Since its launch in 2020, K18 has been the name on everyone’s lips. Countless hairstylists, colorists, celebrities, and everyday consumers alike swear by the haircare brand’s repair products—like their internet-famous Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask—when it comes to reversing hair damage and restoring smoothness and shine. A big reason why is because unlike traditional repair products, K18 products work at a deeper level to molecularly repair and strengthen hair.
If you’re a hair pro that has yet to experience the magic of K18 with your clients, it’s definitely time to change that. In fact, consider this your sign to invest in the brand’s all new K18REPAIR™ service, which has already started rolling out at a number of its partner salons as a new service option that your clients can ask for. To learn more about this incredible in-salon treatment, I recently paid a visit to Spoke and Weal in Chicago. While at the salon, not only did I get the opportunity to experience the K18REPAIR™ service myself (I’m now a big fan!), but I also got the chance to speak to hairstylist and educator Amanda Price about the salon service, including how it works, who should get it, and so much more. Keep reading for absolutely everything you need to know.
What Is the K18REPAIR™ Service?
Made up of just two products—the K18 PRO Mist and PRO Mask, the K18REPAIR™ service is a two-step professional-grade damage repair service that protects, strengthens, and preserves hair health through even the most extreme salon services. Thanks to the brand’s patented K18PEPTIDE™ biotechnology, which works to mimic hair’s structure to reverse damage, this in-salon service is able to fortify hair and provide lasting biocompatible hair repair from color and chemical services, heat, and bleach.
The K18REPAIR™ service is designed to address damage at every step of the salon, making it ideal for stylists to use in so many different scenarios. “K18REPAIR™ is just a really good go-to service because I can use it on all different kind of guests, for different reasons, and it will do really great things to their hair,” says Price. “One of our biggest things at Spoke and Weal is making sure that we keep the integrity of the hair. I don’t ever want to compromise anyone’s hair. So if we are doing any kind of chemical service like a keratin treatment or color or even heat styling, we want to make sure the integrity of the hair is maintained and K18REPAIR™ really supports that. I pretty much have most of my guests on it and I don’t think that I could ever go back to before I started using K18REPAIR™.
Who Should Use the K18REPAIR™ Service?
As K18REPAIR™ was created to “work with every hair type, in every service, and with every routine,” it’s truly a service for everyone—not just people who dye their hair or frequently heat style. Whether your client has healthy hair or hair that has been highly compromised, they can definitely benefit from a K18REPAIR™ service. “There isn’t a person that I could think of that it wouldn’t be good for,” says Price. She regularly uses the salon service with her clients at Spoke and Weal and has received a lot of good feedback so far. “I have a lot of people who love it. It’s saved a lot of people’s hair, particularly people who have a ton of breakage, especially in the front area of their hair, or heat damage,” Price says. “I use it on a lot of people who are thinning or people who feel like their hair is too thin or fine or just not lasting as long. It really helps the hair on the head last longer.”
She adds, “I also like it for curly guests. I think it helps bring back the elasticity in hair. Sometimes with curls, if they are really damaged, over time the hair gets stretched so much that ends start to straighten. K18REPAIR™ helps to sort of bring back a little bit of the curl pattern, so that’s nice as well.”
How Does the K18REPAIR™ Service Work?
The beauty of the K18REPAIR™ is that it has the ability to reverse your clients’ hair damage before and after services—in just four minutes. The first step of the service centers on the K18 PRO Mist, which is a pre-service treatment that restores chemically-damaged hair before services to give stylists a healthier canvas to play with during salon transformations. This mist works to swell the hair cuticle, allowing for optimal penetration of the K18PEPTIDE™ to damage sites on the molecular level.
When using the K18 PRO Mist, it’s important to apply water or the K18 PRO Chelator to your client’s hair first before applying the mist to ensure you are properly swelling the cuticle to best receive the mist. With the actual mist, you want to apply 10-20 sprays—depending on your client’s hair length, density, and level of damage—to each of the four quadrants of their hair, making sure to let it sit for four minutes. Pre-service, the mist not only fortifies hair strength, but also restores up to 99% elasticity, ensuring that the service to follow will apply and perform better.
As for the K18 PRO Mask, you want to use it after you have applied bleach, color, or other chemical to hair to reverse any damages done during the service. This post-treatment is what actually closes down down the cuticle, seals in the K18PEPTIDE™, and repairs hair from damage from chemical services and heat.
When it comes to applying the K18 PRO Mask to your client’s hair, always make sure to skip the conditioner as it can coat the hair preventing the mask from penetrating properly. “You don’t want to put it over a conditioner because the hair cuticle has a barrier and if there is conditioner on your hair, then it’s not going to be able to get into the hair,” Price explains. “So, you won’t get the best results with it.”
Similar to the K18 PRO Mist, the mask needs to be applied and left on the hair for four minutes, in order for it to be able to reverse damage as well as soften, smooth, and condition the hair. “After four minutes, you can add conditioner to the hair or other products, but it needs four minutes for it to fully absorb into the hair.”
As damage is ongoing, following the K18REPAIR™ Service, stylist can sent their clients home with the Leave-In Molecular Repair Mask to ensure that their hair stay healthy, their color lasts longer, and that they have a stronger canvas for their next salon appointment.
If you are interested in bringing K18REPAIR™ to your salon, you can purchase here on the K18 PRO website. And to learn more about the K18REPAIR™ Service, be sure to visit k18hairpro.com/ or follow @k18hair on Instagram.
