7 Best & Affordable Olaplex No.3 Alternatives That Repair Damaged & Color-Treated Hair 2025
What is Olaplex No. 3?
Olaplex No. 3 is the slightly weaker, take-home version of No. 2. - (containing 12.5% versus 15% of the active ingredient Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate). Both are considered bond builder/perfectors.
Olaplex No. 3 is not a conditioner or a leave-in product, but a specialized pre-shampoo hair treatment that works from the inside out to strengthen the hair shaft, minimize breakage and repair any existing damage.
It is formulated with patented active ingredients that repair the broken disulfide bonds in each strand so that your hair is back to being healthy and soft. This paraben- and sulfate-free formula is specially made to fix even the most damaged hair so that real structural repair is made.
It is also made for all hair types, even extra-dry hair, so no damaged hair is too much for it to work. Olaplex No. 3 also strengthens your hair so that future damage is highly unlikely.
It's supposed to be used as a weekly treatment to maintain an in-salon Olaplex treatment (No. 1 and 2), and up to 3x per week for damaged hair. I've also read that it can be left in the hair as you continue styling.
How do you use Olaplex 3 for best results?
Step 1: Apply a generous amount to towel-dried hair and comb through.
Step 2: Leave on for a minimum of 10 minutes. Keep in mind, the longer it's on, the more effective it is, especially for hair that is compromised. We've seen great results from people who leave it on 30 to 90 minutes!
Step 3: Rinse, shampoo and condition. Remember, this is NOT a conditioning treatment OR a leave-in treatment. It is meant to be shampooed out of the hair and followed up with your regular shampoo/condition regimen.
Step 4: Voila! Style as you normally would.
Show your hair some love! You can do this treatment once a week at home regardless of whether or not you color your hair. If you're wondering if this treatment is for your hair, you'll be happy to know Olaplex is compatible with all hair types, from virgin, to colored, textured, or highly compromised. If your hair falls into the“highly compromised” category, I recommend using the No.3 as a treatment 2-3 times a week in combination with your favorite moisture and protein treatments where applicable.
7 best and cheaper alternative for Olaplex No.3
1. OGX Restoring + Bonding Plex Leave-In Treatment
Set off those smooth, strengthened and refreshed tresses with OGX Restoring + Bonding Plex Leave-In Treatment, the third step in salon technology conditioning system. It's the final step in the home treatment.
It uses Cystine and vegetable proteins to help hair retain moisture and to prevent future damage. This leave-in cream smooths hair, adds a vibrant shine, and strengthens strands. It also provides a protective barrier from continuous stylingwhich provides heat protection for the hair.
It's a lightweight cream that should be applied to damp freshly-washed and conditioned hair from mid-shaft to ends. To achieve the best results, combine this treatment with the shampoo and conditioner from the same brand.
Pros:
The product is formulated with all natural ingredients that helps keep hair moisturized and give your hair a fuller, bouncier, and thicker look.
Restores damaged hair by creating billions of new hair bonds, strengthing strands and smoothing.
Deep conditions the hair and enhances moisture retention.
It helps smooth the hair cuticle and prevent color damage.
Hair is left feeling strong and vibrant.
It can be found with a reasonable price tag. It is for all the girls on a budget. This Olaplex alternative is great for color-treated, curly, and damaged hair.
Sulfate free hair conditioner cream.
Not greasy.
Smells great.
Cons:
May need to use alongside a heat protectant.
Some claim that you need to style or blow dry your hair right after using it, otherwise, your hair will feel like straw.
Where to buy it for the cheapest?
walmart.com ( $11.99 + 3.5-4% cashback)
amazon.com （$8.98）
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2. pH Plex 3 Stabilize
Step 3 of pH Plex system is designed for weekly application on any type of hair. Whether you use chemical hair treatments like hair color and bleach or not…pH Plex 3 Stabilize is your hair's guardian angel.
This repair treatment works to rebuild broken bonds within each strand of hair. The key component in this formula is malic acid, which connects all 21 bonds of your hair, It stabilizes the hair shaft from root to tip, which calms the cuticle.
The product is formulated to the natural pH of your hair and uses ingredients like Malic Acid to strengthen your strands from the inside out. It can also be used as a deep treatment for hair, strengthening it from the inside out.
To use it, apply to washed, damp hair and let sit for five to 10 minutes before rinsing (though you can also use it as a leave-in treatment for added conditioning).
Pros:
Professional-grade hair damage protection against everyday damage caused by heat, color, environmental factors, etc.
Maintain your hair health in preparation for the next chemical treatment.
The great thing about this product is that it's pH-balanced and keeps it almost as alkalized as your body. Your hair winds up hydrated, shiny, and beautiful.
PH Plex 3 Stabilize is a post-bleach treatment that is the most similar to Olaplex because it combats the breakage that’s already there, as well as preventing further damage.
It aims to fortify your hair structure through regular treatments to repair damage at a molecular level. These single-use sachets are pre-portioned and designed to prevent contamination.
For all Hair Types. Made in Germany. Take your stylist home, with pH Plex.
Affordable, reliable single-dose packaging.
Cons:
Product works ok, but amounts are so small that they are only adequate for short-haired.
Left a plastic-y film, but didn't seem to harm hair.
Where to buy it for the cheapest?
amazon.com ($4.95)
ebay.com ($6.95 + 4-4.6% cashback)
3. Schwarzkopf Professional BlondMe Keratin Restore Bonding Mask
Made for blonde color-treated or frizzy hair, this keratin-rich hair mask repairs the internal structure of the hair strands, allowing for intensive repairs and protection from future breakage. It's designed to completely maintain the hair structure of fragile, lightened hair shafts and colored hair. It detangles your hair so that it’s easier to comb, and it gives it just the amount of moisture it needs to look fantastic. And it smoothes each strand so that you get the optimum shine every time.
Pros:
Intensively restores brittle, lightened, and colored hair.
Detangles, moisturizes, and improves manageability.
Protects hair from damage.
Works to repair broken bonds in damaged hair.
Helps in forming new hair fiber bonds.
Helps to retain moisture and natural water.
Ideal for highly porous hair.
Helps refresh all types of blonde hair.
Smells amazing.
Easy to use and affordable, this product should be on the shelf of every blonde out there.
Cons:
It contains dimethicone, which means it's not silicone-free.
Not much softness.
Where to buy it for the cheapest?
amazon.com ($39.99)
4. Amika The Kure Intense Bond Repair Hair Mask
Amika's whole Kure line has a variety of products from hair oils, shampoos, and deep conditioning masks, all of which have incredible reviews and transformative before/after images.
Packed with effective vegan ingredients like borage oil, shea butter, mango butter, and sea buckthorn, this mask will give you stronger, more conditioned hair with less breakage. The highlighted Ingredient is Bond-Cure Technology: it's An innovative complex that targets the most abundant bonds in hair. It's a reparative, ultra-moisturizing hair mask that is clinically proven to significantly hydrate, repair, strengthen, and improve manageability.
After cleansing with The Kure Bond Repair Shampoo (sold separately), gently massage the mask through hair from roots to ends. Leave on for 10 minutes, and then rinse.
Pros:
Clinically proven after one use to result in hair that is 3.2x stronger, 8x more conditioned, with 69% less breakage.
repairs + strengthens: formulated with bond cure technology, this reparative mask reduces breakage, prevents damage, and strengthens strands.
deeply hydrates: jam-packed with mango butter, shea butter + borage oil, this ultra-creamy hair mask significantly hydrates dry, brittle hair.
Free of parabens, formaldehydes, formaldehyde-releasing agents, phthalates, sulfates SLS & SLES, triclocarban, triclosan, etc., and contains less than one percent synthetic fragrance.
It is also vegan, gluten-free, cruelty-free.
Improves manageability.
Comes in recyclable packaging.
Cons:
This is a good leave in conditioner, but you have other better at this price point.
Where to buy it for the cheapest?
sephora.com ( $38 + 4-5% cashback)
fragrancenet.com ($26.45 + 1.5-2% cashback)
5. Revolution Hair Plex 3 Bond Restore Treatment
Revolution Plex 3 is a restoring and conditioning plex treatment to use before shampoo and conditioner, just like Olaplex 3.
Revolution Plex triple molecular weight protein cascade system targets different layers of the hair fibre helping to restore and strengthen damage from within. The Revolution Plex range not only contains the triple weight molecular protein system, but each formulation has been expertly formulated to provide the best ingredients for the hair. The protein system is made from three different types of plant protein that have been selected to target different parts of the hair fibre. The power combination of Phytantriol and Provitamin B5 work to keep hair hydrated and healthy, whilst a blend of conditioning agents help to soften and smooth the hair.
Use step 3,4,5 and 6 as a routine to give your hair the love it needs; enhances shine, increases strength, conditions, reduces frizz. Apply to towel dried hair for 10-15 minutes or overnight if a deeper treatment is required. Use one to two times per week, as desired.
Pros:
Suitable for all hair types.
Helps to restore and strengthen damage from within.
Repairs damaged and broken bonds.
Keeps tresses hydrated, happy and healthy.
Contains three types of plant protein, all selected specifically to target different parts of the hair fibres.
Offers shine and helps combat frizz.
Formulated without SLS/SLES.
Vegan and Cruelty Free.
Cons
Contains silicones.
Where to buy it for the cheapest?
target.com ($9.99)
amazon.com ($3.21-$24.62)
6. IGK Antisocial Overnight Bond Building Dry Hair Mask
This dry treatment mask uses a leave-in, bond-building technology to repair and strengthen hair immediately as well as over time.
The mask is formulated with bond-building technology and a groundbreaking vegan silk protein harnessed from plants like sugarcane and beets. The vegan ingredient has the same haircare benefits as traditional silk protein; it detangles, nourishes, and makes hair silky soft.
IGK's Antisocial hair mask is also probably quite different than any other one you've tried before. Simply spray it on dry hair and comb through it, then leave it as is. It's not goopy, your hair doesn't need to be wet, and you don't need to cover your head in a shower cap while you wait for it to work. It builds up the hair strands to repair each and every one, and you'll notice a difference in the way your hair looks and feels after just one treatment.
Pros:
Like Olaplex, It repairs broken bonds within your tresses, strengthening each strand and smoothing down any raised hair cuticles.
It uses science to help reverse signs of damage and repair from within the hair follicles.
Vegan Silk Proteins: Softens and smooths.
It strengthens the hair bond and general structure.
It prevents your hair from frizzing up due to humidity.
No mess, residue or need to wash out.
Comes in a sleep-enhancing scent ( a great coconut and eucalyptus scent) to encourage your natural sleep cycle.
It's vegan and free of sulfates, parabens and other harmful ingredients.
Spray on dry hair and brush through immediately before going to bed. Wake up and comb hair. Hair does not need to be washed or re-styled.
No-rinse formula.
Cons:
Some claim that it weighs fine hair down.
Where to buy it for the cheapest?
sephora.com ($34 + 4-5% cashback)
amazon.com ($34)
7. K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask
Backed by science, loved by stylists, the community of stylists and colorists believe K18 is liberating hair-no matter the hair type or generation.
When hairs are damaged, hair's core structure responsible for elasticity and strength becomes compromised and as a result it loses its resiliency and shine-or the look and feel of healthy hair. Traveling deeper into the inner layers of hair than traditional repair products, the revolutionary K18Peptide™ is just the right size and makeup to fit in and reconnect those broken polypeptide chains (keratin chains). It repairs keratin chains in your hair that are broken and damaged, leaving you with hair that's not only smoother and softer but also stronger.
It is just the right size and makeup to fit in and reconnect broken keratin chains, renewing hair with strength, softness, smoothness, and bounce. You can feel and see the difference with the first use.
See dosage chart for exact usage. For best results, use for the first 4-6 consecutive washes, then every 3-4 washes as needed to maintain hair strength. In the shower: Shampoo, rinse. Skip the conditioner. OUT of the shower: Towel dry hair thoroughly. Apply Mask. Wait 4 minutes. Do NOT rinse out.
Pros:
Clinically proven to reverse hair damage from: bleach + color, chemical services, and heat.
Renew strength, softness, smoothness, and bounce for hair like new in just 4 minutes.
K18 bioactive peptide is recognized as natural by the hair.
It's not washed away by water or shampoo like traditional bonding agents either, making K18 a genuine, lasting solution for damaged strands.
This size of the bottle is also perfect for traveling this summer.
Cons:
It's a bit of pricy.
Where to buy it for the cheapest?
sephora.com ($29-$75 + 4-5% cashback)
lovelyskin.com ($29)
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