When singer Adéla sat down with celebrity colourist Matt Rez for a major colour transformation, the goal was bold: a luminous, multidimensional pink on hair that needed serious lifting. The result? She was mentioned on Vogue's Best Beauty Looks of the week!.
The challenge: over an inch of regrowth, and a long way to go
To achieve any pink, Matt needed to lift Adéla's hair to a level 9, a significant ask when there's more than an inch of natural regrowth at the root. Aggressive lifting without preparation is a fast track to breakage, banding, and compromised hair integrity. Matt wasn't willing to take that risk.
His first step before touching a single strand with colour or lightener was using epres Professional Bond Repair.
epres Professional Bond Repair works by fortifying the hair's internal bond structure before and during chemical services. It's not a conditioner, it's a structural treatment that protects hair integrity at the molecular level, giving colourists the confidence to lift without sacrificing the health of the strand.
Working in stages with bond support at every step
Matt's process was methodical. He used clear permanent color with 30-volume developer to bring the regrowth up to a level 7 evenly, a gentler first pass that avoided the harsh banding that can happen when you go straight to lightener on significant growth. From there, he applied lightener to push just two more levels, this time mixing in 2 pumps of epres Pro Bond Repair directly into the lightening formula.
That last detail matters more than it might seem. Adding bond repair into the lightener itself — not just as a pre-treatment — means the protective benefits are active throughout the entire lifting process, not just before it starts.
The result: vibrant colour on healthy hair
Thanks to this layered approach, Adéla's hair arrived at a clean, even level 9 with the integrity to hold vivid color, a soft baby pink that transitions into a true hot pink, as seen in her Vogue feature.
The best colour transformations aren't just about the shade , they're about what you protect along the way. Matt's use of epres at every stage of the process is proof that bond repair isn't a backup plan. It's part of the plan from the very first step. If you want to keep this hair healthy however, after that salon visit you would need to use the epres bond repair home treatment which is available on our website.
See Adéla's full look featured in Vogue's Best Beauty Looks of the Week. Color by Matt Rez.
