In a perfect world, we’d all have glossy, strong, fast-growing hair that always looks good. But the reality of city living, indulging in colour treatments and too much heat styling, can take a toll on hair health. This is exactly why a bond repair hair treatment deserves a spot in your hair wash routine.
In case you’re wondering what hair bonds are, how they work and what causes damage, I spoke to stylist and K18’s global education ambassador Jordan Alexander to get the lowdown. “Hair bonds are chemical interactions between the protein chains in hair that give hair its structure, strength, shine, and elasticity,” he says. When they become damaged, hair loses its shine, strength, smoothness and softness.
There’s a multitude of culprits responsible, explains Alexander, such as chemical servicing like colour treatments, sun damage, chlorine from swimming pools and heat from styling. “All of this takes a toll on our locks. When hair is at its healthiest, all of our hair goals are achieved; strength, shine, bounce, elasticity, no frizz, no breakages and healthy growth.”
Bond repair first became widely known with the emergence of Olaplex, a brand exclusively available in salons for professional treatments, to reduce breakage and restore texture and shine. Then, in 2014, it launched onto shop shelves with its now cult favourite no.3 treatment, amassing celebrity and hair stylist fans worldwide thanks to its patented technology that left strands silky soft and healthier than ever.
For a long time, Olaplex dominated the market, but in recent years, a swathe of luxury and affordable brands have launched their own versions of bond repair treatments. Some require a pre-shampoo application, while others come in handy mists for damp, towel-dried hair or as leave-in creams.
In a bid to discover the bond repair treatments that actually work and are worth introducing into your shower regime, I set about testing as many as possible to narrow it down to my top-rated products that are hard-working and quick to deliver my healthiest hair yet.
How I tested
I’ve spent months testing bond repair treatments across a broad range of brands, some are budget-friendly picks, and others are firmly in the luxury category. I examined each for ease of application, value for money, packaging efficiency and of course, the results found. Here’s my verdict.
The best bonding treatments for 2024 are:
K18 hair leave-in molecular repair hair mask
K18 burst onto the beauty scene in 2020 and has skyrocketed to success ever since, counting Selena Gomez, Hailey Bieber and Rihanna as fans. While the bottle looks small, it’s packed with a concentrated peptide formula that strengthens and improves elasticity to combat damage caused by heat styling, chemical colouring, breakage and split ends. The application is straightforward; after shampooing, towel dry your hair thoroughly and work one pump evenly into strands, from ends to roots. Simply apply more if you have thicker or longer hair.
While I love a traditional hair mask that needs to be washed out in the shower, this leave-in treatment is much more realistic for my routine and has been a part of my hair wash regime for the last year, on and off. It’s fuss-free and after just four uses, I saw improved shine and smoother strands. Even on my fine hair and oily scalp, it didn’t weigh locks down or leave a greasy film once dry. It makes my shoulder-length hair noticeably less knotty too, which is the biggest bugbear of my bleached tresses.
Buy now £30.00, Amazon.co.uk
The Inkey List PCA bond repair hair treatment
This hair-strengthening mist is one of the few budget options available, coming in at just £15. Promising a smoother, glossy finish on hair, the mist format is simpler than the leave-in creams and pre-shampoo treatment I tried. Wash your hair with shampoo, then the brand recommends spritzing four to six times through short hair and six to 10 sprays for longer, thicker hair. I wasn’t too precious about the number and found it to be the easiest to apply with minimal effort.
Once my hair was dry it felt immediately thicker and voluminous without feeling weighed down, but with repeated use twice a week over a month, I began to see an improvement in hair strength and noticed fewer split ends. Like the rest of The Inkey List range, the packaging on both the box and the bottle is crystal clear, leaving no qualms about applying it correctly. It gets bonus points too for having a bottle, and pump, that’s recyclable.
Buy now £15.00, Lookfantastic.com
Kerasilk strengthening bond builder
This is another leave-in treatment that I love, and it is better value for money, costing £28 for a 90ml slimline tube. It couldn’t be easier to use, simply apply a dollop to towel-dried hair and allow it to air dry or blow dry as usual. It’s a vegan formula made with biomimetic silk (lab-derived silk) and bondamine that both condition and strengthen strands, but is also free from silicones, sulphates, dyes, microplastics, mineral oils and parabens.
As the name suggests, it does in fact, leave hair feeling silky soft every single time. The gel texture isn’t sticky and is easy to evenly distribute through hair with just your hands, you can’t go wrong with it. It also gets bonus points for smelling amazing.
Buy now £28.00, Beautybay.com
Maria Nila structure repair leave in cream
Off the bat, this leave-in treatment gets brownie points for its 200ml bottle, which is both compact and space-saving, but great value for money too. While £24 is not cheap, it contains more product than many of the other luxury competitors on this list. It’s part of a whole range of bond repair products from the Stockholm-based brand, alongside a booster masque, rinse-out hair mask, shampoo and conditioner.
I love that the pump allows you to control the amount of product that’s dispensed easily and it smells incredible, thanks to a blend of vanilla, rose and jasmine. Formulated with algae extract, wheat protein and moringa oil, the application is easy enough, simply run through towel-dried hair. I noticed a speedy improvement in shine, texture and softness after just three uses.
Buy now £21.60, Libertylondon.com
L’Oreal Paris Elvive bond repair rescue pre-shampoo
This is the most similar product to Olaplex no.3. It’s a pre-shampoo treatment that’s designed to be applied liberally to hair from the scalp to the end of strands, left for five minutes, then rinsed out and followed up with your regular shampoo and conditioner.
It worked particularly well on my colour-treated hair that’s been highlighted from mousy brown to a buttery blonde over the last three years. It immediately improved the dullness and texture, instantly feeling sleeker and smoother. Best of all, it’s one of the most reasonably priced products you’ll find in this category. Oh, and it smells delicious.
Buy now £15.99, Lookfantastic.com
Redken acidic bonding concentrate leave-in treatment
This weekly treatment is on the pricier side but is absolutely worth it. Designed like a traditional hair mask, it needs to be applied in the shower onto the mid-lengths and ends of hair and rinsed out after five minutes. Within seconds, you’ll feel a difference and once you step out, my perpetually knotty hair is sleek, easy to brush through and feels silky soft without being weighed down with product or prone to greasiness. Available in a 100ml or 250ml tube, the larger size has lasted me ages, as you only need a small amount each time, and don’t need to saturate your whole head like others.
Buy now £19.25, Amazon.co.uk
Livingproof triple bond complex
This intensive treatment is recommended for weekly use to strengthen strands and restore hair health. The small but mighty bottle contains the brand’s 3D fortifying technology combined with an emollient, cuticle sealing agents and encapsulated cellular oil to smooth strands and enhance shine.
On clean, damp hair apply two pumps, then more if you have longer, thicker hair and comb through, wait 10 minutes then blow dry. It works best with heat activation, and I definitely saw more improvement when I blow-dried it in, instead of letting my hair air dry. On my fine, naturally straight hair, I found once every two weeks was the optimum amount of use, and over time I saw stronger, healthier-looking locks that looked shinier and felt thicker.
Buy now £42.00, Cultbeauty.co.uk
Sam Mcknight deeper love hair mask
This is a traditional hair mask created by legendary hairstylist Sam Mcknight, who counts Lady Gaga, Gigi and Bella Hadid as clients and many more across his 40-year career in beauty. It’s designed to be applied to wet hair, combed through, left for five minutes and rinsed out in the shower. The formula is rich with plant keratin, shea butter and rephair, a strengthening ingredient that makes this mask so brilliant. It has a fine fragrance too, thanks to a collaboration with perfumer Lyn Harris (the brains behind the perfume brands Miller Harris and Perfumer H), so you can enjoy the aroma of green leaf, juniper, cedarwood and pepper while this speedy treatment gets to work. This quickly became a go-to when my colour-treated hair was in need of some TLC, as it instantly makes hair free from knotty clumps, adds a glossy shine, reduces frizz and split ends, and best of all, leaves it silky soft. Think of it as a quick fix that you’ll keep coming back to.
Buy now £22.00, Lookfantastic.com
The verdict: Bonding hair treatments
I was impressed with the more budget-friendly The Inkey List PCA bond repair hair treatment – the mist format is easy to use, takes minimal effort, and I saw immediate improved fullness and body to my usually fine strands. But, overall, the K18 hair leave-in molecular repair hair mask took the top spot. The small bottle is deceiving for the magic that’s inside, and I loved the fuss-free application method, especially when I’m feeling too lazy to use a rinse-out mask. I saw long-term improvements with regular use, too.
Olaplex is famed for its bond building formulas – read our review of Olaplex’s hair products
