Olaplex is an incredibly hyped product in the hairdressing world right now, it repairs the sulfur bonds in the hair and makes you e.g. can bleach brown hair completely blonde without getting damaged. But is Olaplex good or bad for your hair?
I have tested it on my hair and got a super soft and wonderful result! My hairdresser Monica Werner always use it when she bleaches hair and bleached a customer for several hours (6 I think it was) and the hair quality felt even better after bleaching, crazy!
But I have also talked to hairdressers who think that hair becomes hard and strive for olaplex, and I read in the comments on Elin Johansson's hairdressing blog that a person had his hair destroyed by it, to which Elin replied that she had heard it from more hairdressers and would have a meeting with Olaplex about this, and that she had actually stopped using the product for the time being for that reason.
After my hairology education, I have thought a lot about this, and have talked to one of Sweden's Olaplex technicians regarding what this may be due to.
What are sulfur bonds and how can they be repaired?
The sulfur bonds are in the second layer of the hair, ie inside the hair and it is there that you do chemical treatments such as color and permanent. These sulfur bonds consist of amino acids, and you can repair damaged sulfur bonds by adding just pure amino acids for a building effect.
Amino acids are protein and make hair strong and durable.
Does Olaplex work?
Olaplex also repairs these sulfur bonds, but not with amino acids, but it works! On the one hand, Olaplex links damaged bonds together, while at the same time preventing the proteins in the hair from being "eaten up" during treatments.
Why does Olaplex not work as well on certain hairs?
There are two types of hair, hydrophilic and hydrophobic. This is what hairology is all about. Hydrophilic hair contains a lot of moisture, but is more elastic than strong and therefore becomes quite weak. It needs more strength, and where do you get strength for your hair? Protein! Bleached hair is often hydrophilic, and needs much more strength, then Olaplex is a good idea.
Hydrophobic hair, on the other hand, has more strength than elasticity (ie more protein than moisture) and needs moisture and not protein. So, if you have many and strong sulfur bonds, the hair can feel stiff and tight. There does not have to be anything wrong with that.
If you then do an Olaplex treatment on a phobic hair, what happens then? Well, it may be that the hair gets even more sulfur bonds and strength and can therefore feel hard afterwards.
Do you follow? If you have hair that has a little protein (strength), olaplex works well. But if you already have protein-rich hair that is already strong, then can it feels hard after olaplex.
How to know if you have hydrophilic or hydrophobic hair?
It is not possible to see / feel the hair to determine this, because it is inside the hair. Without having to do a hair test with a device that you can do in salons that work with Hairology.
Hairology Intensive Cure is a hair wrap that builds up chemically treated and damaged hair using silk amino acids, RNA and vitamin complexes. And with this you repair the sulfur bonds in the hair, it is super good!
Have you tested Olaplex, and how did you experience it? As I said, it worked really well for me, and I have hydrophilic hair.
Olaplex is available for purchase at e.g. Eleven.se (adlink)
Shout out if you have any questions! ♥
Also read: Permanent hair before and after
English 
Swedish 
Spanish 
Jag har använt olaplex shampo och balsam och olja. Jag har tunnt hår. Jag tycker att jag får fett hår efter 2 dagar vilket jag inte haft innan. Hur kommer det sig?
Mitt hår blev ett stelt, spikrakt och oelastiskt hår efter första behandlingen. Helt platt och elektriskt. 1000:- i sjön, men nu har jag provat iallafall. Hoppas jag får ordning på det igen!
Hello
I have a lot of hair loss. I have bought Olaplex no 4 and 5 but have not used them yet. Are they good for hair loss too?
SINCERELY
Roya
Hey! If your hair drops from your scalp, Olaplex does not help against hair loss. But if you lose hair because it falls out because it is brittle (eg due to bleaching) then Olaplex can help! :)
I naturally have quite fine hair with thin light brown strands; classic "Nordic" hair, though slightly curly. I was going to put on loops when my hairdresser suggested an olaplex treatment and because it looked caring and good for the hair I drove on. Hair quality has never been so bad since. It feels tight and rough and all elasticity is gone. I have super hard hair straightening; it "clumps" (a little dreadlock-like) and I need to brush for a long time to sort it out. It feels awful! Because I am plump and have thin hair, the olaplex treatment and bleaching was catastrophic for me. I'm afraid I need to cut my hair. Now trying to tame it with wraps and to brush only when it is wet. :( never intend to dye my hair again.
You need to do a keratin treatment with K18 at a hairdresser, because it is the keratin in your otherwise healthy hair that needs to be replenished. Your hair seems to have been healthy from the beginning and then olaplex does the opposite, instead of helping, it collapsed. Do not cut your hair, go to the hairdresser and do a K18 treatment, it costs about SEK 300 to do so you will see that your hair will be as before.
Hey!
I have bleached my hair so half my hair fell out. So now I have to take care of my hair until I can do something more with my hair. I have now bought olaplex 3.4, and 5 homes. Have now used it twice. In a week. First time. It became soft and with a little shine. But the second time it was dry and fresh in the tops. Now I dare not use it anymore. Afraid that my hair will be destroyed even more :(
Hi Sofie! If your hair is so damaged by bleaching that it falls off, you may need to secretly start with strengthening products. At least if we talk as invigoratingly as Olaplex or Hairology. Because if the hair is so weak, it can feel hard to add lots of strength at once - even though it is really just the strength that the hair needs. We do not sell Hairology at creativemakeup.se anymore, but I would recommend you to go to a hair specialist and do a hair test. Had it been my hair, I would have 1. deep cleansed the hair from silicones 2. cared for the hair with both moisture and proteins (a little more protein) in the beginning and 3. only when you have increased the hair density a little more, you can add more protein to the hair to build strength again. Good luck! :)
Hey! Wondering if Olaplex can benefit my untreated hair? I am gray-haired and with a bit of course. It eats dry and seems worn, although I do not use heat when I dry and have stopped dyeing for a few years now. Uses shampoo and conditioner without sulfates and a little foam sometimes. Have used Olaplex 3 when I had blonde hair but now that it is untreated I do not know. Grateful for some tips
Hey! It is impossible to respond to 100% without testing your hair. But since it is untreated and you describe it as dry, I do not think Olaplex does any good, because then you need moisture and not strength :)
Hi Helena,
I think my hair has become much drier than before before Olaplex. I have dark brown / black hair and in recent years have been blonde / ombre. This with the help of Olaplex. But now wondering if I can continue? As I said, my hair is super dry, the lengths are now kind of like dreadlocks (can not explain better) Do you have any suggestions which products I should use? I probably need more moisture if I understood correctly what you wrote earlier? Thanks! /
Hey! Yes, you have understood correctly, if the hair has much more strength than moisture, it will be dry. What I recommend most is to send your hair to Creative Makeup for analysis, so that you can see that it is really moisture that the hair needs. You can read more about this https://creativemakeup.se/harologi-2/
But to emergency-solve at once, I recommend a hair oil WITHOUT silicones :) Most hair oils contain mostly silicones, feel free to buy one with natural oils e.g. Infinatura Cura oil. Apply the oil after the shower but also in dry hair every day as needed. But to get the moisture value up basically, you need moisturizing products in the shower.
Get in touch if you have more questions!
My hair has fallen out all around my head. I only did an ola-plex treatment at the hairdresser and then it felt good. At home I continued with 3, but after a couple of months my hair went out just as a girl above describes (Linda Marie).
I told Fb to an ad they had and got to talk to first a salesman and then a Caroline who was some kind of chemist but she said it was not due to Ola-Plex. Dare not use more.
Then you may have too much sulfur bonds in your hair, be careful when brushing your hair when the hair is dry. You can compare it to spaghetti, when hydrophobic hair is dry it is like uncooked spaghetti but becomes more elastic as soon as it gets wet. Therefore, if you brush it when it is dry, it will come off easier. Brush out tufts when the hair is wet, preferably with conditioner or wrapping in the hair. Use products that provide a lot of moisture!
I have had my hair destroyed by Olaplex. My hairdresser used it as a wrap after she bleached my hair. And my hair has never had such poor quality as after that. I have very fine hair and have always had to be careful with conditioner as it takes too well and the hair becomes very shiny. But after the Olapex treatment, my hair was very rough and frizzy and conditioner or hair wraps did not take at all! I did not understand at first that it was the olaplex treatment because you had heard so much good about it, so I had time to do another Olaplex treatment before I understood the connection.
What I thought was terribly bad and makes me never trust those behind Olaplex is that when my hairdresser heard from them, they did not want to take any responsibility at all! Olaplex be only good, period!
My hair, on the other hand, gave me a Keratin treatment and creatine products and after that my hair became as before. So Olaplex and the people behind it have zero confidence on my part, really bad not even being able to try to investigate what went wrong.
What I find difficult now is that I have noticed that many hairdressers use Olaplex without asking the customer if it is OK. Which means I really have to be super careful to say no to using it on me.
Hi Pernilla! Really sad to hear! It is one thing that olaplex does not suit everyone, but there is no excuse for poor customer service. Hope your hair continues to stay in shape after the keratin treatments. Do you want to send your hair to us for analysis to see what your hair needs to get better? We test the hair's protein and moisture values in a device from Hårologi. You can read more on our website https://creativemakeup.se/skicka-harstra-for-analys/. Get in touch if you have any questions :)
I currently have part of my hair red (my own color on growth) and 3/4 of my hair has bleached like a 12th. The bleach was very worn from the beginning, but what happened was that it was even more destroyed by olaplex! Have done it 3 times now with the hope that it will get better, but now I do not dare more. The hair becomes super frizzy / fresh and after each treatment I have had to cut off hundreds of hair ends that have been broken / split far up on the straw.
Crazy!
Oh my God, sounds really scary! We hope that within a few weeks (preferably only 2 weeks) will sell hairology in the webshop and do hair consultations online - where you can send your hair to us for free testing and then become recommended products. Then you can send us your hair stand and we will see what your values are. Or get past Creative Makeup if you live near Uppsala? :)
I have used Olaplex 4 times at one week intervals and had to stop due to strange quality of the hair.
Instead, I plan to invest in a good packaging.
But until now, it has worked great. Suddenly, the hair became rubbery and unruly.
In such cases, it is probably a sign that you have hydrophobic hair = need moisture and not strength. A hydrophobic hair is often difficult to shape and when you wash it it feels a bit like pouring water on a goose :) Go to a hairology hairdresser and test your hair, then you will know what to use for products :)
Super good post, well explained why Olaplex probably works on some but not others. Now I may dare to test.
Do you know if it is common for hair pathologists to also use Olaplex?