WHAT IS OLAPLEX?
Allow me to explain what Olaplex is. It is freaking awesome! It doesn't coat the hair, it doesn't leave any product behind, it's not a temporary filler, it's impossible to overuse, it's impossible for it to not work, be it hair on your head that's curly, straight, damaged, coarse, fine, resistant, beard hair, hell even armpit hair or pubic hair if you feel so inclined lol. I've even had clients use it on their horses and dogs for shows. There IS nothing else like Olaplex, there are about 30 wannabes that have arisen since Olaplex came out, and none have the chemistry to back their (false) claims.
Olaplex was developed by two of the world's leading PHD's in Materials and Chemistry that had never worked on hair products before, Dr. Eric Pressly and Dr. Craig Hawker. Commissioned to develop this brand new ingredient by Olaplex CEO, Dean Christal.
Olaplex is not a conditioner. It works internally. Moisture and protein are external issues that should be addressed separately. It is meant to work with the shampoos conditioners and treatments you already love.
Olaplex has only one active ingredient, Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate. This is an entirely new chemistry to the industry with 8 patents worldwide. Olaplex is a single active ingredient, Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate. This single active ingredient has two reactive ends that through ionic and covalent bonding, cross link single sulfur hydrogen bonds to form disulfide bonds before, during and after a process. No.2 and No.3 have additives just for cream form but still use that as the primary ingredient for the chemistry to take effect.
Olaplex is designed as a system and there are reasons for all of the parts.
OLAPLEX- #1-#2-#3
No.1 is the concentrate, it's Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate in a water base.
Added to your color or lightener to prevent from color fading and to prevent excessive damage when bleaching, or to use as a stand alone treatment.
No.2 is Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate in a cream additive to use as a treatment afterwards. It is not a conditioner, activator or neutralizer. Use this as a treatment to repair the bonds that were broken during the service. By using this alone, you are not working against any other chemical such as color or bleach. All its doing is finding single bonds in the hair and pairing them. The more paired bonds in the hair you have, the stronger and healthier the hair is.
No.3 is a slightly diluted form of the no.2 (Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate with a creme base). This is available for the public to buy from a salon or stylist, to use for at home treatments. Great for maintenance and repair Here's a quick explanation on what Olaplex does and how it functions chemically to change the actual molecular structure of the hair. Via a combination of ionic and covalent bonding, it pairs and cross links back together a broken disulfide bond's single sulfur hydrogen molecule ends with a single oxygen molecule.
Covalent bonding is stronger, but it breaks easily in the hair, and when it breaks, it's broken forever. Ionic bonding is still strong but relinks to other ionic bonds when they break constantly reforming new links. This is part of the Olaplex technology that is permanent.
HOW DAMAGE OCCURS:
Without using Olaplex, this is how damage occurs: When a disulfide bond is broken, it turns into a single sulfur hydrogen bonds, free thoils. Then later in time, those thoils oxidize: 50% of the broken disulfide bond's sulfur hydrogen ends will pair with 3 oxygen molecules (that is the oxidation) and create SO3 or what is known as a sulfate group. This sulfate group will then go on to create cystic acid. Cystic acid will then eat the protein out of the hair.
As this reaction does not happen immediately, this is why Olaplex is effective using as a separate treatment alone from any chemical services, as it takes the broken disulfide bond's single sulfur hydrogen ends and through ionic and covalent bonding, cross links them back together with a single oxygen molecule, to form a disulfide bond that actually is stronger than what naturally occurs. By using Olaplex, it creates more bonds in the hair because when we put linkage between sulfur hydrogen bonds, whether we are interrupting good or bad, we are putting more of a bond and increasing the mass. This is why Olaplex is called a bond multiplier.
When using Olaplex during a chemical process, Olaplex works the same way, by coupling the single sulfur hydrogen bonds with a single oxygen molecule via ionic and covalent bonding, faster than the 3 oxygen molecules can, preventing the negative reaction. It works the exact same way whether you're using it alone as a treatment, or using it mixed in with a chemical process.
This is entirely different than any other product out there and the only one capable of doing this. Olaplex is free of silicones, sulfates, phthalates, DEA, aldehydes, formaldehyde, gluten and peroxide.
Olaplex is the only product on the market that can actually cross link bonds. All the other copycats and products that claim to "build bonds" or "reconstruct" or "repair", don't.
They just coat the hair, mask damage, make you think hair is healthier than it actually is. They're nothing but temporary filming ingredients that once they wear/fade out, then you can see the hair's true condition, like with coating ingredients like silicones, artificial copolymers, etc. They do nothing for the hair besides coat it, giving a false appearance of health, hindering or completely blocking beneficial ingredients from working properly if at all. And if you heat style, these things can melt into the hair in a manner of like when you dip your hand in paraffin wax. Once these coating ingredients are removed, then you can see the hair's true condition, which often is a very unpleasant surprise. You can think you have the healthiest hair in the world because of these ingredients. Ever had this happen where the hair feels great, looks great, then you lighten it and it's way more damaged than you thought it would be? That's because the hair has been constantly coated, like varnish on a piece of wood. Of course most products do have beneficial ingredients that the hair still needs like ingredients for moisture and protein, but none of these things are capable of changing the structure of the hair or repairing it. Chemically, from a factual scientific standpoint, Olaplex is the only product capable of cross linking disulfide bonds.
Tatiana Zvagelski,
your hair stylist
