OLAPLEX: Hair Game Changer?

oyveh said:
I didn't think it would hurt my hair. I thought it would simply insure that it remained healthy and possibly smooth the cuticle. I did keep up with moisture conditioning and protein. I stopped using Olaplex all together.
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I think I'm suffering from Olaplex damage right now.

I bought a bottle of no. 3 in September, and used it with great results.
I didn't deep condition long enough afterwards, but my hair was great for weeks.

3 weeks ago or so, I did another treatment because my hair was getting dry, and the weather here is changing.

This Olaplex treatment did not agree with my hair at all. It was soooooo dry and straw like after the treatment that I ended up deep conditioning over night for a few days.

My hair kind of bounced back...but I noticed breakage, which I never had before, and I was losing more hair than normal in my detangling sessions...which weren't as easy as usual, because my hair just felt less moisturized, no matter what I put it it.

Fast forward to last weekend, I decided to try an Olaplex treatment again, because now my hair is super dry and brittle feeling.

Mind you, I haven't changed any other part of my routine at all, and it's been the same since early January.

Again, I've had to leave my deep conditioner in for a super deep treatment, because my hair is brittle and feels like straw.

This will be my last Olaplex treatment for a while... it's the only thing that I've changed in my regimen.
 
metro_qt said:
I think I'm suffering from Olaplex damage right now.

I bought a bottle of no. 3 in September, and used it with great results.
I didn't deep condition long enough afterwards, but my hair was great for weeks.

3 weeks ago or so, I did another treatment because my hair was getting dry, and the weather here is changing.

This Olaplex treatment did not agree with my hair at all. It was soooooo dry and straw like after the treatment that I ended up deep conditioning over night for a few days.

My hair kind of bounced back...but I noticed breakage, which I never had before, and I was losing more hair than normal in my detangling sessions...which weren't as easy as usual, because my hair just felt less moisturized, no matter what I put it it.

Fast forward to last weekend, I decided to try an Olaplex treatment again, because now my hair is super dry and brittle feeling.

Mind you, I haven't changed any other part of my routine at all, and it's been the same since early January.

Again, I've had to leave my deep conditioner in for a super deep treatment, because my hair is brittle and feels like straw.

This will be my last Olaplex treatment for a while... it's the only thing that I've changed in my regimen.
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have you clarified any time recently? Maybe you have build-up that is preventing your hair from absorbing moisture.
 
metro_qt said:
Yuuuuup! I clarify every second time I wash.

Because I use so much gel, I'm not afraid of shampoo. I use a good sulfate free shampoo made for coloured hair
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Hi hon, so sorry to hear that the Olaplex is doing your hair like this. Have you tried Olaplex step #4 (shampoo)? It is used to rinse out the treatment but is left on the hair for about 2 minutes before rinsing out. Then you deep condition with whichever DC your hair is in need of.

The Olaplex shampoo has been a really big game changer in my Olaplex Regimen. You have to shampoo the hair after rinsing out the treatment, hence the shampoo being Step 4. I have all the steps except 3, 6 and 7 in my stash now. I did at one point have step 3 but I ran out. I never replaced it because step 2 is a stronger version of it.

My Olaplex wash days are long because of the steps but worth it. I use Olaplex once every 3-4 weeks.
 
metro_qt said:
I think I'm suffering from Olaplex damage right now.

I bought a bottle of no. 3 in September, and used it with great results.
I didn't deep condition long enough afterwards, but my hair was great for weeks.

3 weeks ago or so, I did another treatment because my hair was getting dry, and the weather here is changing.

This Olaplex treatment did not agree with my hair at all. It was soooooo dry and straw like after the treatment that I ended up deep conditioning over night for a few days.

My hair kind of bounced back...but I noticed breakage, which I never had before, and I was losing more hair than normal in my detangling sessions...which weren't as easy as usual, because my hair just felt less moisturized, no matter what I put it it.

Fast forward to last weekend, I decided to try an Olaplex treatment again, because now my hair is super dry and brittle feeling.

Mind you, I haven't changed any other part of my routine at all, and it's been the same since early January.

Again, I've had to leave my deep conditioner in for a super deep treatment, because my hair is brittle and feels like straw.

This will be my last Olaplex treatment for a while... it's the only thing that I've changed in my regimen.
Click to expand...

Every time I get ready to dip my toe into the Olaplex waters, it’s comments like these that stop me in my tracks. I am over having setbacks!

However, the bolded sounds like this might have been user error. My understanding of Olaplex is that it’s not a moisturizing treatment, so to use it because your hair was feeling dry and the weather was changing, doesn’t sound appropriate. I think that was the time to increase your moisturizing DCs, not go for a strengthening treatment. Doing that just continued to exasperate the dryness you were already experiencing.
 
Theresamonet said:
Every time I get ready to dip my toe into the Olaplex waters, it’s comments like these that stop me in my tracks. I am over having setbacks!

However, the bolded sounds like this might have been user error. My understanding of Olaplex is that it’s not a moisturizing treatment, so to use it because your hair was feeling dry and the weather was changing, doesn’t sound appropriate. I think that was the time to increase your moisturizing DCs, not go for a strengthening treatment. Doing that just continued to exasperate the dryness you were already experiencing.
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I got my hair in check.... check my latest/last wash n go post.

I always do a deep condition over night after an Olaplex treatment,
I haven't done a strengthening treatment yet. My apologies if I said that or seemed like I said that in a previous post, I'm too lazy/busy to do a protein (aphogee) treatment.

The weather here in Toronto did a 180 in the last 3 weeks, and that alone has had my hair acting up, so yes, I did have to do an additional deep condition after my last olaplex treatment.... (i ended up leaving the deep conditioner in my hair for 5 days while I was working on a tv show...with a wig)
That did my hair a world of good.
My hair isn't breaking anymore, and is resilient again... I'm just side eyeing the olaplex treatment, because right now, I think I'll use it during the warmer months when I have a good handle on my hair and moisture situation.


On another note, I bought and used the cream of nature Plex treatment, and actually liked it alot...right now, I'm giving it a tentative 2 thumbs up...but let me use it a few more times before I really recommend it.

In summary. Do what's best for Your hair. I followed the Olaplex directions, watched youtubers, and had a good experience and a bad experience with it. I'm going to put it aside for now until spring, and forge on with a different Plex.
 
Aggie said:
Hi hon, so sorry to hear that the Olaplex is doing your hair like this. Have you tried Olaplex step #4 (shampoo)? It is used to rinse out the treatment but is left on the hair for about 2 minutes before rinsing out. Then you deep condition with whichever DC your hair is in need of.

The Olaplex shampoo has been a really big game changer in my Olaplex Regimen. You have to shampoo the hair after rinsing out the treatment, hence the shampoo being Step 4. I have all the steps except 3, 6 and 7 in my stash now. I did at one point have step 3 but I ran out. I never replaced it because step 2 is a stronger version of it.

My Olaplex wash days are long because of the steps but worth it. I use Olaplex once every 3-4 weeks.
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Thanks @Aggie I'll look into getting the Olaplex shampoo, I definitely want to hear more about it.

I think that might be the key, having a shampoo of the same system washing out the treatment...
This might make the treatment less harsh for me.
Thanks!
 
metro_qt said:
Thanks @Aggie I'll look into getting the Olaplex shampoo, I definitely want to hear more about it.

I think that might be the key, having a shampoo of the same system washing out the treatment...
This might make the treatment less harsh for me.
Thanks!
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You're quite welcome @metro_qt. I understand you have to do what's best for your hair but if you decide to get back on Olaplex later, try the shampoo step 4 and see if that works for you. Thanks for sharing your experience with it.

I will definitely post if it's no longer working for me. But for now, personally I only use the Olaplex treatment when I need it or every 3-4 weeks for 20-30 minutes at a time - no longer than that.
 
I have come to the conclusion that Olaplex does not agree with my hair. I have used steps 1-7 numerous times in different ways, but it makes my hair super dry. I deep condition after with heat, no heat, and overnight but nothing helps. Even the no 7 oil leaves my hair brittle. Olaplex just feels like protein in my hair even though it is not a protein treatment. When I use the shampoo after the no 3, my hair is just a tangled mess. The conditioner makes it worse. Yes, I have clarified prior to using them. I know that Olaplex is like a miracle worker for some, but some products just will not work for everyone. My hair is better without Olaplex.
 
gemruby41 said:
I have come to the conclusion that Olaplex does not agree with my hair. I have used steps 1-7 numerous times in different ways, but it makes my hair super dry. I deep condition after with heat, no heat, and overnight but nothing helps. Even the no 7 oil leaves my hair brittle. Olaplex just feels like protein in my hair even though it is not a protein treatment. When I use the shampoo after the no 3, my hair is just a tangled mess. The conditioner makes it worse. Yes, I have clarified prior to using them. I know that Olaplex is like a miracle worker for some, but some products just will not work for everyone. My hair is better without Olaplex.
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But is your hair damaged? Because olaplex is supposed to be reparative, if you don't have any breakage issues you probably shouldn't be using it in the first place.
 
gemruby41 said:
My hair is relaxed, and I do get breakage. When I do protein treatments, my hair is not as dry as when I use the Olaplex.
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Relaxed doesn't automatically mean that your hair is damaged enough to need this. It's a chemical process, thinking about it like a protein treatment is where a lot of people trip up imho. Protein treatments are going to not only give strength but smooth and condition the strands. This is a chemical that is only seeking to cap the exposed ends of breakage. I'm just saying to maybe shift the perspective of what it can and will do, you know?
 
imaginary said:
Relaxed doesn't automatically mean that your hair is damaged enough to need this. It's a chemical process, thinking about it like a protein treatment is where a lot of people trip up imho. Protein treatments are going to not only give strength but smooth and condition the strands. This is a chemical that is only seeking to cap the exposed ends of breakage. I'm just saying to maybe shift the perspective of what it can and will do, you know?
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I have never thought about it as a protein treatment, because I know it’s not. If it makes my hair feel worse, then that is what it does. I notice that as soon as someone says Olaplex doesn’t work, people assume it’s user error or that the person doesn’t understand how the product works. People have to realize that not all products will work on everyone’s hair.
 
gemruby41 said:
I have never thought about it as a protein treatment, because I know it’s not. If it makes my hair feel worse, then that is what it does. I notice that as soon as someone says Olaplex doesn’t work, people assume it’s user error or that the person doesn’t understand how the product works. People have to realize that not all products will work on everyone’s hair.
Click to expand...

But I'm not saying anything different from that? I'm simply pointing out WHY it might make your hair feel worse and why it wouldnt work for the benefit of others. I'm not sure if I came across as attacking, but usually when I hear people say it makes their hair feel worse, there's like no further exploration into it like we tend to do with other products on this board.

Apologies, I figured this was a forum for open discussion about hair products and how they tick.
 
I colored my hair today with henna and I did use my Olaplex steps 1,2 and 4 today. Olaplex results seem to be accumulative for my hair.

I noticed a tiny amount of breakage after the first 1 or 2 times of using it but now that I'm past that, my hair is behaving much much better. I'll keep Olaplex in my haircare rotation for coloring for a while yet :yep:.
 
imaginary said:
Relaxed doesn't automatically mean that your hair is damaged enough to need this. It's a chemical process, thinking about it like a protein treatment is where a lot of people trip up imho. Protein treatments are going to not only give strength but smooth and condition the strands. This is a chemical that is only seeking to cap the exposed ends of breakage. I'm just saying to maybe shift the perspective of what it can and will do, you know?
Click to expand...

But Olaplex is a bond rebuilder. If the previous poster is relaxed, then she most certainly has bonds in need of rebuilding. Theoretically, the product should work for her.

The most common usage for Olaplex is to apply it during chemical processes to repair the bonds as they break during the service. But that doesn’t mean that the hair is extremely damaged. One of the claims directly from Olaplex’s website is that the treatment will protect as well as repair. They tout it as a preventative treatment as well as reparative. They also claim that it will “turn dry, brittle hair into soft, shiny, and more resilient hair”.

And what do you mean by “cap the exposed ends of breakage”?
 
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Theresamonet said:
But Olaplex is a bond rebuilder. If the previous poster is relaxed, then she most certainly has bonds in need of rebuilding. Theoretically, the product should work for her.

The most common usage for Olaplex is to apply it during chemical processes to repair the bonds as they break during the service. But that doesn’t mean that the hair is extremely damaged. One of the claims directly from Olaplex’s website is that the treatment will protect as well as repair. They tout it as a preventative treatment as well as reparative. They also claim that it will “turn dry, brittle hair into soft, shiny, and more resilient hair”.

And what do you mean by “cap the exposed ends of breakage”?
Click to expand...

See now I kinda don't think a lot of people with relaxed hair have breakage automatically? Like I know people with really strong bone straight relaxed hair, so I assume that either their cuticles are stronger than expected or something else we haven't considered. So even though some bonds are broken it's nothing detrimental to the hair if you get what I mean. They do tout the treatment as protective, but I always thought that was fancy marketing speak because if they're capping the ends in a permanent process, then technically those ends are protected in future and wont be washed off. In every olaplex video from professionals or releases from the company they keep harping over and over that it's not a protein treatment and thus won't behave like a protein treatment, so I don't expect it to work on any part of the hair that isn't a broken di-sulphide bond. Also they can very well claim that and have it apply to dry hair as a result of that specific type of breakage, but what if your hair is dry because of build-up or static or just lack of moisture?

I'm not here to tout olaplex as some magical hairsaver, but I wish in these new experimental products we'd be more specific about what works and what doesn't work and contextualizing it. So going back to protein treatments, not all proteins work the same on everyone's hair because they're targeting different things. I LOVE wheat and collagen and am meh about silk, but I have highly porous hair that needs the strength. The reverse is typical (from my very general readings) of people who tend to have low porosity hair because the protein makes their hair feel stiff and hard.

So basically what I wanna know is, if olaplex doesn't work for you maybe think about why? Like it'd be helpful to everyone in the long run. Do you think your hair may not be damaged in the specific way they're treating? If protein treatments work better then maybe what you need is more on the conditioning end? Or even from the white women I've read using olaplex and it didn't work for them and they were able to identify that it caused static or their hair was just way too damaged for it to do much....

I'm an analyst by trade so when I come on the board, I'm here to ask questions and try to get more info. I can't prove whether this works or not for you and I'm not interested in that mainly. I really really wanna know WHY this worked or didn't so I can take that info for general knowledge to be applied later.
 
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imaginary said:
See now I kinda don't think a lot of people with relaxed hair have breakage automatically? Like I know people with really strong bone straight relaxed hair, so I assume that either their cuticles are stronger than expected or something else we haven't considered. So even though some bonds are broken it's nothing detrimental to the hair if you get what I mean. They do tout the treatment as protective, but I always thought that was fancy marketing speak because if they're capping the ends in a permanent process, then technically those ends are protected in future and wont be washed off. In every olaplex video from professionals or releases from the company they keep harping over and over that it's not a protein treatment and thus won't behave like a protein treatment, so I don't expect it to work on any part of the hair that isn't a broken di-sulphide bond. Also they can very well claim that and have it apply to dry hair as a result of that specific type of breakage, but what if your hair is dry because of build-up or static or just lack of moisture?

I'm not here to tout olaplex as some magical hairsaver, but I wish in these new experimental products we'd be more specific about what works and what doesn't work and contextualizing it. So going back to protein treatments, not all proteins work the same on everyone's hair because they're targeting different things. I LOVE wheat and collagen and am meh about silk, but I have highly porous hair that needs the strength. The reverse is typical (from my very general readings) of people who tend to have low porosity hair because the protein makes their hair feel stiff and hard.

So basically what I wanna know is, if olaplex doesn't work for you maybe think about why? Like it'd be helpful to everyone in the long run. Do you think your hair may not be damaged in the specific way their treating? If protein treatments work better then maybe what you need is more on the conditioning end? Or even from the white women I've read using olaplex and it didn't work for them and they were able to identify that it caused static or their hair was just way too damaged for it to do much....

I'm an analyst by trade so when I come on the board, I'm here to ask questions and try to get more info. I can't prove whether this works or not for you and I'm not interested in that mainly. I really really wanna know WHY this worked or didn't so I can take that info for general knowledge to be applied later.
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Nicely written. I'm going to assess my trials.

I also have a sneaky suspicion that my Olaplex could be fake. ( I ordered it on Amazon...I order everything on Amazon... damn you Prime!)
And I've gotten much better, healthier results using a cheaper plex system...

I'll be back with results, answers and thoughts.
 
I used Olaplex no 3, and I really loved the results. My hair felt so much more healthier and bouncier. I will continue using it biweekly.
 
I am also using the Olaplex no 6 and no 7 (I think it smells like citrus! I love it lol), it's so smoothing and kills frizz like no other. My ends stay soft and retain moisture so much longer. A little goes a loooooong way, These products are very potent and I think it should last me a good while.

The Olaplex no 3 on the other hand is half way through with only two applications :(. To be fair I am kinda generous with it for each section.

I am very tempted to try the no 1/no 2 but idk how easy it would be to get an authentic product from ebay/amazon.
 
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