When you want healthy, strong hair that can stand up to chemical processes and heat styling, you need bond repair. Bonding treatments help reinforce the structure of our hair, creating damage-resistant strands that promote a smooth shine and deter split ends and breakage.
What Breaks Bonds?
It feels like pretty much everything can cause damage to our hair, and that’s because pretty much everything does. Because hair doesn’t have any reparative properties of its own (unlike our skin), it takes damage from a lot and needs bonding treatments to restore it. Things like pollution and humidity can cause damage to hair bonds, not to mention what we do to style it.
According to New York trichologist and founder of hair care platform Leona.co, Shab Caspara, even heat styling works by breaking bonds that later reform when exposed to moisture. “Heat straightens hair by temporarily breaking the hydrogen bonds found in the structure of hair,” Caspara explains. “You can lessen damage through tools and technique. It’s less damaging on the hair to pass a thermal tool through your hair slowly to get it right the first pass then to pass it quickly several times and risk burning your hair.”
Bleach and chemical straightening break bonds, which results in unhealthy hair, according to master stylist and colorist Paul Labrecque of Paul Labrecque Salon and Skincare Spa. “Straightening with chemicals changes the cortex of the hair, so it becomes much more difficult to hold volume and body, and also makes it tougher to blow out,” Labrecque explains. “Chemically straightened hair is typically far more damaged than hair treated with keratin or amino acid treatments to remove frizz and lessen curls.”
The good news is, all that damage to our bonds can be repaired. Bonding treatments range from in-salon services that can (and should!) accompany a chemical process like a bleach job, to in-home ranges of treatments, shampoos and conditioners. All bonding treatments are geared towards repairing the bonds that hold our hair together, particularly the peptide bonds that make hair strong.
Bonding Treatments for Hair in Need
The best of at-home bonding treatments are focused on getting to the center of the hair cortex and repairing peptide and disulfide bonds. These are essential for hair strength and repairing them helps deter breakage. Many bond repair products will also offer benefits like hydration and even heat protection.
