Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector evaluation: Find out about this at-home hair remedy system

Present in high hair salons and aesthetic Instagram “shelfies,” Olaplex has established itself as an accessible luxurious hair care model that delivers professional-grade outcomes even for its at-home remedies. Take the viral Olpalex No. 3 Hair Repair Perfector, for instance. The hashtag #olaplexno3 has 40.6 million views on TikTok, with movies exhibiting the transformations from lackluster locks to luscious strands. With “perfector” within the identify and surprising outcomes, we had to verify it wasn’t too good to be true.

Our 9 testers every had completely different hair sorts, inclusive of straight, wavy, 3A curly, 3C/4A curly, thick, skinny, lengthy, brief, dry, oily, color-treated and pure. We every examined the hair remedy as usually as we noticed match over 4 weeks — and sure, it left us impressed.

Our hair’s construction options hundreds of thousands of disulfide bonds between the proteins that comprise our strands, giving them energy and elasticity. When these bonds are damaged, that’s when our hair will get break up ends and appears dry, frizzy and broken. Olaplex No. 3 comprises Olaplex’s patented bond-building ingredient, bis-aminopropyl diglycol dimaleate, which penetrates the hair and rebuilds these broken bonds. This ends in hair that appears and feels more healthy.

“There are quite a few ways in which hair might be broken, issues that we neglect to even think about: excessive environmental modifications and climate, thermal styling and even brushing your hair roughly. Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector is secure for every type of hair and works from the within construction of the hair to strengthen and defend the hair from future hurt,” explains skilled hairstylist and Olaplex ambassador Bianca Hillier.

The hair remedy is alleged to moisturize and restore the hair, because of the nourishing bond-building ingredient, leaving it shinier and smoother general. Though it’s turn into often known as a holy grail product amongst those that dye their hair, Olaplex No. 3 can be utilized by all hair sorts. “The rationale why Olaplex is nice for all hair sorts is as a result of hair bonds are agnostic no matter gender, age or ethnicity,” Hillier says.

Olaplex No. 3 needs to be utilized to damp hair earlier than utilizing shampoo or conditioner and left in for not less than 10 minutes. Outcomes could also be extra distinguished when you go away it in longer, giving the product time to penetrate the hair. However you don’t need to go away it in your hair so lengthy that it dries, because the remedy works solely on damp hair. After you’ve let it sit, you’ll be able to shampoo and condition your hair as regular.

“Bear in mind it isn’t a conditioner substitute, so you should all the time shampoo and situation it out of the hair,” Hillier says. “That is an additive to your common routine. For broken hair, I recommend utilizing it twice every week for finest outcomes. Since there are not any proteins, sulfates or silicones within the components, it’s inconceivable to overuse it.”

It’s not day-after-day that you just discover a hair product that provides salon-level outcomes that may be seen and felt. The Olaplex No. 3 was profitable in making our hair really feel more healthy, shinier and softer, throughout all of our testers’ hair sorts. We additionally beloved that it had a recent scent that reminds us of the professional-grade merchandise present in hair salons.

After utilizing the remedy, these with straight hair stated that their locks had been easy and required much less effort to detangle — even when hair was nonetheless moist. “My hair detangled in a matter of minutes, whereas earlier than it could take for much longer, as a result of I’ve such lengthy and thick hair,” says Richa Srivastava, enterprise growth coordinator.

I discovered that my very own thick, straight hair, which frequently feels dry from a year-old balayage, didn’t tangle as a lot within the days after utilizing the remedy too. As an alternative, it felt comfortable and silky, because of the moisturizing issue of the Olaplex.

The curly-haired testers felt that their hair had extra moisture and hydration, making their curls extra outlined but softer and fewer frizzy. Social coordinator Sarai Thompson has 3C/4A curls that she says had been “exhausted and dry” after sporting her pure hair in excessive and low buns for a month straight. “I used to be very impressed by how Olaplex restored my hair strands,” she says. “Even earlier than I washed the product out within the bathe, I might really feel the distinction. I plan on utilizing Olaplex on all of my wash days, particularly once I’m taking my hair out of a protecting fashion to make sure that my curls are constantly wholesome.”

Throughout completely different hair textures, these with color-treated hair reported that their hair regarded brighter and fewer boring after utilizing the product. And people with skinny strands had been shocked that their hair didn’t really feel weighed down or greasy. “I often keep away from thick formulation and conditioner as a result of my nice hair will get weighed down and greasy very simply, which in flip makes me have to scrub my hair day-after-day to keep away from greasy hair and scalp,” says senior editor Rachel Lubitz. “However remarkably, Olaplex was capable of remedy this difficulty for me. After a handful of makes use of, I noticed that I might truly go a day or two with out washing my hair and my hair nonetheless felt clear.”

These outcomes make it a terrific at-home remedy for whenever you discover your hair feeling drier, duller or harder to work with. The smoothing and strengthening impact of the Olaplex No. 3 makes hair extra manageable to fashion, and whereas the product just isn’t a styling product itself, beginning with hair that’s wholesome makes it simpler to govern for different appears.

The seen outcomes lasted three days for many of the testers, however hair felt more healthy general for not less than every week after use. We seen that there was much less hair breakage, much less frizziness and prolonged time in between our wash days after constant weekly or biweekly use of the product.

Throughout our testing of Olaplex No. 3, we discovered that it wasn’t the best to include into our hair care routines. Whereas most hair masks add time to your bathe routine, the truth that it’s important to get your hair moist first to ensure that Olaplex No. 3 to work made it a little bit of a problem. We both needed to take extra-long showers earlier than rinsing or get out of the bathe completely and put our hair up whereas doing one thing else in the course of the remedy time.

“The one barrier to entry for me is that integrating Olaplex No. 3 into my bathe routine isn’t essentially seamless,” says Chelsea Stone, senior editor, who has curly 3A, highlighted hair. “I attempted simply wetting my hair, placing on the Olaplex and doing stuff round my residence for 10 minutes earlier than continuing with the remainder of my bathe, and wetting my hair, making use of the Olaplex and going proper into the bathe, saving all my hair stuff for final, however neither possibility felt fully excellent to me. That’s why I are likely to see Olaplex extra as a particular deal with versus part of my ordinary routine.”

The second con we discovered was that we had to make use of way more of the product than our first attempt to truly see and really feel the distinction. As soon as we found out how a lot the hair needed to be saturated — which is just about fully — we discovered that the quantity of product within the 100-milliliter bottle didn’t really feel like a lot.

“The components was very watery for my part,” shares Stephanie Griffin, senior digital content material strategist, who has skinny, straight, color-treated hair. “Contemplating I’ve loads of hair, I used to be compelled to make use of loads of product, and I feel if the components was a bit thicker, I wouldn’t have run out of the remedy so shortly.” For a number of of us with lengthy, thick or simply loads of hair, half of the bottle was passed by the second remedy.

Testers with out color-treated hair additionally had extra average outcomes in comparison with the dramatic distinction felt by these with dyed locks. Though the product can be utilized on any hair sort, the outcomes might be extra obvious on hair that’s extra broken, as it can restore the damaged bonds.

Olaplex No. 3 comes out on high in comparison with different bond-strengthening hair remedies. The K18 Biometric Hairscience Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask touts related hair smoothing, repairing and strengthening outcomes to Olaplex No. 3, but it surely comes at the next worth level — $75 for 50 milliliters. K18’s remedy is a thicker consistency and doesn’t require as a lot product per use, so it might last more. Nonetheless, it doesn’t go away hair instantly and visibly remodeled like Olaplex No. 3, in accordance with Hayley Saltzman, head of social, who has skinny, color-treated hair. She has used Olaplex No. 3 on and off for 3 years, and not too long ago began utilizing K18. The latter takes extra makes use of to see outcomes, giving Olaplex No. 3 higher worth general.

Olaplex No. 3 is a worthy addition to your hair care routine. Whereas you might have to sacrifice an additional 10 to 45 minutes to do the remedy, you’ll see and really feel a distinction nearly instantly. Should you don’t have time or cash to make it to a salon earlier than an enormous occasion, doing this remedy the day earlier than and even the morning of will make it appear like you probably did.