Long time no see! I know when Olaplex first came out, before the MSDS sheets and ingredients lists were available, I was extremely curious and extremely skeptical. Well, let me 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 at least 25 copycats 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. Comissioned to develop this brand new ingredient by Olaplex CEO, Dean Christal.
Olaplex has only one active ingredient, Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate. This is an entirely new chemistry with 8 pending worldwide patents. Olaplex is a single active ingredient, Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate. This single active ingredient has two reactive ends that 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. No.1 is the concentrate - 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 diluted with 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 - 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 the how and why of Olaplex. When a disulfide bond is broken, it turns into two single sulfur hydrogen bonds. The first reaction that can happen is this single sulfur hydrogen will pair with an oxygen molecule and that will be a perfect pair. That's a good reaction. The second reaction that takes place is what Olaplex works to prevent. This single sulfur hydrogen will pair with 3 oxygen molecules 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 also why Olaplex is effective as a treatment as it finds single sulfur hydrogen bonds and cross links them back together to form disulfide bonds. During the process, Olaplex works by coupling with the single sulfur hydrogen bonds faster than the 3 oxygen molecules can preventing the negative reaction.
This is entirely different than any other product out there and the only one capable of doing this. Olaplex is free of silicone, sulfates, phthalates, DEA, aldehydes, formaldehyde, gluten and peroxide. There are links to the MSDS sheets that list all ingredient on the olaplex website. Log in, go to FAQs and scroll all the way to the bottom.Olaplex is actually 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 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.
The next best thing you could possibly use to minimize damage when lightening or using oxidative color is using PURE coconut oil as a pre treatment. Not surface, coating oils or film forming ingredients that do absolutely nothing to actually minimize damage. All those things do is give a false appearance of health. They wash out, then the true condition is revealed.
Honestly Olaplex is one of a kind. Everything else is false advertising. There is absolutely nothing else that can actually link bonds, They are all just temporary filming ingredients. If not using Olaplex, the next best, safest thing to use is coconut oil as a pre treatment to minimize damage. Leave it in a minimum of 15 minutes, ideally 2 hours, then apply your oxidative color/bleach right over it. It needs time to absorb into the hair so that the Lauric acid can bind to the keratin bonds and chelate/minimize the damage. It won't just coat the hair and give a false appearance of health, it is actually chemically/structurally minimizing damage.
Here's ingredients in Brazilian Bond Builder, who is pushing this product hardin attempts to compete with Olaplex. Chemically, there is no competition to Olaplex, because there is nothing else that can chemically do what Olaplex does. The copycats claim to build bonds, hence the name of this one in particular, but it in fact does not build bonds, nor does any other product on earth besides Olaplex.
Ingredients in Brazilian Bond Builder (aka B3)
-Dimethyl isosorbide: water miscible organic solvent that may penetrate skin
-PPG-3 Benzyl Ether Myristate: artificial oil used as a silicone replacement
-Hydrogenated castor oil / sebacic acid copolymer: oligo ester for coating hair, does not repair bonds, similar to silicone and possibly heavier
-Benzyl alcohol: solvent
-Tocopheryl acetate: vitamin E acetate
-Tocopherol phenol: vitamin E derivative
-Argan oil: if there's metal deposits in the hair it does help chelate the reaction that causes to the hair, helps keep hair moist
-Jojoba, sunflower and apricot oils: coat hair and do not minimize damage nor cross link bonds
-Herbal extracts to round it out. None are capable of minimizing damage or cross linking disulfide bonds.
Not only do I love Olaplex as a product, but I love Olaplex as a company, and the Olaplex team. They are completely transparent about their chemistry and don't have to lie about anything. The chemistry speaks for itself. The team is always, ALWAYS willing to answer any and all questions about Olaplex Use, ingredients, other products claiming to be like Olaplex, they will literally list every ingredient in whichever product your asking about andexplain each and every ingredient for you.
Here's the instructions for using Olaplex alone or with lightener/color/perms/relaxes/keratin treatments etc. It also has the MSDS sheets at the bottom, in case you have any allergies
http://www.olaplex.com/pages/faqThere's a salon locator on the Olaplex site, and if anyone has any problems locating Olaplex or wants Olaplex, please do not hesitate to ask. Everyone should be able to experience this amazing, revolutionary product, everyone can benefit from it.
Here's some before and after photos too, which you can find hundreds and thousands of examples online:
