Stylists911
AskMags.com,a Stylists 911
Ahhhhh I seeeeeee! So the hairstylist in Leicester who has olaplex and said you can use it as a 'treatment' was incorrect!!
I'm assuming the hair would just be internally stronger rather than smoother to touch?
There's just so much speculation about it because no one here actually has it yet lol!!! Sorry to all the American geeks who are probably fed up of us haha
Hi Adele, Olaplex is considered a "treatment" for the inside of the hair, since it repairs the broken disulfide bonds of the hair, disulfide bonds get broken during any chemical service that uses peroxide - H2O2, or high heat type of damage, here's what happens when coloring or lightening.
Olaplex cross links broken disulfide bonds. Nothing more, nothing less. All hair is made up of thousands of disulfide bonds. When any type of reduction is done such as chemical services including perms, color, lightener or relaxers, these bonds are broken and hair is reduced. Reduction can also include thermal styling such as flat irons, blow dryers and curling irons as well as mechanical styling such as brushing. Even shampoos with a high alkalinity can reduce hair.
When reduction takes place, you have two possible reactions. A disulfide bond splits and forms two single sulfur hydrogen bonds. The first reaction that takes place is when a single sulfur hydrogen pairs with an oxygen molecule. This is a perfect pair with no reduction taking place.
The second reaction is what Olaplex works to prevent. A single sulfur hydrogen bond will pair with three oxygen molecules. This creates SO3 or what is known as a sulfate group. Sulfate group will create cystic acid. Cystic acid will eat the protein out of the hair. Olaplex works by coupling with the single sulfur hydrogen bond faster than the three oxygen molecules can preventing this damage a vast majority of the time. This is how damage is prevented during the process. Olaplex does one thing and one thing only. It creates both an ionic and covalent bridge between two single sulfur hydrogen bonds to form disulfide bonds. As such, it is not chemically possible to reduce the hair via Olaplex alone.
Now what I recommend is that after the #2 Olaplex is rinsed and shampooed out you use an outside treatment, something that works to repair and strengthen the outer Cortex and cuticle layers and I like to use several protein + moisture types of treatments, one is the Redken Extreme Mask which has proteins (the kind that can't make the hair brittle or build up) and it has moisture and Ceramides which are the intercellular cement to helps hold all the bundles of hair tightly together. Compagnia del Colore has their Magic Repair line which has all the goodness I mentioned before.