A campaign image for the new Oribe Hair Alchemy Bond Building ElixirOribeSome bonds should never be broken—and that’s especially true for hair bonds. Hair’s internal structure is held together by bonds and when those are damaged it can lead to split ends, frizz, dullness, brittleness, severe dryness and weak hair that easily breaks. But keeping hair bonds intact isn’t always easy, since broken bonds are caused by heat styling, coloring and bleaching. That’s where bond builders come in, which can be found in masks, pre-shampoo treatments and stylers. Oribe is making their mark with their latest launch, Oribe Hair Alchemy Bond Building Elixir, the only product that targets all three types of bonds in the hair. “Your hair is made up of a majority of keratin, which is a protein, and then the shape, strength and resilience of your hair depends on these chemical bonds that are holding the keratin together,” says Michele Burgess, Executive Director of Global Product Development, Oribe. One type of hair bonds is hydrogen bonds, weaker temporary bonds that are the most abundant in hair and account for flexibility in hair, Burgess explains. They’re very easy to break, such as by water and heat styling. Hydrogen bonds contribute to why hairstyles can change temporarily from washing and styling. Then there’s salt bonds, aka ionic bonds, which are also weak and temporary. These are affected by the hair pH changing, which can be disrupted by things that are very acidic or alkaline, such as products. Finally, there are disulfide bonds, which are the strongest bonds and hardest to break, but once they’re broken it’s permanent. These have to be chemically changed in order to break, by coloring and harsh chemicals, such as a keratin treatment or perm, which chemically change the structure so that it alters the actual shape of the hair. The Oribe Hair Alchemy Bond Building ElixirOribe The hero ingredient in the Oribe Hair Alchemy Bond Building Elixir is the Holistic Rebonding Complex that restores structural integrity, shape and strength. “It contains four different ingredients and they address all three bonds,” Burgess says. “The complex consists of arginine from upcycled moringa seed extract, which is essentially an amino acid. We also have malic acid and a strengthening matrix that’s a sugar-derived ingredient, so they all work holistically to help with bond repair.”The formula is rounded out with a blend of chia seed, bio-fermented bamboo and plant-based protein to strengthen strands from within to reduce breakage; 11 amino acids to fortify natural keratin to boost softness, flexibility and shine; sodium hyaluronate for major moisture to plump, smooth and soften hair; and time-release strengthening technology to repair elasticity and reinforces hair’s structural integrity. “It’s a multi-action set of ingredients that are targeting all three types of bonds, which works very comprehensively relative to a lot of competitors,” says Oribe Global Artist Adam Livermore. A campaign image for the new Oribe Hair Alchemy Bond Building ElixirOribeThe Oribe Hair Alchemy Bond Building Elixir joins the existing Oribe Hair Alchemy family, which includes the Hair Alchemy Resilience Shampoo, Hair Alchemy Resilience Conditioner, Hair Alchemy Fortifying Treatment Serum and Hair Alchemy Heatless Styling Balm. “The Alchemy family is preventative; it’s more about making your hair stronger and stretchier, both of which prevent breakage,” Livermore says. “The Alchemy Bond Building Elixir is one step outside that circle because this isn't just preventative—when your hair is breaking, this is what you're going to use to stop the breakage. This is your SOS signal when hair is in trouble.”The Alchemy Bond Building Elixir is also ideal for helping hair reach new lengths. “It's for someone who is struggling to grow their hair longer, and their hair keeps breaking and they can't grow it past a certain length,” Burgess says. “It's not really about hair growth, it's keeping the health of the hair and the integrity its structure so that you can grow your hair to your desired length without that breakage coming from the bottom and the middle of the hair shaft.” Livermore adds, “If it wants to get long, it has to be strong.”Oribe did the clinical testing to back that up. The formula is clinically proven to instantly restore broken and weak bonds inside the cortex and restore up to 34% of broken disulfide bonds on the cuticle and inside the cortex. Additionally, it reduced premature hair breakage by 3.5x and reduced hair breakage by 71.4%. The consumer panel confirmed those stats, with 94% agreeing their hair instantly felt soft and smooth, 90% said chemically processed hair felt less brittle and more resilient, and 87% agreed hair felt continuously strengthened over time. Though the Alchemy Bond Building Elixir works best when used along with the Hair Alchemy family, it was specifically formulated to be easily integrated into any existing hair routine. “It works across all hair types and textures, all the way from fine, thin to curly and coily textures,” Burgess says. “It’s a leave-in treatment, so it's not an extra step, like a pre-shampoo or a mask you have to do it right in the shower.”The best way to apply it is to towel-dried wet hair, the first product used out of the shower. Any additional products, such as a leave-in conditioner or heat protectant, should be applied after. To maximize results for damaged hair, Livermore recommends using it consecutively after five washes, then reducing using to every few shampoos as needed. “It is totally okay to use it on an ongoing basis,” he says. “Sometimes we get questions about proteins and whether they can cause damage to the hair by overbuilding the structure of it and making it brittle, but it's an old-fashioned formula problem. We don't use the proteins that do that, so you don't ever have to worry about that.”An Oribe campaign imageOribeOribe is celebrating the Alchemy Bond Building Elixir launch with a new campaign featuring female body builders in lieu of traditional models. “We’re entering this bonding space that is not new, so how do we break that clutter? How do we do a campaign that is equally impressive to this product?” says Emily Dear, Executive Director of Global Marketing at Oribe. “We went back to our roots. We just wiped our entire Instagram feed and we are launching a brand new creative visual direction.”The aesthetic of the campaign pays homage to Oribe founder Oribe Canales. “He embodied this rough luxury; he had a magnetic personality,” Dear says. “It's glamor with a bite, it's sexy, it's provocative and that's the idea behind the campaign for bond building. We are embodying strength in its greatest form by using real body builders. We want to stop people in their tracks, whether you're scrolling Instagram or walking in New York City. Some of the images aren't even all about the hair—they're about the strength and the muscle, which is a key component of this product. It's unlike anything you see in beauty, which is our goal in everything we do.”