Olaplex: what it actually does and what it does not

No, Olaplex is not a conditioner, and it will not undo years of damage. It is a bond builder, and it does one specific job: it repairs the disulphide bonds inside your hair that bleach and lightener break apart. Genuinely useful in the right situation, and a waste of money in the wrong one. Here is how to tell which one you are in.

The short version

• Olaplex is a bond builder, not a conditioner and not a moisturiser.

• It repairs disulphide bonds broken by bleach, lightener and permanent colour.

• It will not repair split ends or make your hair grow.

• No.3 is a pre-shampoo home treatment, not a weekly conditioning mask.

• Bleached or lightened hair benefits most. Virgin uncoloured hair barely needs it.

What Olaplex actually does

Your hair is mostly keratin, and keratin is held together by disulphide bonds. Think of them as tiny sulphur links running through every strand. Those links are what give your hair its strength and its shape.

When we lighten hair, the bleach breaks a percentage of those links. That is not us being heavy handed, it is simply what lightener does to hair, and the chemistry is well covered in the published research on hair cosmetics. Break enough of them and hair goes stretchy when wet, rough when dry, and snaps when you brush it.

Olaplex works by finding those broken links and reconnecting them. That is why it goes into the bleach bowl with the lightener rather than being slapped on at the end. It is working while the damage is happening, not tidying up afterwards.

What Olaplex does not do

It does not repair split ends. Nothing does. Once a strand has split, the only fix is scissors, and anyone selling you a bottle that mends them is selling you conditioner with clever marketing.

It does not moisturise either. Bond building and moisture are two separate problems, and plenty of hair has both at once. If yours feels dry and straw-like, a bond builder on its own will not sort it. You need moisture going in as well.

Heat damage is a different problem again. Straighteners at 230 degrees cook the outside of the strand, and while a bond builder helps a little, it is not the answer. Turning the temperature down is.

Growth is the last one. Olaplex will not make your hair grow faster, it will not stop hair loss, and it will not let us take you from box black to platinum in one appointment. It buys us a safety margin during lightening. It does not remove the limit.

Salon Olaplex and the bottle in your shower are not the same thing

No.1 and No.2 are salon only. No.1 goes into the lightener, No.2 goes on after we rinse and sits for a while before shampoo. That is the part doing the heavy lifting, and it happens in the chair.

No.3 is the home one, and most people use it wrong. It is a pre-shampoo treatment. Damp towel-dried hair, work it through, leave it ten minutes, then shampoo and condition as normal. Leaving it on overnight does not make it work harder.

If you have been using it in place of your conditioner, you are skipping the step your hair probably needs more.

Can you overdo it? Yes

Clients come in with hair that feels stiff and brittle and assume the answer is more treatment. Often it is the opposite. Hair getting a bond builder three times a week with no moisture behind it ends up feeling worse.

Once a week is plenty for most people, and less than that if your hair is not lightened. Virgin uncoloured hair has very few broken bonds to repair, so you are mostly paying for a nice looking bottle in your shower.

One more thing worth saying. Olaplex is a brand, not a category. K18, Redken Acidic Bonding and a few others do a similar job. If your stylist has put you on a different bond builder, you have not been fobbed off.

When it is worth paying for

If you are booked in for balayage at £70 to £85, full foils at £70 to £85, or any lightening service, bond protection during the appointment is worth having. Ask what is included when you book, because it varies by service and I would rather tell you than have you guess.

If you are in for a toner refresh at £35 to £40, a cut and finish at £42 to £55, or a blow dry, you almost certainly do not need it. The full price list is on our services page if you want to see where your appointment sits.

Sabrina, Sheree and I will tell you when a treatment is not going to do anything for you. Selling somebody a product that cannot fix their problem is a quick way to lose them.

Call us on 01582 730381 or book online. We are at Shop 660, Jansel House, Hitchin Rd, Stopsley, Luton LU2 7XH, open Tuesday and Wednesday 10 to 8, Thursday 10 to 6, Friday 10 to 3 and Saturday 10 to 4:30. Klarna is available if you want to spread the cost.