Review: Olaplex Bond Maintenance Shampoo & Conditioner 💪

I first used the revolutionary Olaplex Hair Perfector No. 3 treatment in 2015 (!) with awesome results (to see before and after pics plus an in-depth review, click here). Olaplex became SO popular and well known around the world because their formula fixes broken disulfide sulfur bonds in the hair, rather than just coating hair in various substances for a temporary fix.  The no. 1 and no. 2 treatments are in-salon treatments, where there Olaplex formula is added into hair colour mixes to stop the colour from damaging hair. The no. 2 treatment then continues to repair hair once the colour has been washed off (in the salon). The no. 3 treatment is then the at home version, to maintain strong healthy hair and to repair ongoing damage. It makes sense that they would eventually expand their range to include a shampoo and conditioner, products I was very eager to try seeing as I am trying to get my hair back into fantastic condition! Can I just say that I am doing ok in that regard?! 😉😜 It’s all thanks to a number of products, but the at home no. 3 treatment certainly helps! So my hopes and expectations were set pretty high after the brilliance of the no. 3 treatment. Did Olaplex meet those expectations? Let’s find out!

OLAPLEX NO.4 BOND MAINTENANCE SHAMPOOOlaplex No.4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo restores internal strength and moisture levels to add incredible shine and manageability. The Olaplex No.4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo is formulated with patented OLAPLEX Bond Building Chemistry that re-links broken bonds to protect and repair damaged hair, split ends and frizz. Olaplex No.4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo is for all hair types and is sulphate-free, paraben-free, gluten-free, vegan, nut free and completely colour safe.Directions: 1, use every time you shampoo OR after rinsing OLAPLEX No. 3 Hair Perfector from hair. Lather. Rinse. 2, Follow with OLAPLEX No. 5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner. OLAPLEX NO.5 BOND MAINTENANCE CONDITIONER Olaplex No.5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner restores, repairs and hydrates without adding excess weight – eliminating damage and frizz for strong, healthy, shiny hair.The Olaplex No.5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner is formulated with patented OLAPLEX Bond Building Chemistry that re-links broken bonds to protect and repair damaged hair, split ends and frizz.Olaplex No.5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner is for all hair types and is sulphate-free, paraben-free, gluten-free, vegan, nut free and completely colour safe.Directions: Apply OLAPLEX No. 5 Bond Maintenance Conditioner and leave on for 3 minutes. Rinse. For best results, use the 3-4-5 system at home!

The first thing that really surprised me about this shampoo and conditioner duo, is that the ingredient lists are super long. Both products contain a lot of natural extracts and oils, which goes to show that science and nature can co-exist nicely! 😄🌸🌿 Instead of containing the well known and ‘popular’ sodium laurel sulfate (a surfactant – which means essentially a cleanser) the Bond Maintenance Shampoo contains sodium lauroyl methyl isethionate, which is coconut derived. It is also a very mild surfactant, especially compared to sodium laurel sulfate, which can be harsh and irritate sensitive scalps. It makes sense that if you want healthy hair, you need a healthy scalp and there’s generally no need to use a harsh natural-oil stripping shampoos (you only want to get rid of excess oil and product build up). However, sodium lauroyl methyl isethionate isn’t the only surfactant the shampoo contains. It also contains sodium cocoyl glutamate – another gentle surfactant that is derived from vegetable oil (so it’s biodegradable, yay!).

The shampoo also contains ingredients which allow the shampoo to foam up nicely (cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine & potassium cocoyl glycinate). In regards to ‘natural’ extracts and the like, the shampoo contains açai fruit extract, pomegranate extract, rosemary leaf extract, banana fruit, oregano, noni fruit extract, burdock root extract, apricot kernel oil, argan oil ferment filtrate, camellia seed oil & sunflower seed extract and oil (right at the end of the formula!) 🌻. As you can see, that’s a lot of natural extracts and oils!  It also sounds like the most random mix of ingredients, but hey, they must have chosen them for a reason right? The formula also includes ingredients found in their bond repairing treatment. There is probably a smaller amount of the treatment in the shampoo, to give your hair a small ‘boost’. After all, shampoos are rinsed out of hair rather quickly, so there probably isn’t much point in adding a lot of treatment ingredients in there. So I’m ok with this ☺️

For me, I look for shampoos that don’t leave my hair feeling stripped and seriously matted plus dry. I want shampoos to cleanse my hair gently. The Olaplex shampoo meets my needs and expectations! Hair feels clean but not stripped. I only wash my hair once (so I don’t rinse and repeat the shampoo step) and find that this is all I need to keep my fine & damaged hair clean but not dried out. As mentioned above, the shampoo foams up quite a bit, which a lot of Beauties will like. It spreads nicely and I probably use a 50cent dollop of shampoo per wash. What surprised me about the shampoo is the scent. I don’t know why, but I expected a ‘chemical’ type scent, expecting the shampoo & conditioner to be all science and no fun. I was wrong of course! It has a fresh citrus fruit scent 🍊🍋 💦 It isn’t OTT, but rather the type of scent of hair products at your hair salon (you know when you walk out of the hairdressers with super yummy smelling hair? It’s THAT kinda scent!). There is artificial perfume in the formula, but perhaps that was needed because of the weird mix of ingredients lol

The only note I would make about the shampoo, is that sometimes it seems like it takes a little while to completely rinse out of my hair (like it needs an extra 30 seconds). Does it lather too well? Maybe. Or maybe I am using too much product, who knows lol 🤷🏼‍♀️ If it hasn’t rinsed out completely, you will generally get the last little bits out when rinsing your hair from conditioner, I just don’t think that leaving surfactants in your hair is a great idea. You can generally ‘feel’ little bubbles and product still in your hair if you haven’t washed out the shampoo completely. Just a note to keep in mind!

So what about the conditioner? It contains dimethicone copolyol, which is a great silicone because it evaporates. Cool huh? Instead of building up on the hair and potentially weighing it down, it’s water-solvable (meaning it’s easy to wash out) and super lightweight. It provides hair products with great slip when wet, meaning you can distribute the product more easily all over your hair (and get more out of your conditioner!). It also contains amodimethicone (in smaller amounts though) another type of silicone. It has the ability to adhere to damaged areas of hair strands better than other silicones (such as the traditional dimethicone) and also washes out easily. Silicones make hair manageable thanks to the polymers that adhere to hair strands, providing slip and a silky feeling to hair. Hair is less likely to get knotty, which causes hair breakage because you are pulling at your hair more when brushing etc. These more ‘modern’ silicones don’t build up on the hair quite as much as dimethicone, causing it to be heavy and flat. Some people also find that dimethicone on it’s own can cause hair to feel dry after a while (I suppose that a build up of dimethicone would eventually stop other ingredients from penetrating the hair shaft).

Panthenol is a derivative of vitamin B5 and is also found in the formula. It’s often included in hair products because it can penetrate the hair shaft and help with moisture retention. It can also be great for your scalp (however, I doubt a lot of Beauties run their hair conditioner into their scalp…). Again the conditioner contains argan oil ferment filtrate, camellia seed oil ferment filtrate, vitamin E, pomegranate extract, noni fruit extract, açai fruit extract, camellia seed oil, abyssinian seed oil (high in omega-9 fatty acids), avocado oil, grape seed oil, soybean oil, sunflower seed extract and sunflower seed oil.

The conditioner is super thick. If you squeeze some product out of the bottle into the palm of your hand and then you turn your palm upside down, the product won’t fall off! That’s how thick it is. I like thick consistencies in conditioners because I find they adhere to hair better. A little goes a long way too. I was probably applying too much hair conditioner at first, because I was finding that my hair was weighed down by the conditioner. If I use less (I have shoulder length fine hair) my hair isn’t quite as flat – but would I say it doesn’t add any weight to hair at all… I don’t mind this too much, because it doesn’t make my roots more oily more quickly than usual (something that can happen to me when using cheap conditioners) and hair isn’t very weighed down. I’d rather have less volume and have hydrated and nourished hair, in comparison to volume and dry hair. So yes, the conditioner does add a solid amount of hydration to hair! Hair feels nourished and soft for 2-3 days after washing. The scent of the conditioner is the same as the shampoo (if anything, it’s a little more subtle) 😊

Both the shampoo and conditioner work very well of course, with the Olaplex Hair Perfector (no. 3 treatment) which you use before shampooing. Do they all help to stop hair breakage and to repair hair? I think so! I do hope also, that the bond repairing ingredients keep working over time just as well as they did when you first started using the products… I imagine they would as you would notice more breakage over time whilst using the products and that certainly hasn’t been the case for me. Is it a problem if they ‘build up’ on the hair like other ingredients? Again, I don’t know if they do or don’t, but I haven’t noticed any negative effects and I’ve been using the products for about a month now. I don’t always use the Hair Perfector before washing (I generally use it once a week) and I alternate between using the Olaplex shampoo & conditioner, and other shampoo & conditioner combos.

Above: The ingredient list of the Hair Perfector No. 3 Treatment in case you wanted to see that also 😜

You get 250ml of product with both the shampoo and conditioner. They retail for $49.95 each, however, you can get them in a pack together along with the no. 3 treatment for $125 (the no. 3 treatment also retails for $49.99, so you save $25 overall). I buy mine from Adore Beauty (which is where I have linked you to via the hyperlinks!) because they offer free postage on all orders and provide impeccable service 👌

Overall, these are great hair products and I think the price they sell for is substantiated. All three products seem to be keeping my hair in good condition and I expect that this will continue 😉

Do you generally gravitate towards salon brands when it comes to haircare? Have you tried the Olaplex system at the hair salon or at home? Let us know your thoughts below!

Catch ya next time,

Beauty Bee~

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