Smoothing keratin treatments have been the watchword for the frizzed-out for the last few years and it was a breakthrough that couldn’t have come sooner. I mean, there’s only so long you can claim Kate Hudson in Almost Famous is your hair reference before the confused onlooker asks if Krusty the Clown is your better-tressed twin…
Frizz having been firmly dealt with, but what about the actual condition of your hair? Like the fact that it’s breaking off at the roots giving you an unintentional mullet or when you attempt to run your fingers through it you get rope burn? Yup, gulp… that’s the condition of my blonde locks after a lifetime of colour treatments, blowdries, straightening irons and too many dips in chlorinated pools sans an uncool (but probably essential) swim cap.
And apparently I’m not the only one with seriously stressed-out hair, there are a slew of breakage and ultra conditioning repair hair products that the well-tressed celebs swear by and that are, frankly completely brilliant. And then there’s Olaplex. But I’ll get to that in a moment, first up the best breakage fixing products and moisturizing masters that turn straw into silk.
End game: For serious split ends go for ghd Advanced Split End Therapy ($44 net-a-porter.com), ghd are the kings of the tongs ergo they know how to fix the havoc all that hot action wreaks. Then seal the deal with Redken’s diamond oil shatterproof shine ($40 ultra.com)
I love Paris: The French can’t all be blessed with effortlessly chic hair, right? Enter Christophe Robin, the cult hair high priest of Paris. He smoothes and colours the locks of the A-list elite and shares his secrets via his exceptional product range. Everything in his eponymous line up is excellent but for stressed-hair go deep with the Christophe Robin Regenerating Mask ($111 net-a-porter.com) and his Moisturizing Hair Cream ($69 net-a-porter.com) – I’m using this hair cream like a face cream, religiously every morning on root breakage and it’s working.
Go green: Salon star brand Leonor Greyl Paris is all about “green-chic” whereby plants and natural ingredients are the basis of each super high performing stylish product. Pre-blowout spray liberally with Condition Naturelle ($55 net-a-porter.com) – a heat protecting volumizing styling spray. Gorgeous scent and active ingredients (like collagen and protecting proteins) make it like being in the Garden of Eden. Their Masque Fleurs de Jasmin ($94 net-a-porter.com) is also on my hit list.
It’s a miracle: Miracle Hair Treatment ($24.95 elevenaustralia.com) from home-grown brand Eleven delivers 11 leave-in benefits to your hair – like moisture, split end prevention, fragile hair strengthening to name but a few. Loving this post-shower pre-blowout.
In home salon: Celeb hair stylist, Oribe Canales, has tended the tresses on editorial shoots and red carpets for literally thousands of celebs – when you see J.Lo walking the crimson, Oribe is the hand behind the hair and so naturally he has a genius set of hair prods. The range is upmarket and high functioning, his Signature Moisture Masque ($84 net-a-porter.com) is supposedly sublime – hard to get down under at the moment, but if you’re in the U.S. get to the nearest salon and stock up.
Famous last word: Olaplex. Kim K-West may have boarded the fame train via some specific *assets* but her hair is one asset that keeps us hooked on her channel – how can it be so thick and glossy when she has so many colour changes? Well there’s the rumoured on-call hairstylist (which might just be the definition of every beauty girls dream) but it’s also apparently down to a little treatment she’s obsessed with called Olaplex.
This treatment is the newest, shiniest breakthrough to address the colour/chemical/heat hammered hair question. Backed by serious science – the key ingredient comes courtesy of two PHD brains who hadn’t worked with hair before but knew their weird science – it’s free of silicones and oils and links broken bonds in the hair making it stronger. According to their site, “Olaplex repairs the hair from within, making it stronger and healthier than it was before, plus helps colour last longer. With this revolutionary ingredient hair can stand much more like bleaching, balayage, perms, keratin.”
Note that it’s not a replacement for keratin, i.e it won’t straighten your hair, it’s a stand alone treatment for compromised hair and/or an add-on to a chemical (colour) service. The process is two steps in the salon (different versions of Olaplex are applied twice and washed out) and one step at home. You’re given a bottle of Olaplex No.3 to take home which you apply once a week onto wet hair, leaving on for a minimum of 30 minutes. Wash and blow dry as normal. Apparently Kim K-W. sleeps in her at-home treatment, which is not a bad idea considering how lustrous her locks are…
