It’s time to bid farewell to brittle, breakage strands.

By Joyce Cheo of Harper’s Bazaar

If you have a penchant for perms, are a colour chameleon, or even a heat-styling enthusiast, smoothing out your damaged, tangled and brittle strands might be an everyday battle. Which is why you need a game plan for resuscitating your locks, i.e. trying out BAZAAR’s Pick Of The Month: PREP Luxe’s Olaplex Hair Restoration, from $120 for about 60 minutes.

You might have read about the Olaplex phenomenon on Instagram-sphere, where thousands and thousands of consumers and stylists alike rave about its results. But what does it exactly do? More than just a regular hair repair treatment, it’s a hair strengthening ritual that reinforces the integrity of individual strands.

Why is that important? For starters, when our hair is untouched by chemicals, it is protected by hair cuticles which lie flat, similar in the manner of fish scales. But when we perm or colour our hair, harsh chemicals are applied to yank hair cuticles from this position, forcing them to open to let colour pigments or perm solutions into the hair shaft to alter hair’s colour or structure. However, some hair cuticles could be permanently stripped off, causing nutrients and proteins to leak from hair structure. And when this happens, not only does hair lose its shine and vitality, it can become inelastic and snaps easily.

This is where Olaplex comes in. Designed as a two-step, in-salon treatment, it rebuilds hair structure from within to minimise hair breakage. At PREP Luxe, the Olapex Hair Restoration begins with your stylist applying Olaplex Bond Multiplier No. 1 directly to your hair. This replenishes hair with lost proteins and re-links disulphide bonds. After five to ten minutes, any excess fluid is towel-dried before Bond Perfector No. 2 is evenly applied. Your stylist then uses an airbrush-like device (which emits nano-mist) to help boost its penetration. This step helps to smoothen and soften hair. Next, your hair is thoroughly rinsed before you are treated to PREP Luxe’s signature blowout so you’ll walk out looking and feeling like a million bucks.

Lived-in Colour is our signature hair colour service that maintains its unique lived-in look even months after you walk out of the salon by preserving your natural root then subtly fading down to your colour of choice using our signature hair painting technique - this means your hair colour looks great even when your roots grow out. Careful colour selection, expert technique, and professional after-care advice by our stylists also means your hair colour will look beautiful at every stage of it’s subsequent fade and evolution.

See the transformation of a steel grey/blue Lived-in Colour example and its evolution over the next 6 months below.

As the original virgin black hair had to be pre-lightened before applying the steel grey/blue colour, our expert stylist Den also described that the colour would eventually fade to ash blonde tips. He would however avoid brassiness or yellow tones (a typical problem with asian hair gone blonde) with careful pre-lightening.

During the 6 months post-colour, there were no additional colour touch-ups done and the colour and hair integrity were maintained purely with monthly Olaplex Hair Restoration Treatments at PREP Luxe and the use of Olaplex No. 3 (retailing at $79 at PREP Luxe) weekly and JOICO purple shampoo & conditioner at home (retailing at $34 each at PREP Luxe).

Root regrowth is clear when comparing the pictures across the 6 months period. However, despite the original blue fading away, the natural and subtle hair painting technique that preserved the natural root resulted in a unique lived-in ash blonde look that still looks uniquely lived-in and natural 6 months later. All this without any further expense or time spent on colouring services!

Lived-in colour prices start from $320 for hair that is shoulder to chest length.* Do ask us about how to get up to 20% off all services with our Store Credits!

Call 6384 1406 for appointments!

*Assumes original hair is black virgin hair. Price is for non-Director Stylist, surcharge will apply for Director Stylist

We love everything vintage and were delighted to have Maurice our Creative Director and resident specialist in Vintage Hairstyles to create a variety of 50s-inspired hair looks for Overeasy Orchard’s launch campaign shoot!

Victory rolls were a key highlight as we styled the likes of Melody Chen, Charmaine Seah, Aarika Lee, Hanli Hoefer, Victoria Cheng, Jaime Lee and Tjin Lee with her super adorable son Bubu. The bold prints and bright, gorgeous outfits by Lula Rock added to the 50s vibe, adding bursts of colour to the vivid campaign shots set in the classic American diner style decor of Overeasy Orchard. (Photos by our very own multi-talented PREP ladyboss Jacqueline Chang of course!!!)

If you haven’t yet tried the amazing fried chicken and waffles or their ridiculously good milkshakes, don’t wait any longer! Head down to the new Overeasy conveniently located at Liat Towers along Orchard Road where you can take a delicious break from Christmas shopping.