Directly from California I welcome Olaplex! On the Internet, on Instagram and Pinterest, Olaplex is praised like the miracle cure to bleach, dye or color hair. What´s the truth behind the Hype? I have investigated it for you!
Olaplex it´s not a color and not a lightener. It is a add-on to the color and to the bleaching mixture the colorist use to avoid hair damage. And it is also a special treatment before shampooing.
BLONDE, MORE BLONDE, PLATINUM BLONDE
Very stressed or damaged hair after bleaching, coloring or dying hair, seems to be a thing of the past. Turning dark hair to platinum blonde, without risking hair breakage, should not be any problem anymore. That´s at least what you can read on the internet! Sounds great, right?
OKAY, BUT LISTEN…
It depends very much on which products your stylist uses to dye and lighten your hair. High quality colors such as “Tint & Tone Advanced” or lightener “X.Dream Powder Plus” from La Biosthetique are much milder to your hair and scalp than other products from conventional brands. We use these low impact products from La Biosthetique in our salon! Very stressed hair or even hair breakage in connection to hair coloring, it´s something we don´t have in our salon.
It´s another thing when we are talking about bleaching hair! It happens quite often that clients wish to be super blonde, but have a very dark natural hair color. If this hair is already heavily stressed or damaged, my advice is not to do it. Of course not! The integrity and the healthiness of the client´s hair and scalp is one of our highest priorities! That´s why I´m very curious if Olaplex really allows us to push the lightener further than usual – without harming our precious hair and scalp!
BEAUTIFUL HAIR – AS NEVER BEFORE?
Olaplex even claims, that hair is stronger, healthier, and more luscious than ever before, after using it. Distressed – or even broken hair, caused throughout the bleaching or coloring process, now during the same session is promised to regenerate and repair itself. Is that really possible?
At my hair salon we use the intensive structure care “Action 2 Phases” and the conditioning treatment “Protection Couleur Conditionneur” for longer lasting colour intensity – both from La Biosthetique Paris. So far we are absolutely happy with both treatments. These are fantastic hair care products!
I really want to see if there is a significant difference between them and Olaplex.
WHY THE HECK, OLAPLEX?
But why are we interested on Olaplex if we are so happy with La Biosthetique? On one hand all the hymns of praise are just to loud to ignore. And on the other hand, we just want to make sure if there is any way to improve our amazing results even more by adding Olaplex to our La Biosthetique products.
So, I´m really excited to see the interaction of both. We already have Olaplex at our salon for extensive testing. Soon I will let you know about all the details, right here on my blog.
It’s going to be thrilling ;-P
WHAT IS OLAPLEX?
Olaplex is a three phase treatment, which claims to allow us to safely colour and bleach hair without the risk of hair damage. Still, during the chemical service, Olaplex assures to repair the hair. All products seems to be free of silicone, sulfates, phthalates, DEA, aldehydes, and – also very important to me – its never tested on animals. Promising, isn´t it?
Olaplex consists of three treatments:
Olaplex No. 1 “Bond Multiplier” is only for salon use applied by the hair colorist, adding it to lightener or color to protect your hair from breakage during the chemical service.
Olaplex No. 2 “Bond Perfector”, is a bond multiplier, not a conditioning treatment. It´s been used mainly by the hair stylist right after a chemical service to make hair stronger and avoid hair damage. “Olaplex Nº 2” is applied as a finisher, right after „Olaplex Nº 1“, once the color is rinsed from the hair. By the way, this product seems to contain ingredients helping to straighten the surface of your hair.
Olaplex No. 3 “Hair Perfector” is a take home treatment to use every 7 or 14 days between salon visits to strengthen hair or to use as a pre-treatment to a future chemical service.
HOW WORKS OLAPLEX?
The active ingredient in Olaplex (holding 8 patents) is supposed to be able to repair the disulfide bonds within a single hair. What are disulfide bonds good for?
During every chemical treatment, such as coloring, bleaching or straightening – but also by overusing the blow dryer or after to much sun – those disulfide bonds just breaks. Olaplex claims being able to fix those disulfide bonds, so the structure of your hair can regenerate itself during using it. Some people say, the hair is getting more flexible and glossy, and much stronger than ever before!
Olaplex can also be used as a regeneration treatment. In that case the hair stylist will do the following:
Applying “Olaplex Nº 1” and water to the dry hair, leaving it for 5 minutes. Than adding “Olaplex Nº 2” to the wet hair. After 10 minutes clear the hair with fresh water. That should help to bring back elasticity to your hair.
Perfect! I definitely will try it out.
WHERE IS OLAPLEX AVAILABLE?
Olaplex is a brand from California, USA. That´s why those new products were first made available within the States.
Here in Spain Olaplex is (still) not yet available. Germany, UK and other countries just started with local distributors. But even so, not many hair salons have offered Olaplex yet. I guess that´s because its pretty new over here, and probably the high price might still scare some hair salon owners.
However, Olaplex will be soon available here in Spain. Until then, Olaplex can be ordered in countries like UK or USA.
HOW MUCH COSTS OLAPLEX?
The price range is from approx. 12 Euros (for “Olaplex Nº 2” as a single hair mask) to 60 Euros for an intensive regeneration treatment at the salon. To use “Olaplex Nº 3” at home, you will have to pay around 50 Euros for a 100 ml bottle (3.3 oz).
WHAT WE THINK ABOUT OLAPLEX?
It´s too early for me to give you an answer. We have Olaplex here at our salon and we will test a lot during the next couple of weeks. We want to make sure how Olaplex gets along with our La Biosthetique colors, lighteners and care treatments. In case we really see significant benefits, then we definitely will make it available at our salon. But just in this case ;-)
Well, now I´m happy to start testing Olaplex. Let see if it lives up to its promise!
So, stay tuned! Shortly I will share with you our very own test results. Let´s find out soon if Olaplex really can make our life a bit easier.
Hugs from sunny Mallorca,
Silke von Rolbiezki
/// In the meanwhile we have tested Olaplex! Check here what we have experienced: “THE OLAPLEX REVIEW – AND ALL YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THIS HIGHLY DEMANDED HAIR TREATMENT!”
This article was written by Silke von Rolbiezki, hairdresser, hair stylist and owner of ‘Silke von Rolbiezki Coiffure’ in Palma de Mallorca – has been involved and connected for more than 19 years in the high end hairdressing industry. She has perfected her skills over time with top hair stylists in Germany and Spain. In addition to cutting and styling, Silke is very well known for her extensive expertise in hair coloring.
Text: © Silke von Rolbiezki Coiffure, 2015
Pictures: All pictures by © Alexander von Rolbiezki, 2015 except picture No. 2 seen on Pinterest, picture No. 4 seen on Pinterest and picture No. 8 © Soravit Lertphiphat, 2015
DO YOU KNOW OLAPLEX? WHAT HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED?
Have you already tried out Olaplex? I´m really happy to hear your opinion!
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