Lightening
Bleach removes pigment by breaking into the hair, and disulfide bonds are broken along the way. The more lift, the more bonds are lost.
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HAIR CARE GUIDE
If your hair snaps, tangles or won't hold a style after colour or heat, the damage is likely on the inside. Here's what hair bonds are, what breaks them, how to check your own hair, and how a bond repair treatment fits into a routine at home.
A bond repair treatment works inside the hair fibre to reconnect the bonds that bleach, colour and heat break down. Conditioners and masks mostly coat the outside of the hair, so it feels smoother until the next wash. A bond repair treatment targets the structure underneath, which is where strength and stretch come from.
Hair is made mostly of keratin, a protein arranged in long chains. Those chains are held together by bonds, and the strongest of them, disulphide bonds, give hair its strength, shape and stretch.
Weaker hydrogen bonds break every time your hair gets wet and reform as it dries. That's completely normal. The trouble starts when disulfide bonds break, because they don't reform on their own and they provide 30% to 35% of your hair's structural strength, elasticity, and shape.
Bleach removes pigment by breaking into the hair, and disulfide bonds are broken along the way. The more lift, the more bonds are lost.
Permanent colour, perms and relaxers all rely on chemistry that breaks bonds to change colour or shape. Repeat services on the same lengths add up.
Straighteners and tongs at high temperatures, used often, weaken the hair's structure over time. Running a hot tool over damp hair is especially harsh.
Rough towel drying, brushing wet hair, tight styles, sun and chlorine each do a little damage that builds up along the lengths.
Take a single shed strand from your brush and wet it. Hold each end and pull gently.
Healthy hair stretches a little and springs back. Hair that stretches a long way and stays limp, or snaps almost straight away, is showing signs of broken bonds.
Other signs to look for: hair that feels gummy or mushy when wet, breaks off in short pieces, tangles more than it used to, or won't hold a curl or blow-dry.
Most conditioners, masks and oils work on the surface. They smooth the cuticle and add slip, so hair feels better until you wash it out.
A bond repair treatment is designed to work inside the fibre, where the broken bonds are. The aim is to bring back strength and elasticity, rather than just change how hair feels to the touch.
Results build with regular use. Most people notice hair feels stronger and behaves better after a few treatments, and keep going once or twice a week to maintain it. If you want to see how ours works, the bond repair treatment page explains the formula.
It can't fix split ends. Once the end of a strand has split, the only real fix is a trim. Strengthening the hair can help stop that damage travelling further up the strand, but nothing will fuse the two halves back together.
It can't undo years of damage in one go. Hair grows roughly a centimetre a month, so long lengths can carry several years of colour and heat. Regular treatments improve how that hair looks and behaves while healthier hair grows in from the root.
Best forLightened, coloured or heat-damaged hair that has lost strength and stretch.
Best forProtecting hair during a colour appointment.
Best forVery porous, limp hair.
Best forDry, rough or frizzy hair.
Plenty of routines use more than one. A bond repair treatment for strength, plus a conditioner or mask for softness, is a common pairing.
Made for hair that's been through a lot
£46.00
Softer, stronger and healthier hair doesn't have to be reserved for in the salon. Professional-quality hair treatment to use at home, allowing you to maintain your locks between hair appointments.
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