Wavy Hair Care

A wavy hair blog sharing tips and tricks for embracing naturally wavy hair.

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog Post Directory
  • Product Recommendations
  • Hair Coaching
  • Curly Girl Method
  • Wavy Hair Basics
  • Techniques
  • Routines

Bond Builders For Damaged Wavy Hair

March 4, 2023 by Emily Evert 2 Comments

Can You Really Repair Hair Bonds Damaged by Bleaching or Dyeing?

There are several types of hair bonds that can be broken. The ones broken during the process of bleaching hair or dyeing hair are primarily disulfide bonds, which are a type of covalent bonds. Those disulfide bonds cannot be fully repaired with any technology that we currently have.

The cosmetic chemists on the Beauty Brain podcast say bond builders like Olaplex and wellaplex do more conditioning than bond rebuilding. Covalent bonds or disulfide bonds are the ones damaged when hair is dyed. “It’s literally impossible to fully restore disfulfide bonds”. Hair repair products may rebuild hydrogen bonds or electrostatic bonding. 

Episode 216 on bond building explains how Olaplex has a patent that claims they rebuild disulfide bonds, but patents aren’t evidence of effective peer-reviewed science. 

What percentage of hair bonds are damaged while bleaching hair?

Typically 15-25% of bonds are damaged while bleaching hair, but it can be up to 45% in cases where “severe” bleaching is being done.

This is a quote from from Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair by Clarence R. Robbins.

“Robbins and Kelly [5] have shown that 15–25% of the disulfide bonds in human hair are degraded during “normal” bleaching, however, as much as 45% of the cystine bonds may be broken during severe “in practice” bleaching. This latter amount of damage may occur while frosting hair, or while bleaching hair from black or brown-black to light blond”

damaged wavy hair 101: what does the most damae to wavy hair? Do bond rebuilders really work? What type of hair bonds are broken when hair is damaged?

What Type Of Hair Bonds are Damaged by Bleaching?

Continue Reading

Wavy hair care blog owner

About Me

My name is Emily, I have been blogging since 2009. I found the curly girl method in 2018, which helped me to discover my naturally wavy hair. Since then, I’ve continued to wear my hair wavy, reading and watching tons about wavy hair. This blog is where I share what I’ve learned, in hopes of helping others. More about me and my backstory can be found on my about page.

Subscribe

* indicates required



How often would you like to be emailed?


Follow me

Created with Fabric.js 1.7.22

Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2025 · Beautiful Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in