Oribe Hair Alchemy Collection Review
If your hair seems more fragile than normal, you're not alone. Breakage and fallout is all too common, which is why Oribe's latest collection, a three-step system targeting resilience called Hair Alchemy, is designed to get to the root of the problem.
"I'm finding that 30 percent of my clients are noticing more breakage and shedding, and are looking for ways to combat those issues," Oribe's global educator, Christian Ceja-Compin, says.
Hair Alchemy's shampoo, conditioner, and treatment serum aim to prevent breakage before it even starts. "Prevention has always been a main category in skin care, and now is starting to make its way into hair care as consumers become increasingly more savvy," Gabriella Raccuia, Oribe's product development manager, explains. "Prevention from hair breakage is important, because unlike your skin, which can regenerate itself, hair breakage is irreversible."
In the era of COVID-19, and its high levels of stress, the hair category has come under particular scrutiny with complaints of hair thinning rising to the fore. As you attempt to thicken and grow out your hair, you might find the strands to be particularly fragile and difficult to rehabilitate. This makes it nearly impossible to reach longer lengths, healthy shine, and body, with rough texture and split ends plaguing hair in the interim. But this is just one type of hair woe that the collection seeks to address; as mentioned, its beauty is in its preventive line of approach.
WHAT CAUSES HAIR BREAKAGE?
"There are a few factors that can cause hair breakage," Ceja-Compin says. "The most common include heat styling, aggressive brushing, and wearing hair in a tight ponytail." For these types of behavioral causes of hair breakage, he recommends using creamy products that protect against heat damage (the leave-in Fortifying Hair Serum provides protection from thermal damage up to 450 degrees), detangling gently, sleeping on a silk pillowcase, and using preventive products.
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But in the interest of "prejuvenation"—i.e., preventive rejuvenation—for the hair, people are also interested in fortifying their strands, keeping them from reaching the damaged, broken state altogether. Ceja-Compin points out that anyone with fine or brittle hair, or that colors or bleaches their hair often, is a good candidate for this type of anticipatory treatment. "Providing a strong and healthy base before coloring the hair is important to keep the hair from breaking after it is dyed," he points out. As Raccuia notes, these external causes to hair breakage "stretch and stress" the hair, weakening the outer cuticle and inner cortex, whittling away at strength and elasticity. Of course, some hair types—like fine, brittle, moisture-averse, or extremely curly hair—are also more inherently at risk of breakage.
HOW HAIR ALCHEMY'S SYSTEM WORKS
Oribe has achieved its clinical results for Hair Alchemy—which, for the record, include 2.9 times more elasticity and 133 percent greater strength—due to a specific combination of strength-imparting botanical ingredients that has been added to the brand's Signature Complex of lychee, watermelon, and edelweiss flower, as well as phytoceramides, green tea, and plant polysaccharides.
"Borrowing from nature's apothecary and blending ancient superfoods and phyto-technology, our Curative Blend includes chia seed (named for the Mayan word for strength), bio-fermented bamboo leaf and plant-based protein, along with a multi-action hyaluronic acid complex," Raccuia says. The addition of bio-fermented bamboo leaf enhances the active's antioxidant activity, thus making the ingredient more bio-available to the hair. "Together, these ingredients transform weak, brittle hair into strong, resilient locks by improving tensile strength and increasing elasticity."
The results speak for themselves: Eighty-one percent of respondents felt that their hair was more fortified after just one use. After one week, 87 percent felt that their hair was more resilient, while 82 percent felt their strands were stronger from root to tip.
WHO IS HAIR ALCHEMY FOR?
If you are wondering if your hair is a good candidate for this type of preventive treatment, consider whether you have had difficulty growing it out to longer lengths; seem to have excessive flyaways or split ends; if it's thinning; or even if it feels extra rough. If you're concerned about the environmental impact of beauty, know that the products are recyclable and the formulas are dermatologist tested, vegan, gluten free, color and keratin safe, and formulated without sulfates (SLS and SLES).
The Oribe Hair Alchemy collection is available now at Oribe salons and retailers, as well as online at oribe.com.
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