Citation not added for anonymity of the poster.
I was recently gifted oVertone in espresso.
I still henna.
I still indigo. 2-step. I have many more gray hairs on the top of my head, and more specifically, where I regularly part(ed) my hair.
While indigo is more reliable than many direct dyes mixed with conditioners aimed at consumers, I still supplement with Keracolor clenditioner in blue or aqua after henna when I'm feeling lazy.
I also learned fairly recently that I have olive undertones, despite my deathly pale skin. This is partly why neither orange hair nor cool red is flattering on me. Here is a photo of me from two years ago with people I think of as "pale" (one is a natural blonde, one is a natural redhead, and one is bald, um, well, err...):
I was in Mexico recently and got a real BKT. Awesome. I haven't shampooed, but a few grays are coming in on the other side of my head where my new part(!) is (thank you, Ignacio). So I tried the oVertone on my roots. Not much for the three visible grays, but the rest of previously henna-ed and quickly indigo-ed (about two weeks before I left, so over a month ago?) hair is now very uniform in color. It's brown with auburn undertones. Not my cup of tea, but uniform.
This is going somewhere. My next post is going to be a little science-y, and it will be about how direct dyes work. Yes, indigo is a direct dye. A pretty old school direct dye. But guess what? There are more! And guess what else? I am going to review them. Goldwell Elumen is a new entry to the market, so I'm ordering a few shades. Stay tuned.
