Oh my Olaplex

They say that your hair is your crowning glory & in many ways, I agree.

I am very lucky that I have naturally very thick & rapidly growing hair but it hasn’t always been that way.

A few years ago, I suffered with a condition called alopecia areta, which meant that I lost my hair in a few patches on my scalp. This happened completely out of the blue & really did cause awful stress as I was worried sick that I would lose all of my hair – which can happen in cases of alopecia. However, with a very healthy diet & a strict prescription of vitamins – the patches of baldness, grew back within a few months. Since that episode of alopecia, I have been really conscious of looking after my hair & my skin.

Whenever I am run down or if I have been any way ill, my hair will shown the signs. With any bout of sickness, my hair will become very knotted, very dull and really lack a healthy appearance. My hair is also very susceptible to having fairly dramatic seasonal changes – and by that, I mean, as Summer changes to Winter, my hair will shed quite a lot. But luckily I’m at a point where I have plenty of hair so I can afford the shedding. It always amazes me how that shedding doesn’t happen on my legs or bikini but, c’est la vie.

I do however consider myself to be very fortunate to have one of the best hairdressers in the country, Sabrina Hill of Kopper Hair, Glanmire, Cork, looking after my hair – in particular, the condition of my hair.

I would have always been very haphazard in my approach to the products that I used on my hair. The way I felt was that, once you got a good cut and colour in the salon, any shampoo and conditioner worked fine in the home care. Sure, that’s why they’re on the shelves of the supermarket & pharmacies, isn’t it? But, clearly I was wrong.

How it was identified by Sabrina was that she noticed that my colour was fading very fast – within a few weeks of being in the salon after having fresh colour applied. She also commented on the feel of the texture of my hair and felt that it was coated in product. So when I told her what I had been using (multiple shop shampoos), she asked me to fully clear them and move on to shampoos and conditioners that do not contain sulphites. Apparently sulphites destroy salon colour and also put a coating on the hair shaft causing a dull and lacklustre appearance. I now use Joico which I get in the salon in Glanmire.

In recent weeks though, Sabrina has started me on a new treatment called Olaplex. I have the home treatment which I put into my hair when it’s dry. I then leave it in (preferably over night) & then wash and condition as normal in the morning.

From using the Olaplex, my hair is noticeably shinier, healthier and styles much better when I’m having it done in the salon. The initial Olaplex treatment phase begins in the salon but I love the fact that I can do one of the phases at home.

My hair is in amazing condition from using this product and it’s definitely one that I will keep on using to maintain the current state of my hair.