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Crowning glory
Date: 27 september 2018

Breathe deep—all your hair colour fantasies might now come true thanks to this colour protectant like no other. Here’s an introduction to the worldwide craze that is Olaplex - By Parizaad Khan Sethi

As brunettes, most of us have had hair colour struggles when we want to go lighter. We live in a perpetual cycle of disappointment when we go to the salon with reference pictures and the stylist rules out sun kissed highlights, balayage and pastel hair trends because of the serious trauma it takes to get brown or black hair to that colour.

So it’s no wonder that hair colourists wept real tears of joy on our behalf when Olaplex was introduced into the salon-only professional hair colour market a few years ago. Without getting too Dexter’s Laboratory, Olaplex started as an in-salon multi-step treatment that helps reconnect disulphide bonds in our hair that are broken when chemical processes like hair colour are performed. These broken bonds are what result in damaged hair. With Olaplex, stylists were able to perform more ambitious colour jobs with less damage.

But there’s even better news. We’re using Olaplex’s at-home systems to extend our colour care, and in some cases, help us recover from other chemical treatments like Keratin, relaxing, and straightening. Even garden variety hot tool damage is not spared.

Here’s how it works:

Olaplex Hair Perfector No. 3 is a pre-wash treatment that contains the same ingredient found in the in-salon products No. 1 and No. 2, which helps build back those broken bonds. It’s the first step in the home regimen and should be applied and left on the hair for 10 minutes or longer. It then needs to be rinsed off, followed by a shampoo and condition.
Olaplex Shampoo No. 4 is built with mild, colour-safe sulfates derived from coconuts, that will cleanse without stripping the hair. Additionally, it has flake-busting ingredients so those with flaky scalps and chemically treated hair won’t need to use harsh dandruff shampoos which strip hair colour. The shampoo and conditioner also contain a smaller percentage of the original ingredient (tongue-twistingly called Bis-Aminoprophyl Diglycol Dimaleate, in case anyone was curious).
Olaplex Conditioner No.5 Finally, lock in moisture and hydration with this conditioner containing plant extracts that help keep colour on longer and protect from sun damage. In addition, there’s and avocado oil and açai berry extract to nourish and promote hair growth. It all sounds like a smoothie add-on, full of superfoods, but we’re saving it for our heads instead.
crowning glory
Parizaad Khan Sethi

is a beauty and wellness editor based in New York. She was the former beauty editor at Vogue India and now serves as a contributing editor for the magazine. At age 5, Parizaad fell in love with an old cream blush she found in the back of her mother’s drawer, and has been in awe of the transformative power of beauty ever since. When she’s not writing about beauty, she researches advances in skincare as a hobby, and is constantly guinea-pigging herself in the name of beauty.

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