oVertone Espresso: Review + Goldwell Elumen (soon)

 I tried Elumen for the first time this week on my roots. I chose a color that was too light from the NN (full gray coverage) range. I was underwhelmed, but due to my color choice, I'm going to give it another go before posting a full review. Since I have switched the location of my part to the other side of my head, I have so few visible grays that I feel like I can experiment for a while.

I tried NN@7. I'm new to this. After watching videos of the other NN shades, I'm convinced they skew too warm. I'm going to try AN@5 and report back. Keep in mind, most of my hair is henna-ed, so I really need something the color of greenish-greyish-blue dirt to neutralize it.

In the interim, here's a review of oVertone in Espresso that I posted elsewhere and felt I might as well keep here as a placeholder:

For those unfamiliar with direct dyes, they essentially coat the surface of the hair/ deposit color near the surface. The more porous the hair is, the more dye is deposited, but that isn't to say direct dyes won't work on healthy or low-porosity hair. I have done a two-step henna/indigo process on my new growth for several years since I started to get gray hairs at my roots along where I part my hair (manual manipulation and heat styling means I have a row of grays in one distinct place on my head). Henna isn't a direct dye, but the dying properties (lawsone) in henna have an affinity for keratin in the hair, so henna coats the hair shaft. Indigo is a natural direct dye, and it works over henna. Orange red (henna) + blue (indigo) = brown, give or take. Henna has the benefit of making hair appear shinier and feel healthier, but the downside is it takes 4 hours, a lot rinsing, and a follow up indigo consisting of 30 minutes and more rinsing. I bought this to try and cheat between henna/indigo treatments. For those who are warm toned and don't mind dark brown hair with strong red undertones, this is a great choice. It offers full gray coverage. I have a very pale olive complexion, and my hair is naturally very dark ash brown (eyebrows are almost jet black), so this just made my hair look like some of the darkest henna stains I have had (different henna from different parts of the world stain differently, but there are no henna "colors"). I was looking for a more neutral brown, and from what I have read online, Overtone tends to skew warm, so this was a miss. Positives include short processing time, full gray coverage, and minimal to zero damage (although direct dyes are not supposed to damage hair, I have found a few of the salon brand direct dyes to be very drying). Your mileage may vary!

What had happened to OFPMA? The now defunct, great Living Proof molecule that is/was a PFAS?

If you are a fan of RuPaul's Drag Race, you will likely appreciate the title of this blog post.

Remember how I used to love Living Proof? Probably not.

When Unilever purchased the brand in 2017, Jennifer Aniston said, "Ciao."

Since then, ingredient lists have been revamped, and random new products that do nothing have been introduced. 

Last year, Unilever decided to phase out the proprietary "healthy hair molecule" OFPMA (Octafluoropentyl Methacrylate). 

This molecule was the basis for the brand's creation, and one of several patented molecules. There was another for thickening, but I didn't think it was great. When the brand was still called "No Frizz," I purchased the no frizz straight-making treatment for thick-coarse hair, and it changed my life. I swore I'd be a lifelong consumer, until the brand discontinued the product to replace it with the smooth styling cream, which sucks. For years, I bought more on ebay.

Still, the brand continued to include OFPMA in its products. It was quietly phased out last year, apparently due to being a PFAS (forever chemical). Here is a quote (Edney, 2024):

"These changes can sometimes mean a favorite brand disappears for a bit. Living Proof, a hair care brand, eliminated a PFAS it was using, octafluoropentyl methacrylate, early last year, says Alexis Tedesco, the company’s chief marketing officer. The chemical provided smoothing technology and getting rid of it meant phasing out some products and reformulating or replacing others.

“Love it!! Waited over a year for its return!” Lynn B commented in May on Living Proof’s webpage for a product that aids in smoothing hair while blow-drying, one of many to express relief they could purchase the spray again. Though some complained the new formula didn’t work as well."

I recently posted this review on a site where the old ingredients are still listed:

If one compares the ingredient list of the product I received and what is listed on this site, one will notice some stark differences. First, the "healthy hair" molecule, OPFMA, is gone, and that is the only reason why I purchased this. It was/is? a patented molecule that prevents frizz, and it was the basis for the creation of this brand. Not only is the patented ingredient gone, but so are a handful of other hair strengthening/conditioning ingredients listed on this site, such as hydrolyzed silk and tucuma seed butter. These ingredients have been replaced with non-equivalent ingredients like hydrogenated castor oil and yeast amino acids. Not only does the ingredient list render this product worse at "repair" (hair is dead anyway, but certain ingredients can penetrate the cortex to strengthen or form a film to shield effectively), but the ingredient shift changed nothing in the verbage on the package, which seems really sketchy. Finally, the bottle I received is covered in dirt. I love [name of store where I purchased this], but this is a major fail.

Ingredients listed on site: Water/Eau/Aqua, Cetyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Isoamyl Laurate, Octafluoropentyl Methacrylate (OFPMA), Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Oleyl Alcohol, Hydrolyzed Silk, Behenyl/Stearyl Aminopropanediol Esters, Butylene Glycol, DimethylPABAmidopropyl Laurdimonium Tosylate, Astrocaryum Tucuma Seed Butter, Steareth-2, Steareth-10, Propylene Glycol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Glycol Stearate, Cetylpyridinium Chloride, Fragrance/Parfum, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Linalool, Citronellol, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citral.

Ingredients on bottle:

So, my question is: Is it a PFAS? Is that why Unilever removed it along with a handful of other well-known, non-PFAS, natural ingredients? Or is something much more sinister at play?

The odds are I'm in absolutely no position to ever find out. But I'll end on a final note: screw Living Proof. The brand sucks now. Don't give them your money. End rant.

References:

  Edney, A. (2024, February 7). ‘Forever chemicals’ are still found in Personal-Care products. Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-02-07/are-pfas-in-skin-care-shampoo-why-forever-chemicals-are-still-everywhere

Wait....so I can use a semi permanent over my henna & indigo??? (Reddit, 2024)

 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...):

When I first saw the photo, I thought, "Why is everyone else so pink?"

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.