Hair colouring is one of the most popular treatments on offer in salons across Ireland, and in recent years, the demand for gorgeous colours, highlights and balayage has been balanced with a focus on healthy hair.
As a professional, you’ll know that the chemical processes involved in colouring the hair can be difficult to recover from, and the strength and integrity of the hair can suffer over time. However, the answer is usually a good quality bond builder, and this has become an essential step in modern colour services.
Bond builders are an excellent way to protect the hair during chemical treatments such as colouring, and provide healthier, stronger results. Let’s take a look at bond builders and how they work, and we’ll share our recommendations for the best professional brands.
What are Bond Builders?
A bond builder is a hair treatment, often used by professionals, that can protect and strengthen the hair while helping to repair its internal structure. Hair can become damaged during chemical treatments such as colouring and bleaching, when the bonds in the hair are weakened or broken. The use of a bond builder can combat this damage, strengthening the bonds and rebuilding them to improve the condition of the hair and increase resilience to the chemical damage.
Some bond-builders can be mixed directly into hair colours or lighteners, and this can reduce the risk of damage during a colouring treatment. This can also optimise the colour results, and maintain the strength and elasticity of the hair. Alternatively, bond builders can be used as a salon treatment in their own right, and this can work well for clients who have existing colour damage to their hair or routinely use heat styling tools. Clients often require support in maintaining the condition of their hair, especially if it is dry or brittle, and this can also be helpful between colour treatments.
Why is a Bond Builder Needed?
Many people choose to colour their hair, but few are fully aware of the damage the process can cause to the hair itself. Although modern colour products are reliable and produce good results, they are still chemical formulations that can weaken the hair over time. Several of the colour treatments commonly offered in salons can be damaging to hair, including:
Bleaching. Bleach is a harsh chemical that is used to lighten the hair by opening the cuticle of the hair and breaking apart the natural pigment that is stored inside the shaft. This is often a necessary step in creating the blonde results your clients are looking for, but it is a process that is hard on the hair and frequently causes it to dry out and break more easily. Over time, it can change the texture of the hair and compromise the condition, and clients that often have blonde colouring treatments or highlights, especially platinum blonde shades, are likely to experience damage to the bonds in the hair.
Frequent colouring. Colouring the hair regularly can lead to damage over time, especially when clients also use heat styling tools frequently. Hair that is coloured often is more likely to be damaged by environmental stressors and exposure to sunlight, and the risk of damage is heightened if other chemical treatments are added into the mix, such as relaxers or perms.
Bond builders offer an excellent solution to hair that is routinely coloured or bleached, and this can improve the health of the hair in the long term.
The Structure of Hair
Our hair is made up of several different bonds, and the integrity of these determines the strength and flexibility of the hair overall. These bonds include hydrogen bonds, salt bonds and disulphide bonds. The disulphide bonds are internal keratin chains in the hair, which give us most of the hair’s structural strength, and these are weakened by the use of chemicals in treatments such as colouring and bleaching. When many of the bonds become damaged, the hair may start to feel dry and break more easily.
Bond builders work on a molecular level to repair broken keratin bonds, and they aim to reconstruct the inner structure of the hair to restore strength, shine and elasticity. This is an important consideration if you are working with clients who routinely colour or use heat tools on their hair, and a bond builder can become a very helpful part of the haircare routine. Some bond builders are designed to protect hair from further damage and heat treatments in the future, and this can be useful in preparation for a colouring treatment.
Bond Builders we Recommend
As with all hair products, there are many options available and when it comes to bond builders, you really need to prioritise quality. We recommend the market leaders, Olaplex and K18, which are both designed to repair hair that has been damaged by colouring treatments and heat styling. Let’s explore the benefits:
Olaplex
Olaplex is the go-to for most people looking for a hair repair solution, and is recognised for the bond-building technology in its formulations. It is used in salons all over the world, and uses patented bond-building technology to repair broken disulphide bonds in the hair. Olaplex products can be used during and after chemical treatments such as colouring and bleaching, and are designed to strengthen the structure of the hair and minimise damage.
There are many Olaplex products, and you’ll need to find the right option for each client. From Bond Multipliers to intensive bond building treatments, you can incorporate these into colour treatments or use them alone, for conditioning treatments. Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector is often recommended in the industry as an excellent way to restore broken disulphide bonds, and it can be left on damp hair for ten minutes and then rinsed before shampooing.
Olaplex is compatible with most colour services and clients recognise it as a quality brand that is suitable for most hair types.
K18
K18 is the new kid on the block when it comes to salon bond builders, as Olaplex has been around for a longer time. However, K18 is an innovative option that focuses on repairing damage at a deep molecular level using a patented peptide technology that is ticking all the boxes. The K18 range is designed to reconnect broken keratin chains inside the structure of the hair, and it targets the protein framework rather than just the disulphide bonds. This makes it a great option for repairing and maintaining the hair, and the feedback on strength and flexibility is very positive.
Many clients love the K18 Professional Molecular Repair Mist, which is a weightless spray that enhances the resilience of the hair and protects it prior to salon treatments. This is part of the K18 molecular repair service, and can be used with K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask to nourish and renew the hair from the first use. Finding the right options for your clients before, during and after their colour treatments can make all the difference to the health of their hair and we will be happy to help you find the best fit for your salon treatments.
K18 is a great choice for colour professionals who are supporting clients with extensive lightening treatments and colour correction services, and the K18 range includes several cost effective options.
Professional Colouring Services
Clients expect excellent results when they book colour treatments, and the newest product innovations are well placed to deliver these. Bond builders can help to protect the integrity of the hair while supporting dramatic colour changes, and this is what makes them an essential part of the colour treatment process.
Industry leading brands such as Olaplex and K18 have raised the bar on healthy hair, and it is vital for colourists to be able to offer solutions that protect against breakages and weakening of the hair shaft. Bond builders are an essential in salons in Ireland today, and you will see their value in the quality of the treatments you provide.