess and already lacking confidence in my at-home hair-coloring skills, I cheated a little: I asked my friends at Cloud 10 salon in Delray Beach, Florida, to help me apply it and top it off with a great blowout.
Even though I couldn't see it while my stylist, Kiara, started working the Deep Treatment into my hair over one of the shampoo sinks, I could tell we were dealing with something intense based simply on her saying things like "wow" and "this is purple as fuck." But despite the fact that it almost stained said sink, Kiara was oohing and ahhing and saying she wanted to try it on her own dark brown hair, too.
Once we moved over to her station, even though I could see in the mirror that my scalp was quite purple, my hair didn't look all that purple — even as it was drying. However, when Kiara was done with my blowout, we moved to a more brightly-lit spot in the salon, and there it was: somehow both intense and subtle shades of rich, deep purple.
And when I got outside, it was even more apparent, especially on the lower half of my hair, which had started out lighter than my roots from past color treatments, thus making it more porous. Yep — my hair was definitely purple. And because of the tones of my particular brown hair, it leaned almost burgundy, not unlike that mulled-wine color that was having a moment last year.
Because Overtone Deep Treatment isn't a dye, the color budges pretty easily — practically at the mere mention of water. In fact, when I woke up the next morning, I took a cotton pad with micellar water to my part to help clean up where my scalp had been stained. And I'm sure the intensity will fade quite noticeably once I use shampoo. But that's what the Daily Conditioner is for — to replace that little bit that washes out with each shampoo session.
You can also give your hair a more intense refresh by using the Deep Treatment every now and then. I can't, however. Kiara loved the purple so much that I let her keep my jar so she could do it on herself — because everyone deserves to enjoy a 2019 Allure Best of Beauty Award winner, don't you think?
Overtone Purple for Brown Hair Deep Treatment and Daily Conditioner is now available on overtone.co. (Just be prepared to wait a little while for it due to high demand.)
More purple hair inspo:
- Mauve Champagne Is Fall's Prettiest Hair-Color Trend for Blonde
- Cara Delevingne Debuted Purple Hair at the Met Gala
- Taro Is the Tastiest Purple Hair Color for Spring
Now, check out 100 years of hair color:
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