Olaplex hair treatment

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  • #92690
    clb13
    Member

    I’ve recently started bleaching my hair and my stylist introduced me to a new treatment for damaged hair called Olaplex; the company claims their products repair broken bonds in the hair. Could you throw some light on this?

    #96928
    RandyS
    Member

    We’ve talked about this before: 

    http://thebeautybrains.com/bbforum/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/1577/#Comment_1577

    Here’s a recap of my answer: 
    Olaplex is a 3 step process that is said to rebond/repair hair. As far as I can tell (mostly from the examples in the patent) it looks like they’re chemically treating hair (perming and coloring, mostly) and using Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate as the neutralizer instead of hydrogen peroxide. The idea is that the dimaleate will link to free thiol groups in the hair and leave it in better condition (less breakage, etc.)

    I checked with a friend of mine who’s an expert on perming and relaxing and here’s what he had to say: 

    “I think your basic analysis is correct. However, no where in the patent examples do they provide any data about strengthening the hair (the effect of re-forming more bonds than peroxide), and all of their results are more anecdotas – “hair looked less frizzy”, “there appeared to be less breakage”, etc. 

    I’m sure the chemistry is relatively valid, I’m just not sure that the results are valid. In my esteemed opinion, it’s just another way to play into the fears (and actual) regarding damage of the hair during the permanent waving or straightening process and selling products to make a lot of money. 

    I think that the patent shows a real lack of understanding regarding the entire process of coloring the hair. While coloring does damage the hair and they may be able to reform some bonds that are broken during the coloring process, hair coloring is usually not a reduction process and the purpose of the peroxide is not to reform bonds (-S-S-), but rather to bleach the natice color and polymerize the dye intermediates. In short  – I would put this stuff in the category of “More useless products for which you can charge money”.”

    I know this isn’t a definitive answer but I hope it helps. 
    #96974
    clb13
    Member

    Thanks! It’s so unsettling not knowing what to believe-your blog is just what I’ve been searching for :)

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