Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector: a Guru Score of 76%

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Mixed takes Hide sponsored

✓Yay

"I've been using Olaplex Hair Perfector No. 3 for around 10 years to keep my fine, breakage-prone, bleached and heat-styled hair as healthy as possible. I swear it has made my hair look better than it ever did in the years before. It might be me imagining things, but I swear by it and have repurchased it numerous times."

All 6 takes from Doctor Anne

Holy Grail Skincare 2025 – What I’d Buy Again Without Hesitation | Doctor Anne

"For bond building I still after all these years rely on the Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector that I do every Sunday and for during the week once a"

I Used Up ALL of These in 2025 - Skincare, Hair & Makeup Empties | Doctor Anne

"I've been using Olaplex Hair Perfector No. 3 for around 10 years to keep my fine, breakage-prone, bleached and heat-styled hair as healthy as possible. I swear it has made my hair look better than it ever did in the years before. It might be me imagining things, but I swear by it and have repurchased it numerous times."

k18 Hair Mask Review: Is It Better Than Olaplex for Damaged Hair? | Doctor Anne

"I still use both, once a week Olaplex No 3 as a prewash treatment with a bond building conditioner by L'Oréal afterwards. Olaplex focuses on rebuilding broken disulfide bonds, which are responsible for the strength and elasticity of the hair. Olaplex has the better immediate effect on my hair, leaving it silky and smooth, and with the amount of damage my hair has, it surely won't hurt to use a multitargeted approach."

My most loved skincare 2024 - Holy grail routine | Doctor Anne

"In addition to the k18 mask I still use the Olaplex No 3 Hair Perfector. I use both, but on alternating washes. Olaplex has more of an immediate effect while K18 seems to have really improved the health of my lengths."

So many skincare empties - Everything I used up in 2024 | Doctor Anne

"I finished one large pot of Olaplex No 3 Hair Perfector. 2024 was the year where I finally found a good rhythm of when to apply this prewash hair mask and I am pretty happy with the results, so I repurchased already."

My most loved skincare 2023 - Holy grail routine | Doctor Anne

"Instead of a hair mask I use it."

AliceintheRabbitHole

59k subs

✓Yay

"Olaplex No. 3 is a very reliable product."

All 2 takes from AliceintheRabbitHole

Ulta 21 Days of Beauty: I sorted everything so you don't have to

"Olaplex No. 3 is a very reliable product."

Ulta 21 Days of Beauty: My Picks & Skips! (Fall 2024)

"Olaplex has worked well for me, but in all truth the thing that has worked best for me is to bleach less. You can buy repairing products like Olaplex No. 3, like Living Proof, but it doesn't really put the bark back on the tree, it just kind of adds a thin layer of something around it that helps, bleaching less is better for you."

Alexandra Anele

1.44M subs

✓Yay

"I kind of want to just look at gift sets cuz the gift sets have been fire recently absolutely"

Nipun Kapur

409k subs

✓Yay

"Olaplex No. 3 is a product that I have used since 2019. It's a leave-in molecular mask and I think that is one reason that my hair strand, my actual texture hair, is still very healthy despite all the abuse."

James Welsh

1.58M subs

✓Mixed

"Olaplex No. 3, which is the one that a lot of people say you should be using because it's the most potent, was never designed as the conditioning treatment that everybody's treating it like. [...] They're assuming that Olaplex is a conditioning treatment that will make hair softer and more manageable, but it's only really meant to change the structure of the hair without any sort of coating. You're not supposed to drench your hair in it, put it in a bun, put it in a hat, then sleep with it. [...] I used to work in a salon and Olaplex was a huge part of our bleaching treatments. Depending on the hair type, we'd be like, we're not going to do your hair unless you allow us to use Olaplex, because it can snap, it can break. It was a system, it was part of a process. When people started using No. 3 on their hair when they didn't even have color in their hair or anything like that, I was confused. Treating it like a leave-in conditioner, I don't think that's really how it goes."

All 2 takes from James Welsh

What Went Wrong With Olaplex? From Breakthrough to Backlash - Behind The Beauty

"Olaplex's Number 3 Hair Perfector contained this ingredient, which was obviously a big problem as the hair perfector was a bestseller for the brand, so the idea that it might cause fertility issues was incredibly damaging to the brand's image. Olaplex CEO Ju Wong released a statement saying that lilial was only used in their hair perfector for fragrance purposes at a concentration of 0.0119% and that it wasn't an active or functional ingredient, whereas the ingredient was given to rats in ridiculously large amounts which weren't realistic in the real world. [...] She also pointed out that the study had rats ingest lilial whereas that isn't what humans do, you don't eat your shampoo, you rinse it off."

Biore's Bizarre Tiktok Ad, Olaplex Sales Plummet & Wild Deodorant Ads Get Banned - Ugly Beauty News

"Olaplex No. 3, which is the one that a lot of people say you should be using because it's the most potent, was never designed as the conditioning treatment that everybody's treating it like. [...] They're assuming that Olaplex is a conditioning treatment that will make hair softer and more manageable, but it's only really meant to change the structure of the hair without any sort of coating. You're not supposed to drench your hair in it, put it in a bun, put it in a hat, then sleep with it. [...] I used to work in a salon and Olaplex was a huge part of our bleaching treatments. Depending on the hair type, we'd be like, we're not going to do your hair unless you allow us to use Olaplex, because it can snap, it can break. It was a system, it was part of a process. When people started using No. 3 on their hair when they didn't even have color in their hair or anything like that, I was confused. Treating it like a leave-in conditioner, I don't think that's really how it goes."

Hyram

4.34M subs

✓Yay

"I used the Olaplex number three hair perfector and I was blown away by the results, it is so restorative to the hair."

Dr. Sam Ellis

883k subs

✓Yay

"Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector doesn't work on the proteins in your hair the way K18 does, but rather on the disulfide bonds, which is a very important bond structure in your hair that often gets damaged with heat styling and chemicals. These are two products that help repair the hair but in different ways. I usually encourage people to try both and from there you can decide which one works better for you and your hair."

What the evidence says.

Independent of what the gurus think, this is what the published research supports about the main active ingredients here.

Vitamin C

Topical vitamin C is an antioxidant with reasonable evidence for dullness and uneven tone. It breaks down in light and air, so how a product is formulated and packaged matters as much as the percentage on the front.

Source: DermNet

Humectants and emollients

Ingredients like these draw water into the surface layers and slow how fast it leaves. The evidence is for comfort, softness and hydration rather than for changing the structure of the skin.

Source: DermNet

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antioxidant, and it is often in a formula to keep the other ingredients stable rather than as the active itself. It pairs well with vitamin C, though on its own the evidence for visible change is limited.

Source: NIH, National Library of Medicine

Frequently asked.

What is Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector?

A leave-in pre-wash hair mask designed to rebuild broken disulfide bonds and restore strength and elasticity to damaged hair.

Is Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector worth it?

Mostly yes. 6 of the 7 gurus who reviewed it give it their stamp of approval, for a Guru Score of 76%.

What is Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector's Guru Score?

Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector holds a Guru Score of 76%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 7 expert reviewers we have collected.