Does Overtone Vibrant Silver Actually Work?

Overtone Vibrant Silver color conditioner promises beautiful silver hair from the comfort of home but does it actually work? I recently tried it out and am sharing everything I know about the product and if it really does what it says.

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Overtone Vibrant Silver Review

It’s been years since I dyed my hair. I like to grow my hair out and then cut it short to donate it. While some donation places do take dyed hair, it’s less common. So, I went with my natural color for years.

Now, I’ve got a good amount of white hair coming in so I figured it’s time to have some fun with my hair colors again. I love the silver trend that’s been going on and thought I’d give it a try but wasn’t sure where to start.

I don’t usually spend much money on my hair and knew a salon would charge a ton. Plus, I don’t want to have to go back to the salon for regular maintenance because that would really add up cost wise.

A QUICK SIDE NOTE: Some professional stylists will probably come at me in the comments section of this post. If you have the money and a stylist you trust then of course they are the best option for getting the color you want. Silver is a tough color so it’s hard to do at home.

Overtone ads were all over the place so I decided to check them out to see if their color products would be a good fit. After reading up on them and checking out a ton of user reviews, I decided to give them a try. Here’s my honest opinion of the company and a review of the Vibrant Silver color conditioner.

*I’ll be going over a ton of info here because I think it’s helpful in reviews like this. I’m using descriptive headings for each section. If you don’t want to read everything then scroll through until you find the section you’re looking for.

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Why I Decided to Try Overtone?

The first thing that got my attention when it comes to Overtone products are the fact that they are plant-based. They are certified by PETA and never test on animals.

Overtone is a pigmented conditioner which means they don’t contain harsh chemicals that can damage hair. You’re able to deposit color onto your hair and keep it healthy at the same time.

There are tons of fun colors so once you get bored with your current color you can change it up. Plus, everything gets shipped straight to your home which is super convenient.

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What You Need to Know Before Trying Vibrant Silver

Overtone says that Vibrant Silver is for platinum to medium blondes. I don’t agree with that statement. Later, in the “How to Use” section on Overtone’s site it says it’s for platinum. So, which is it Overtone?

I’m sure a lot of people want to know if the Vibrant Silver works on brown hair and to that I would say, NO!

In my opinion, when it comes to using Vibrant Silver color conditioner, your hair has to be light, extremely light, for it to really work. Almost everyone I saw who tried the color and didn’t have a 9-10 hair level didn’t get the results they wanted.

Every time I saw gorgeous grey/silver hair in Vibrant Silver “after photos”, women had started with platinum or grey hair. If you don’t want to bleach your hair to get it white then you’re gonna need to skip this product because you won’t get the results you want.

Bleached hair can turn orange or yellow. You’ll need to tone those colors out of your hair or else you won’t get the color you want. Get that hair as white as possible.

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My Hair Color Before Using Vibrant Silver

After reading a lot of comments and reviews on the Overtone site I decided to lighten my hair before using the silver dye. I used L’Oreal Quick Blue Powder Bleach with a 30 volume cream developer on my hair to get it a bit lighter.

I added in some Absolute Perfection booster to keep my hair from getting major damage. Next time, I would bump up the developer level to 40 because the booster weakens the developer. My hair has never felt so silky after using the booster.

The booster is comparable to Olaplex, in my opinion. Here are some other Olaplex Dupes if you’re interested.

Here’s what my hair looked like right before trying Overtone’s Vibrant Silver:

There are definitely a couple of different tones in my hair after using the bleach. Some strands of hair were a bit orange and brassy but most of it was a yellow tone. It looks more yellow in this photo because of the lights in my house.

After not getting the results I wanted the first time around with the Vibrant Silver, more on that in a minute, I decided to go another round with the bleach to lighten my hair even more. Here’s how my hair looked before the second try with Vibrant Silver:

My hair is much lighter and has way less orange tones running through it so I was really excited to try the Vibrant Silver again. I did use some purple shampoo after I took this photo and before using Overtone to get the little bit of yellow out.

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How to Use Overtone

Overtone color conditioners are very thick. I really liked the idea at first but found it has some problems.

The thick conditioner makes it easy to apply with out a lot of drips but it’s hard to get the color on every strand of hair. You can take the smallest section of hair and cover it in overtone thinking it’s saturated but when you separate it you can see the hairs in the middle still don’t have dye on them.

Try brushing through every section before and even after you put the color on your hair to make sure it’s on every strand.

1. You can apply color conditioner on wet or dry hair. Overtone recommends dry hair for “maximum color deposits”.

2. Start by separating your hair into sections. The smaller the better.

3. Next, put on some gloves or you’ll end up dyeing the skin on your hands.

4. Starting with the hair at the neckline and working up, take hair down from a small section and section it out even more to apply the hair color.

Check out how Brad Mondo applies Overtone in this video to see what I mean by sections within sections. You can use a brush or your fingers. I found it easier to apply using my fingers.

5. Leave the product on for 10-15 minutes and then rinse out in warm to hot water. Some people say to leave the color on for longer. I tried 15 minutes the first time and 30 minutes the second time. I didn’t have good results with either application but the color was more intense with the longer wait time.

6. The instructions on the tub of color conditioner say to use weekly to keep color fresh. If you try a color and really like it then you can consider getting the daily conditioner to keep up with the color.

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The Results

First time I tried Overtone’s Vibrant Silver I was pretty underwhelmed. There were some sections of hair that did look silver but my hair turned out more of an ash blonde. Clearly, I didn’t get my hair light enough before using the silver dye.

There were a couple of strands that looked green as well. My hair was pretty yellow before and since silver hair dye has blue in it, the yellow hair + blue dye = green. It looked like I spent too much time in the pool.

As the color faded it got more “chlorine green”. Not very cute and definitely not what I was going for. That’s not Overtones fault but it does show it takes some work and color knowledge to get your hair prepped correctly for Vibrant Silver to work.

If you don’t have much experience with hair dye at home then Vibrant Silver might not be a good option for you. I’ve dyed my hair before, not silver but other colors, so I have a bit of knowledge and this silver hair color was still a struggle for me.

Second Try With Lighter Hair

With my much lighter hair, I’d guess a level 9, I was really excited to try a second round with Vibrant Silver. There was about half a jar of color conditioner left after my first attempt.

I did decide to leave the color conditioner on for a bit longer this round too because a lot of people had better success with more time. Instead of the recommended 10-15 minutes, I waited 30 minutes before rinsing out.

So, did I get the color I hoped for? Nope. I’m not impressed with the color at all. My biggest complaint is the blotchiness. Overtone took to some parts of my hair much more than other parts.

The color is also off. When I walked out of the bathroom after the second dye my ten year old said, “Wow! You dyed your hair green!” And then twice the next day I got green color comments. One from a stranger at the store and one from a friend so I know I’m not imaging things.

Once again the color is giving off a chlorine green look. It does look better in natural light but not by much. The blotchiness isn’t as noticeable with curled hair so that’s nice, I guess.

The first time I used Vibrant Silver the color washed out pretty quickly so I wasn’t left with green hair for too long. Hopefully, I’ll have to same results this second time around. Green hair isn’t exactly my thing and I really want to check out some other hair dye brands for silver hair because that is still my end goal.

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Overtone Silver Before and After

I always appreciate a side-by-side “before and after” photo so I can really compare things so here’s mine:

The straight on shot doesn’t look too bad but you can clearly see the ends took the color much better and I wouldn’t call the after color Vibrant Silver.

I’ve gotta say, I’m really not impressed with Overtone’s Silver Vibrant. I really thought the first attempt trouble was do to my starting hair color not being light enough. However, things don’t look any better after the second attempt with lighter hair.

Just so we’re all aware, here’s one of the before and after photos that Overtone uses on their site for Vibrant Silver. You can see my hair is pretty close to that color for my first attempt and definitely lighter for my second attempt but the results are clearly not the same.

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Things I Like About Overtone

There are definitely some things I like about Overtone which is why I wanted to try them in the first place.

• Products are 100% Vegan and cruelty free which I love.

• Overtone is a color conditioner so it doesn’t damage your hair. It’s ammonia, paraben, and sulfate free.

• Ships to home which is super convenient.

• There are tons of colors to choose from so if you like to experiment with your hair then Overtone can be a lot of fun.

• Some people mention Overtone drying out their hair but I didn’t have that problem. It left my hair feeling conditioned.

• The scent is nice, especially when compared to other hair dyes. Overtone uses spearmint and rosemary essential oils for their fragrance. However, the smell can be a bit overwhelming to some.

Things I Don’t Like About Overtone

While I do like some things about Overtone, there are some problems with it.

• The price. Some people will call the price good and it is when compared to salon prices. If you compare Overtone to some other “at home dyes” it can be quite expensive.

• Not much product for the price. When I first got my container of Overtone I thought it was a good amount compared to tubes of other hair dye I’ve used before. However, it takes a lot more Overtone to get the job done. Most people are only going to get 2 dye jobs out of it and that’s not worth the price in my opinion.

• Fades quickly. The Overtone website calls the color conditioner semi-permanent but it washes out really fast. Overtone says to reapply every week. You only get 2-3 uses from each tub so $32 for 2 weeks of hair color is a lot of money and maintenance in my opinion.

How quickly the color washes out of your hair does depend. Everyone’s hair is different. When I used the purple for brown hair, the color was out in 3 washes but on my son it lasted a couple of weeks.

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Would I Recommend Overtone

I definitely don’t recommend Vibrant Silver from Overtone. It just didn’t work in my experience. But I might still recommend other Overtone colors. It just depends on the person and the situation.

For example:

• I mentioned using the Purple for Brown Hair on my son and it worked great. I think Overtone is perfect for introducing color to kid’s hair because it won’t damage their hair and is a healthier solution. It also washes out eventually which is nice for kids.

• People with short hair could get a lot more uses out of one tub of color so the price point might be worth it for them to have a healthier hair dye.

• People wanting to try a bold color for the first time might really enjoy using Overtone as well. Katie has talked about dye her hair black but she’s worried about messing up her red hair. Overtone could be the perfect solution for her.

Basically, my recommendation isn’t a solid one and depends on the situation. I’m happy to answer questions as best I can in the comments section if you have them. I’ve only ever used the Purple for Brown Hair and Vibrant Silver. Because of the price, I don’t plan on trying any other colors at this time so keep that in mind.

Sample First When Possible

Overtone does have a 2 oz sample you can get in any color, although popular colors seem to run out of samples quickly.

They are $13 bucks though which is a bit steep. An 8 oz jar is $32 so they are charging almost twice as much for a sample size but it might be worth it in the end.

Definitely don’t go with the duo or complete system unless you already know the color works on your hair. I made that mistake and now I have two bottles of conditioner I won’t use because I really don’t need to maintain chlorine green hair color.

Overtone Returns

You do have 30 days to contact client services if you have a problem with a product not working for you but only if this is your first purchase with them. They will try to provide another shade first but it’s unclear whether they’ll do that for free. Ultimately, they will refund you the price of the product, not shipping, if this is the first time trying Overtone.

All other returns must be started within 7 days for refund or between 8-30 days for store credit. They do issue store credit when your color doesn’t turn out the way you want it.

I didn’t dye my hair right away so it’s been more then 30 days. I’m not sure if I could get a store credit since Vibrant Silver didn’t work for me but I guess it’s worth a try. If I do hear back from Overtone then I’ll update this post.

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Is Silver Hair at Home Possible?

While I didn’t have luck with Overtone Vibrant Silver color conditioner, I haven’t given up on my quest for silver hair at home. If I find something that works then I’ll update the post with a very brief description.

If you’ve had luck with silver hair at home or using Overtone Vibrant Silver then I’d love to hear about it in the comments. But, if you came her to see if Overtone’s silver works then I say search some where else because I don’t think you’ll get the results you want.

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