The Inkey List first launched into the skincare market in 2018, quickly building up a cult following and selling one product every 30 minutes. Much like The Ordinary, customers love the “no frills” brand because it uses premium ingredients but keeps costs down by using simple packaging.

The brand made its debut into the hair care market last year, launching a range of treatments which utilise the same staple ingredients found in its skincare products, including hyaluronic acid and vitamin C. Its latest launch is the PCA bond repair treatment, a hair strengthening mist that promises to repair damage, resulting in healthier looking tresses.

The new haircare product will be competing with the likes of Olaplex – already a firm favourite with stylists. When the brand launched with its hair treatments in 2014 it changed the way colour and heat damaged hair could be treated. With its patented technology, it won awards all around the world, with everyone from influencers to celebrities talking about its benefits.

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But why do we even need hair treatments? If you’re colouring your hair frequently and/or using heat products to style your hair then you’ll quickly see damage – locks that lack shine, break easily and can be prone to frizz.

For most of us, hair colouring is a must, especially in lockdown, when our roots are growing by the day – but how does it damage our locks? Ingredients in hair colour, including ammonia and peroxide, damage the lipid layers of your hair – a membrane which coats the shafts of your tresses. Without this protection your hair can start to look frizzy or become dry.

When hair cuticles are lifted this also causes some damage – it’s the job of the ammonia in hair dye to get under the hair shaft, in order to make the colour change happen – but this in turn lifts the cuticle and the damage is done.

Styling can also damage the hair – with heat from hair dryers, straighteners and other styling tools causing breakages and spilt ends. Hair shouldn’t be subjected to any heat over 250C, but with most tools reaching a maximum of 200C it will, over time, impact the hair – especially if they’re used daily.

Of course, there are hundreds of products on the market which promise to revive flat, frizzy, damaged hair and give your locks some life. Most products do this by fusing the strands of damaged hair together to give it a smoother and more glossy finish.

The Inkey List’s new PCA Bond repair treatment promises to do just this, but how does it fare next to a leader in its field – Olaplex’s No.0 bond builder? With Inkey List’s new treatment costing less than half the price of the cult Olaplex buy, we put them both to the test.

The Inkey List’s PCA bond repair treatment

With such rave reviews across the board for its skincare products, we had high hopes for this hair treatment by The Inkey List. The spray features an exclusive ingredient to the brand – granrepair powerbond – a bond technology that is said to protect, strengthen and help repair hair damaged by bleach, dye and heat. While other ingredients including betain and aquarich, condition the hair and prevent split ends from forming. So far, so good.

We loved how The Inkey List version came in a simple mist spray – some of these treatments feel as though you’re spending time you don’t have on your hair, but thankfully this is just a quick spritz after you’ve washed the hair. Like the rest of the range, the bottle is jargon free – giving you straight to the point instructions on when best to use it and how many sprays you should be using, depending on how thick or long our hair is.

The whole bottle, including the pump, is 100 per cent recyclable – which is a big thumbs up when it comes to the future of sustainability in the beauty industry. We felt 10 sprays of the treatment was enough to cover our hair, and we loved how light it felt, unlike some other heavy-duty sprays that weigh the hair down.

Straight away, after blow drying, our hair felt thicker and after a few uses our locks felt stronger and shinier. After another week of using it we also saw less split ends, which is a bonus in the middle of lockdown. As you’re only using a few spritzes on your hair each time the bottle also lasts for a while – so you really are getting value for money.

Priced at just £12.99, it’s less than half the price of Olaplex’s offering and really does feel like an affordable luxury for the hair.

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Olaplex’s No.0 bond building hair treatment

Olaplex is the name on most hairdresser’s lips when you ask about protecting your colour damaged hair – it’s patented technology, Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate, is its key ingredient. This works to repair the disulfide bonds in our locks, which ultimately give our hair its structure and strength – but can be broken down by too much colouring or heat.

The treatments also work on closing the cuticles, which get exposed when hair is coloured – meaning colour looks more vibrant for longer. But can it tame our frizzy locks after years of colouring and is it worth double the price of The Inkey List version?

The No.0 bond building is best used when paired with the brands No.3 hair perfector (£26, Lookfantastic.com)– its original bestselling product. Its main job is to reduce breakage and repair the hair from the inside out. They work together well as the No.0 treatment acts like an intensive primer on the hair, encouraging the No.3 treatment sitting on top to work even harder.

We applied the No.0 on dry hair, making sure to get the same amount on each section. Easy to apply, it actually smelled nicer than we were expecting. After waiting ten minutes we applied the No.3 Olaplex hair perfector over it and waited another ten minutes.

After washing the treatment out, we were worried that it would leave a greasy residue, as it felt heavy on our hair, but instead we were left with soft and glossy locks. After a couple of days, we could really notice the difference – our hair looked noticeably shinier and with far less split ends – almost giving it a coat of shining armour to protect it. There was less obvious breakage when we used heat styling tools too.

We also found that our colour appeared brighter, giving the highlights more of a boost throughout our hair. The only downside is that, once paired with the No.3, it’s four times the price of The Inkey List’s version – so a big investment for the hair, rather than a budget buy.

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The verdict: The Inkey List’s PCA bond repair vs Olaplex No.0 bond building treatment

After putting both to the test, we found that Olaplex treatment was the one that really shone for us – by taking our hair from dry and lack-lustre to thick and shiny, even after the first application.

As well as damage from colouring, heat damage was also one of our main concerns and before the treatment, we found our hair to easily break when using styling tools. But after a few weeks of using Olaplex our hair felt stronger and we saw less split ends and breakages after styling.

The only downside was the application time, which felt like a bit of a mission, taking up to half an hour for the whole process. However, it’s only a weekly treatment and we can see ourselves indulging on a self-care Saturday – especially in lockdown.

For us the colour enhancing and shine results were the real highlights – after every application our hair beamed as though it had been freshly coloured.

Of course, it’s the pricier version of the two, but if you’re serious about protecting your hair long term we say follow the experts, as it has a good reputation for a reason.

However, The Inkey List’s PCA bond repair treatment shouldn’t be dismissed – as it’s a great offering from a brand just starting out in hair care.

We loved how easy the mist was to use and how thick our hair felt after a couple of applications. Any brand that has 100 per cent recyclable packaging gets a thumbs up from us and we love how it kept to its signature jargon free design and branding.

If we were tempted by a colour repair treatment, but were worried about parting with our cash, The Inkey List’s treatment would definitely be on our hair care shopping list.

One bottle of this L’Oréal conditioner sells every minute in the US, so we put it to the test

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The Inkey List’s PCA bond repair vs Olaplex’s No.0 bond building: Which hair treatment is best?

One is more than twice the price of the other, but which reigns supreme? We put them to the test

The Inkey List’s PCA bond repair treatment

Olaplex’s No.0 bond building hair treatment

The verdict: The Inkey List’s PCA bond repair vs Olaplex No.0 bond building treatment

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The verdict: The Inkey List’s PCA bond repair vs Olaplex No.0 bond building treatment

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