A Hair Color Revolution is Transforming Miami

Stylists in Miami -and the world over – have long acknowledged the Holy Grail of hair coloring, yet no one has ever been able to answer the seemingly unanswerable- how do you color and lighten hair without damaging it in the process?  For decades, it was thought that some damage was unavoidable when attempting dramatic hair coloring, particularly bleach-blonde highlights, serious balayages and crazy ombres.  And the best professional hair colorists at McAllister Spa have long been asked by new clients to attempt repairs of damage caused by other stylists through artful corrective color jobs, hydrating treatments, keratin and smoothing treatments.  Clients see celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore and Kim Kardashian changing their tresses with the same frequency as most people change their outfits and have long sought after the same transformative ability of hair color.  At last, the grail quest is over; Olaplex has landed at McAllister Spa.  You ask…what is Olaplex?  Read on to find out.

Meet Olaplex

Olaplex is a truly revolutionary hair product that attacks the problem of broken, damaged and bleached hair at its literal root.  Hair is damaged through a variety of means, from hair color application, to hair lightening, blonding and highlighting, to exposure to styling heat and environmental factors (heat, humidity, pollution, chlorinated water, etc) and even mechanical forces like friction experienced by the hair when washed or wet-combed.  All of these factors damage otherwise healthy hair – making it brittle, dry, coarse and weak.  The use of Olaplex repairs and restores damaged hair by resolving the common causes through chemistry.  …The big question everyone keeps asking the McAllister Spa Team is – how does Olaplex work!?

Chemistry 101 of Olaplex

So we know that hair is damaged through a variety of mechanisms.  One of the primary sites of damage is where disulfide bonds are altered or broken within the structure of hair strands.  These broken bonds result in the visible changes that we collectiely refer to as “damage.”  Olaplex reconnects these broken bonds, which restores the appearance of hair to a more natural, healthy state.  When combined with hair color, bleach, perms, relaxers, lighteners during the application process.  Olaplex also restructures distressed disulfide bonds when used in concert with blowouts and flat iron use; Olaplex actually protects disulfide bonds from the stresses that break these disulfide bonds, preventing these issues in the first place.

Let’s also mention what Olaplex is not.  While Olaplex is a mixture of polymers (…just a fancy word for strings and chains of molecules…), it is free of silicones, oils, aldehydes, parabens, gluten and is cruelty-free.

Olaplex’s Organic Chemistry for Dummies

If you are a typical hair nerd like the McAllister team, you aren’t yet fully satisfied with this explanation.  So let’s spend just a moment going into a little further detail.  Your hair is nearly entirely made of proteins belonging to a family of fibrous keratin molecules (a familiar clan to most of us!).  Keratin molecules are held in place and together by disulfide bonds where a common amino acid cysteine is in the mix, along with certain salts and hydrogen atoms.  These disulfide bonds give the hair strength, flexibility and make the hair more resistant to the stresses of everyday living.  If you’re thinking right now – Smelly sulfur? No! Not in MY hair – sorry to break the news…it’s in there and you actually need it! =)  Need proof?  Have you ever burnt your hair with a blowdryer?  Do you remember that distinctly disagreeable, sulfur-like smell?  That pungent aroma is partly created by the cleavage of disulfide bonds.  These broken bonds then interact with oxygen, making hair brittle and prone to breakage.  You may or may not see this destruction happen in real-time, but you may feel the changes in hair texture, you can at times faintly smell the reactions as they occur and your natural beauty will obviously suffer from its result.  And these are the processes disrupted and reversed through Olaplex’s incredible action.

Who Created Olaplex?

As the story goes, a guy by the name of Dean Christal was working to develop a product to repair damaged hair and compete against the fabled MoroccanOil, and while toiling with formulation details, he was introduced to a chemist named Craig Hawker at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  Within their conversation spanning just a few minutes, Dr. Hawker had theoretically invented the solution to one of hair coloring’s oldest troubles.  It took Dean a bit longer to persuade Craig to physically concoct what would become known as Olaplex.  When Dr. Hawker did finally agree to formulate this magic stuff, he collaborated with a colleague named, Dr. Eric Pressly.

Together, this duo of renowned academics within the Industrial Materials & Chemistry space unwittingly started a fashion and beauty revolution when they handed over a small jar of Olaplex to Dean.  In turn, Dean reached out to several celebrity colorists who gave the product a trial run and the rest – as the story goes – is #Instagood Instagram history!

A Superficial Overview of the Olaplex Process

The explanations of how Olaplex can be used during hair treatments and to repair damaged hair will be the subject of another blog post in the Olaplex series in the near future.  It can be used in several ways and this blog post is already long enough! =) For now, we will give you a quick, 30,000-foot view.

Olaplex is a simple system, comprised of just three essential components.  They are known as the Bond Multiplier No.1, the Bond Perfector No.2 and Olaplex Hair Perfect No.3 Take Home Treatment.  Generally speaking, Olaplex can be used to achieve more beautiful, healthier hair in one of three different ways: a.) to protect your hair’s disulfide bonds from damage resulting from chemical processes during the application of color or chemicals during your salon visit, b.) to reorganize and repair disulfide bonds that were exposed to chemicals, bleaches, lighteners, heat or environmental factors prior to the salon visit, or c.) a combination of protection, reorganization & repair.

Miami’s Olaplex Hair Coloring Experts

McAllister Spa, located on Miami Beach, has been working with Olaplex since just after it was born.  And while using it, the stylists and colorists at McAllister have experienced some incredible results.  We’ve taken hair to lighter blondes than ever before and restored horribly damaged hair in a matter of minutes with Olaplex.  And as we continue along this journey with Olaplex, the McAllister Spa team will provide you with more details!