While now may be one of the best times to level up your DIY beauty endeavors (yasss, clay masks!), it can also be fun to treat yo’self by “bringing the hair salon home” with the help of a ~fancy~ professional at-home hair treatment.
(And yes, while there are certainly more important things one could be reading about, we’re bringing you a little bit of fluffy beauty content because we all need a break from the news from time to time, mais oui?). Okay, back to our scheduled programming.
Virtual simulation of my dangerous liaisons with my curling wand. Help!
There are countless professional hair treatment options to choose from, but the one I’d like to gratuitously wax poetic about is Olaplex Hair Perfector #3. Once only available as a service in select salons, the Hair Perfector is now here for us non-professionals at your neighborhood online Sephora and the like.
It’s Time to Rebuild Bonds!
This innovative treatment differs from your average hair masque in a few significant ways.
First, it’s not a deep conditioner (I love those, too) but rather a “bond builder” that works by relinking “the broken disulfide bonds caused by chemical, thermal, and mechanical damage to the hair.” In English: this treatment is designed to strengthen hair from the inside. This structural repair helps hair appear healthier and boast a more beautiful and manageable texture. Very science 😉
Second, Hair Perfector No. 3 is used before shampooing. After wetting and towel-drying hair, the treatment is applied to damp strands for a minimum of 10 minutes before shampooing and conditioning as usual. In theory, you could go really go all out and use a deep conditioning treatment to follow your Olaplex treatment, my my. It can be used between one and three times a week (depending on how much attention your damaged hair needs).
Truth be told, the mildly annoying wetting-hair-towel-drying-hair-applying-treatment-hopping-back-in-the-shower routine is a recipe for extra drippage on the bathroom floor, so please, no slippage.
Olaplex Hair Perfector No. 3—Vegan and Cruelty-Free!
My Experience with Olaplex No. 3 Hair Treatment
The situ: Although I stopped dyeing my hair over a year ago, because my hair is long, there’s still plenty of color-treated lengths left—and they’re more vulnerable to damage of heat styling and everyday wear and tear. I purchased a bottle several months ago when I noticed that my color-treated ends looked rather worn down—and felt too much like straw than I am willing to endure. I drew a hard line in the sand with the strawyness, folks.
If I’m perfectly honest, I don’t use the treatment very much—I’m talking once every few months—because I am so busy chasing after my toddler while trying to get work done, that very often, an extra 10 minutes simply isn’t in the cards! But now I may have a wee bit more time on my hands. Plus, before I stopped leaving the house, I had reignited my love affair with my curling wand (and my hair hasn’t been too thrilled about it). Therefore, I plan to reach for my Olapex Hair Perfector No. 3 a little more often. I will be impressed if I manage once a month—motherhood standards, you know. But even infrequent usage is okay!
Because it works. Particularly for damaged hair—heat damage, coloring damage, etc.
As you might expect, No. 3 doesn’t leave hair feeling ultra slippery, like many of those buttery, silicone-based deep conditioners. But I notice that as I wash it out, my hair feels healthier, and I can almost feel the shine as the Olaplex leaves my hair (#feeltheshine). I appreciate that a little goes a long way and that I experience an improvement with single treatments.
Let’s hear it for the little things that bring a smile!
Have you tried a bond-building hair treatment? Let us know in the comments below!
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Photo: Jonathan Borba via Unsplash, Olaplex
