olaplex revisited

theres a small vague section in the FAQs saying that the effects of olaplex are permanent, still not convinced i believe it though.

"What will happen if i use Olaplex a few times on compromised hair then stop?

Will the bonds that were created eventually break and cause my hair to then break? This question is asked often and the answer is no. Even if you completely stop using Olaplex, the protection that Olaplex offered is permanent."

http://www.olaplex.com/pages/faq-public

Hmmm.  I have seen vague mentions about this product on the internet, but not done any real research into it at all, mainly because now that my hair is in dreads, I'm not too bothered about the minimal damage from dyeing my roots every couple of months.  However, my usual thoughts on things such as this are 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.'  But then, like Janine, when it comes to claims of beauty & hair products, I am a huge sceptic!

Ionic bonds are much easily broken than covalent bonds therefore my assumption is that it is not permanent but more "permanent" in the sense that box dyes are permanent. i.e., the bonds will break but slowly so it wont be noticeable if the product is continuously used.

^Exactly, nothing is truly permanent. You can't expect to use Olaplex and then suddenly have indestructible hair. The reconnected bonds will stay bonded as long as you don't continue to do damaging things to your hair. But the Olaplex bonds are just as easily broken as the ones the hair was born with, so to speak. I see most stylists say that they have the most success with it in their bleach to keep the hair healthy while processing, as opposed to trying to fix damage that has already happened.

The step 3 up-sell is part of what had me so suspicious.  BabyJ thank you for sharing your experiences!

When I'm questioning the permanence, I'm not saying because I imagine it'd be indestructible. But it's the fact I suspect it washes out with normal washing etc. I want more than that if I'm paying so damn much for it. The fact they send you home with part three makes me think it does wash out or the bonds break for whatever other reason.

But you know what, that guy Tang makes out like you can do whatever you want to the hair as often as you want, as long as OLAPLEX!! The company seem to be ok with that message being pushed.

Guy Tang is not a representative of Olaplex, and has no link to the company other than he likes/uses their products. I do think he is doing the brand a disservice making out it is a miracle product, when obviously it has its limits.
I have my Olaplex now and it clearly states on the box "Be cautious and use your professional common sense. Do not process hair with Olaplex that you would normally not process without Olaplex."
For damaged hair they recommend using the stand alone treatment first, to strengthen the hair before considering any processing. It can only work if there are enough bonds in the hair to link back together. It doesn't create the bonds, just links them back together, so if the hair is very damaged there won't be enough broken bonds for it to act on.

Ok, so he's not even being provided with product? He uses so much I had just assumed he was being given product. I didn't think he was a rep, or employed by them.

Do you have just part three or all parts?

I have number one and number two.
As far as I am aware Guy Tang has no links to the company at all, at least he didn't a year or so ago when he first started pushing it, according to the owner of Olaplex

I found it in the UK on Ebay. I ended up buying it. I might regret it when it turns out to be fake lol

Gah I want to try it now. Holy crap it costs so much 🙁

I'm curious - how much does it cost in £££'s?  I could just google it, but hey, I'm being lazy!

Also posted in the other recent thread about this...

It is real and I've used it now. My hair isn't dry yet, but yes, it has done what others said it would. My hair feels soft and in much better condition and the curls have come back again (the bleach powder and oil thing managed to also kill the curl structure again, as well as the yellowness, even though it felt better than before!).

I'm still on the fence about long term though and how long it will last etc. I'm still not totally convinced, frustratingly enough 😉

BabyJ and Wicked Pixie are totally correct. Olaplex is not a permanent fix, it cross links broken disulfide bonds back together to how they naturally are, there's no difference in structure in the bonds that are still naturally unbroken and the cross linked, repaired Bonds from Olaplex. it's all the same. It's returning the hair to a non damaged state. And as WP said, you have to still have those broken bonds in the hair to be able to cross link them back together. If you've melted off large areas and there's huge areas just missing, well how is it supposed to cross link anything back together if those broken bonds aren't even present to begin with?

And Guy Tang. Oy. He is such a loudmouth. He does way too much babbling about things he doesn't know enough about. Because of him, so many stylists think that "oh if I use Olaplex I'll never break the hair!" Which is totally false. okay so you're going to put bleach and 40vol on an already pale yellow base in efforts to remove a direct dye  (Which we all know is wrong anyways) and NOT expecting the hair to disintegrate just because you're using Olaplex?  No. Or like the video of GT using a color remover on a DD and the color returned when he bleached it (immediately after, ugh), and he was all "LyKe OmG! Paranormal Hairtivity!" God just shut up Guy Tang, seriously lol. He just puts out a lot of half educated information, like he just skimmed some information and ran with it.

And it doesn't fade out or wear off, because there is nothing to fade out or wear off. Olaplex doesn't leave anything behind in or on the hair, when you rinse it out that's it,it's gone, it's your bare hair. I know it's kind of hard to grasp the concept of it, we are all familiar with proteins filling the hair or coating it, silicones, artificial copolymers coating the hair, most oils just coating the hair, when we think of products, especially ones that claim to reconstruct/build bonds, we think of what ingredients are being added to the hair, that can build up, wear off, etc. Olaplex is unlike this though, it's not something that fills or coats, it's the active ingredient Bis-aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate that penetrates throughout the hair, causing the broken disulfide bonds of our hair's actual molecular structure, to cross link back together. This ingredient makes the disulfide bonds repair themselves, it's not filling them or coating them temporarily or at all.

@Janine your last post came up as I was typing this, i am so glad you tried it! The results are just that, your results. These bonds, just like your existing, unbroken bonds, have no difference. So if you bleach, brush, heat style etc, they can break just like the rest of your bonds. They aren't indestructible. Bonds get broken every day from anything from friction on your pillowcase or collar to chemical processes, etc. So these results can't just "wear off" or fade out, your bonds are linked back together just the same as the still naturally intact, unbroken bonds you have. They get damaged exactly the same as the rest of your hair, there is no difference. The awesome thing about Olaplex is that it's impossible to over usr, because there is no product buildup, there is nothing foreign left behind, it's your hair's structure and that's it. So you can continue using Olaplex to repair the daily bonds breakage we all encounter, and having a more structurally sound foundation from Olaplex, hair doesn't get damaged as easily, it doesn't dry out as easily either as damaged, porous hair with a bunch of broken disulfide bonds. Yours get repaired every time you use Olaplex.

Like, when I first started using it my hair wasn't in bad shape but it definitely felt far from virgin. I did a stand alone treatment, it felt better, i did a couple more, it felt even better, i started retaining moisture longer, my hair wasn't getting as tangled, my hair felt virgin again, like when I was a kid. From there on its just maintenance to keep it that way. I repaired my accumulated damage, got my hair back to a virgin feeling state after about 4 treatments which I did over a few days, and I just do a treatment every couple weeks now to repair any little damage I may accumulate from everyday stuff.

I mean, long, long term 🙂 affects of repeated use over many years etc. any other side affects. I think it's probably too soon to say we can never over use. i shouldn't have said how long it will last as I didn't actually mean that! I think my fingers are slightly on auto typing mode as I'm tired and peed off at life today!

I know you probably think I'm just being awkward, but I just don't trust anything fully. Don't worry about explaining it again to me, I do understand the concept, honest 🙂