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Biotech meets the world of beauty with the recent introduction of a patented peptide technology that is designed to help damaged hair.
K18 Biomimetic Hairscience is a leave-in molecular repair product. It’s marketed as a formulation that, after four minutes, restores damaged hair, boosting it to up to 91% of its original strength and up to 94% of its original elasticity. A second product from the company, Peptide Prep pH maintenance shampoo, is also available and contends that it further boosts K18’s effectiveness.
If you have hair and regularly wash, blow-dry, heat-style, color, highlight, chemically straighten or curl, K18 Biomimetic is touted as a game changer. It also may be useful for those who struggle with breakage but hate using masks and treatments that leave hair limp and flat.
Day-to-day damage occurs for all sorts of reasons, and that leaves dry, brittle, broken or frizzy hair. Traditional masks and treatments work by filling voids in hair strands with essential oils and other heavy ingredients. It’s a beneficial effect that washes away quickly. Bond builders, the more recent additions to the world of hair repair, temporarily reconnect broken disulfide bonds, but they also wash out over time, unlike K18.
I can lighten my blond hair anytime I want because I can break the rules with K18. It’s safe to use every day.
—Maya Rickards, master stylist and manager at Spa Three Ten
Maya Rickards, a master stylist and manager at Spa Three Ten in Richmond, says she regularly uses the treatment on salon guests. “I’m excited because this product is something completely different,” she says. “The pH-balancing shampoo is the only one I’m using in the salon right now. I can lighten my blond hair anytime I want because I can break the rules with K18. It’s safe to use every day.”
Henrico County resident Noelle Dunlap says that the difference is noticeable right away. “It felt lighter, more soft and shiny. Not only did I notice it, people on the street commented,” she says. Dunlap notes that her stylist also used the products on one of her friends who has a different hair type. “It worked for us both, which is a surprise because her hair is very coarse with curls, while my hair is fine and straight,” she says.
K18 focuses on boosting the strength of hair fiber along its length and width. Its bioactive peptide is designed to mimic the natural structure of keratin. Because hair is made of keratin, hair responds to the bioactive peptide in K18, recognizing it as a natural building block. This is how it stays in the hair without being washed away by water or shampoo. Polypeptide chains are the star players and are responsible for hair’s strength, smoothness, softness and bounce. When these chains are repaired, hair is less likely to break, for a difference you can feel immediately.
K18 is easy to use. Simply wash with K18 pH-maintenance shampoo and rinse. Add one pump (a bead about the size of a pea) of the mask onto towel-dried hair and work it in. Wait four minutes, then follow your regular hair care routine. The manufacturer suggests using the mask after four to six consecutive washes (the product is designed for use on freshly washed, damp hair). Your stylist can prescribe a regimen for your hair type.
“It’s a really cool product,” Dunlap says. “Whatever the science is, it works.”
K18 is dermatologically tested, color-safe, vegan and cruelty-free. It does not contain parabens, sulfates, silicones, phthalates, sodium chloride, artificial colors, formaldehyde or formaldehyde donors. For more information on K18, visit k18hair.com.