Hi, my names Charl and I’m an at home hair dye junkie who doesn’t believe in the term “too ginger”.  

But that desire to be a ginger beacon of light does not come without a cost. If you’ve ever had a red hued hair colour you’ll have been accustomed to the two week fade period where your hair loses the intensity and vibrancy it had when it was freshly dyed.  Due to this, I’m guilty of topping up my colour fairly regularly to ensure my hair is always at its most ginger (or “orange” as some may say) and although it means my hair always looks bright, the chemicals used to carry out the colouring process can leave my hair damaged and lacking in health and shine.

Any kind of permanent hair colouring process uses hydrogen peroxide to help develop the color.  This means that the cuticle layer is raised to enable the penetration of the hair shaft by the color molecules.  The problem with that is once you’ve disturbed the cuticle and as such you’ve already begun damaging the hair as the cuticle is not meant to be lifted up.  This damage is multiplied when you introduce bleach to the hair: we’ve all heard the horror stories of hair that has been so overprocessed that it resembles a chewing gum like texture.

Once hair has been too severely damaged, there is nothing that can be done to reverse it, all you can hope to do is minimise the appearance of the damage.

Enter Olaplex.  If you ever wished you could inject your hair with magic and help to repair your hair as you dye it in the hopes of it becoming more damaged after colour processing then you’re in luck.  This new wonder product is making its way exclusively into salons around the UK such as Toni & Guy and is sure to revolutionise the colouring process.  Hair colours can be lifted from light to dark  to give your hair a healing hand to prevent any further damage of the hair.

Olaplex is part of a three step process which comprises of  Olaplex No. 1 Bond Multiplier, Olaplex No. 2 Bond Perfector and Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector.

Olaplex is a bond multiplier containing a single active ingredient, Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate. Olaplex works by finding single sulfur hydrogen bonds and cross linking them back together to form disulfide bonds before, during and after services. Disulfide bonds are broken via chemical, thermal, and mechanical processes.

Sounds complicated, right?

Essentially, Olaplex reconnects broken disulfide sulfur bonds in the hair in a number of steps that can be easily integrated into your current salon colouring routine.

Olaplex No. 1  Bond Multiplier is typically mixed in with the colour mixture or bleach which is used to dye the hair.  No. 1 can also be used as a stand alone treatment.  No. 2 Bond Perfector is applied post treatment and left on the hair for as long as possible.  No.3 Hair Protector an at home product from Olaplex to be used once a week to boost the strength of the hair, or to be used as a pre-treatment to chemical colouring services.

Olaplex doesn’t mean that your hair can be processed indefinitely, nor does it mean that it will miraculously repair already over processed and damaged hair since it does rely on your hair still having enough structure to actually be re-bonded. However, it might be able to extend the amount of times you can bleach/dye your hair in one sitting to lift colour from dark to light since you don’t need to wait for the cuticle to tighten back up.I was invited along to Toni & Guy Newcastle Under Lyme to put Olaplex through its paces and to see whether it lived upto expectations. After a chat with my lovely colourist Tom, he applied a mixture of a Olpalex No.1 to a Wella Magma shade to the roots of my hair (to top up my already bright do) which was then worked through the lengths and rinsed.  Enough colour processing for one day?  Perhaps before Olaplex.  Tom then used a mixture of the No.1 Bond Protector and a 12% peroxide mix and hand painted a balayage through my hair.  As balayage is as individual to a persons hair as say, a fingerprint, Tom worked to create a balayage to give my fine hair the appearance of more texture.  The mix of the Magma colour and the bleach meant that my hair lifted to a subtle peach tone which was enhanced after rinsing with a peach toner.  Olaplex No.2 was then applied to the entirety  of my hair, combed through and left to penetrate as my stylist Steve refreshed my angled bob and added a sweeping side fringe.

So does Olaplex live up to the expectations?  Absolutely.  Even after washing and styling my fine hair that had been feeling a little bit under the weather lately felt stronger and so much smoother, even after washing and styling at home my hair didn’t show the tell tale signs of colouring and bleaching.  The lengths of my hair untouched by the balayage have held it’s vibrant orange shade where I would usually experience significant fading.