Olaplex - The ultimate damage insurance?!

[Zenity]

Hi,

Today I've tried it for the first time.

I have very long hair that has greys on the top layer (most of it) from the crown to the bangs. Damn it! The under-layers have barely any greys. That makes my top layer super-dry, frizzy, porous and coarse. The rest of my hair is much better except for the ends.
I color ONLY the roots of my hair every 3 or so weeks, meaning I do not color all my hair everytime. I use a home made concoction of wella color touch and L'oreal professionel to achieve the desired color. I only use professional dyes.

I did the stand alone treatment, just the n.1 + n.2. n.1 for about an hour and n.2 for another houre more or less (maybe 45 min)
I took some before pictures of my very frizzy dry and porous hair and, to be fair, after the treatment didn't do anything to my hair, just let ir air-dry (as it was in the before pictures)

I have not taken any pics of the "after" beause I want to use the same camera at the same location with the same light as in the before, to have the most accurate comparison.

My first impressions came right when I was shampoing it out. The texture of my hair seem to be nicer. Less dry, smoother, softer...
I've put some hair mask after towel drying and rinse it out. Then air dry.

As it was drying the water out I noticed the hair itself felt dry, specially at the most pre-olaplex damaged areas... after completely being dry it feels and looks like before: frizzy, dry and tangled. A little bit softer and nicer in the under layers and the areas that were not so dry and coarse before.
I intend to take some "after" pictures tomorrow for comparison.

I have not seen a single "after" picture on natural air dryed hair. It is difficult to objectively compare before and after if the after is a flat ironed or used the hair dryer for brushing.
That can do the trick for most of the hair out there, including mine. It is not what I wanted, plus, 99% of the times I just air dry my hair.

I will keep a close look on the evolution of my hair after olaplex and post if there are any news.

[meteor]

Zenity, thank you so very much for that detailed review! Super-helpful!

I have not seen a single "after" picture on natural air dryed hair. It is difficult to objectively compare before and after if the after is a flat ironed or used the hair dryer for brushing.
That can do the trick for most of the hair out there, including mine.

He-he! I couldn't agree more!

I don't even understand the point of "before" and "after" pictures, when "before" is done on unwashed, unbrushed hair in dull lighting and the "after" is freshly trimmed & layered, heavily heat-styled, curled and siliconed to high-heaven, with changed lighting and other hair commercials trickery helping along!
Heck, Guy Tang even adds hair extensions to his "afters" often!

[*ReiKa*]

I think that, if there is ever gonna be a true protection of the hair during Olaplex, you're gonna notice it yourself afterwards, with time, not immediately after the treatment and especially not when the hairdresser has blow dried your hair. This is the whole reason why I said that I didn't feel like I could give a verdict yet; I wanted to wash my hair at home first and I want to wait also for at least two weeks for my hair to "settle".

[Zenity]

I have been posting at this place too: http://www.hairdyeforum.com/index.ph...9456#msg169456

I copy my posts there here:

My theory is that for rebuilding those sulfate bonds there has to be sulfates! Is there are very little it cannot bond as many as in a healthy hair that retains most of those sulfates.

(Below is speaking with another user about the dry feeling she had on her hair)

Well, that happened to me with some keratin.
The first time I used it was terrific, but it had a con: it worked so good because an extra added that contained formaldehyde. When the keratin vanished the effects of the formaldedhyde remained. Making my hair straight as a straw and really, really dry.
I used the same brand again without the formaldehyde and felt like nothing was done in my hair.

Recently I used another brand of keratin free of formaldehyde and worked really good. But obviously the results do not last with any keratin or any protein treatment.

With olaplex I am hopping to see improvement over the time. Hopefully it will have "accumulative" properties.
I was thinking on bleaching my hair with Olaplex... but after trying it I do not feel is that "safe" for my hair.

It does feel slightly nicer but not dramatically. Not at all. Obviously not as it has been advertised everywhere.

Overall I feel quite dissapointed with Olaplex.

I think if we think of our hair as a car, olaplex will fix the engine, but not the paint or the gloss of it, or the tires.
So Olaplex can work in the "main" hair shaft, like fixing the engine, the main heart of it. But for the hair to feel and look totally nice, needs extras, like the tires, or the painting in a car.
That is why the Olaplex people say it dos not replace protein or hydration treatments. They complement each other.
I think Olaplex is great for bleaching/processing the hair, as is where it got all the rave reviews and has become a revolutionary product, but is not that great as a treatment by itself.

[carrie30]

It didn't do anything for my hair sadly. Had it done with lowlights after a bad bleach job so was used during a colour correction. Hair is still incredibly damaged, dry and frizzy. I knew it wouldn't 'cure' my hair, but u was hoping to see a bit of improvement in strength and appearance.

[meteor]

I think that, if there is ever gonna be a true protection of the hair during Olaplex, you're gonna notice it yourself afterwards, with time, not immediately after the treatment and especially not when the hairdresser has blow dried your hair. This is the whole reason why I said that I didn't feel like I could give a verdict yet; I wanted to wash my hair at home first and I want to wait also for at least two weeks for my hair to "settle".

^ Absolutely! I know exactly what you mean, Reika! I could never even get the same results from washing hair with the same products that the hairdresser used, so I know it's easy for me to end up comparing apples to oranges. I think hair shows its true condition after a chemical treatment only after some time of regular treatment/handling/styling... It's normal to wait a few weeks (if not months) before confirming to self the results of a treatment.

I have been posting at this place too: http://www.hairdyeforum.com/index.ph...9456#msg169456

Thanks so much, Zenity! That link you shared is very helpful - lots of people have tried it over at the Hair Dye Forum by now, so it's super-helpful to read their long-term impressions!

And thanks so much for your helpful update, carrie30!
So sad that it didn't hold up to promises!

I'm curious: how does it compare in results to standard protein treatments/reconstructors? Or penetrating oils like coconut oil?

[Zenity]

I'm curious: how does it compare in results to standard protein treatments/reconstructors? Or penetrating oils like coconut oil?

Easy: hair does not reconstruct itself as the skin or any other organ in the body does.
When it is damaged is damaged, broken. Compare it to a finger nail. They are both made of keratin mainly. Once a finger nail is bronken there is nothing that can bring it back to its natural unbroken state.
In hair, because of its porosity there are many things that can improve its overall condition by bonding with it, filling it, or coating it. When done in a regular basis and over time the general condition of hair can improve, by:
a) filing or coating it
b) preserving the new growth from damage.

Comes to my mind few ingredients known for its benefits and cumulative effects over time: henna and coconut oil. Henna mimiquing the own keratin and coconut oil coating and filling compatible protein to the hair.

Protein/ keratin treatments do fill and fix your hair but do leave your hair as well once stopped.

Protein and most reconstructors do this to hair:
Fill and/or bond temporarily with the hair.

Some other reconstructors coat the hair as the ones that contain silicones and polymers.

Olaplex promises to bond your own hair, not extras added or filling, just adding the bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate that acts like a bridge linking those bonds again. Now, how that traduces in the general condition of your hair i would say that mostly in the strength of it.

If hair was compared to one of those thick chains coated in rubber to secure bycicles and such, I would say olaplex strengthens the actual metal chain (that could be oxydized by the exposure or the weather or by rupture of the rubber coat), permanently, (they claim) while other treatments do so just temporarily or act just at the external part: the rubber coat of the chain, keeping it nice and smooth.

That is why I feel "feeding" your hair with good nutrients you eat, to start with, can make a big difference. Because once is grown, there is not much you can do...

Do I make any sense???? LOL!

[meteor]

^ Oh yes, absolutely! Thanks a lot, Zenity!

I wish that Olaplex thing really worked... But of course, hair is dead so any "repair" is similar to repairing a silk scarf - the best approach is just to protect it from any fraying in the first place.
There are other products out there that have similar claims to Olaplex, like this DS Laboratories Continuum (http://www.dslaboratories.com/continuum/), another formula under a shroud of secrecy Have you heard of it, Zenity?

Also, I wish I could find more info on the exact mechanism of pre-bleach coconut oil soaks (+ argan oil) and how it prevents some damage. I guess "the proof is in the pudding", as it does visibly reduce damage, but I want to understand more about the chemistry and maybe measurable info about by how much it actually reduces that damage.
It's supposed to chelate iron and copper (and argan oil supposedly chelates more copper than iron, but less effective overall), reducing oxidative damage during color treatments (involving developer/peroxide):
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ad.php?t=10495
http://www.hairdyeforum.com/index.php?topic=3806.0
http://ktanihairsense.blogspot.ca/20...nnovative.html

[Zenity]

I did use coconunt oil the last time I did ombré in my hair. Did it work? Well, something did for sure, but again, it is hard to say without having something to compare, I mean, in order to be objective I should have bleached one strand at least without coconut oil and see how it compared with the one/s bleached.
I recall Ktani speaking a lot about the uses and benefits of coconut oil and reading some science articles reporting its behaviour, results and info about coconut oil and hair back at the time.

[meteor]

^ Oh yes! It would be so awesome to see some coconut oil specific research in conjunction with peroxide, e.g. similar to what was done with coconut oil pre-wash when it was demonstrated that it reduced keratin loss during washing/combing (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12715094).

Something like: a few strands bleached (some pre-soaked in coconut/argan oil, others not) would show it.
I couldn't find the specific P&G research ktani mentioned, but some references talk about the importance of controlling radicals (http://216.35.217.118/assets/files/n...XIII_FINAL.pdf), chelating copper, iron, calcium and how it's even more important for damaged hair (http://www.pg.com/en_US/downloads/in...tiox_final.pdf).

When copper-containing hair is exposed to UV-light or color treatments, free radicals are produced that degrade hair’s vital protein structure, leading to protein deficiency. What’s more, this can be a vicious cycle of damage, as the more copper present in hair, the more damage can occur to the hair shaft. Increased damage to the hair shaft results in additional copper uptake.
(...)
Pantene Scientists have found that damaged hair can intake higher levels of copper compared to hair that is not damaged. The presence of existing damage on hair and copper in hair sends hair into a vicious cycle of copper damage that current products do not address.
It’s a vicious cycle — the more damaged hair becomes, the more copper it can absorb, and the more free radicals can be produced. The result? Broken protein fragments leak from the hair fiber. Hair becomes more porous and protein deficient.

(http://appstaging.pantene.com/en-US/...etox-your-hair)

But I think they already incorporate this research into their products (e.g. hair dyes or Pantene Antioxidant line with EDDS - for chelating), and they don't say that specifically coconut oil or argan oil does it, so it would be great to experiment with.
I would think that manufacturers would immediately jump on this simple opportunity and sell pre-bleach kits with coconut/argan oils and fragrance, but I haven't seen this development, though many dyes do contain oils (GF Olia comes to mind as one of many)...


With pre-bleach coconut oil soaks, did you notice that your hair felt better in the long run as well, Zenity? Or did it sort of wear off?