Olaplex launched 12 years ago with what was then a niche concept: products that not just superficially smooth and soften your hair, but actually repair broken bonds on a molecular level. As Amanda Baldwin, Olaplex CEO tells Vogue, “We’ve been the authority on hair health through bond-building with our patented technology, repairing the hair from the inside out.”
Fast forward to today the brand’s shampoos and conditioners, hair oils, hair masks, and more are flying off the shelf—while the bond repairing product business is utterly booming. What better time to introduce its next big hit? Behold: the Olaplex Shape Set Hairspray is here, and Vogue readers get exclusive access to shop it 24 hours early.
A product three years in the making, Olaplex saw a major opportunity to modernize the hairspray category entirely. “What’s interesting about hairspray is that it’s a category everyone knows, but a lot of people (particularly younger consumers) have almost opted out of it,” Baldwin adds. “There’s still this perception that hairspray means stiff, crunchy hair, or that you’re compromising the health of your hair to get the style you want.”
Olaplex Shape Set Hairspray
- Why We Love It: Hairspray haters may just meet their match with Olaplex’s latest launch. Meet Shape Set—Olaplex’s answer to crunchy, stiff formulas of years past. “We didn’t want to make a hairspray just for the sake of entering the category,” says Baldwin. “We wanted to create something that could give you the performance and hold you need, while still treating hair with the level of care people expect from Olaplex.” With that in mind, the formula implements encapsulated peptides to repair broken hair bonds. Meanwhile, flexible polymers and skincare-grade ingredients (like panthenol and glycerin) work together to hold styles, while still keeping hair hydrated and glossy.
- Key Ingredients: Flex-hold polymers, panthenol, sunflower seed extract, glycerin, orange essential oil
- More to Know: Free from sulfates, phthalates, phosphates, and parabens; color safe
- Size: 7.5 oz, 2.4 oz
About the Olaplex Shape Set Hairspray
Shape Set aims to be the opposite of everything hairspray skeptics despise—immovable, stiff, gritty, and crunchy. “Traditional hairspray is often like glue; it locks the hair in place, and that’s it,” explains Lavinia Popescu, Olaplex’s chief scientist and research officer. Rather than make consumers decide between hold performance and hair integrity, the brand sought to create a formula that supports hair rather than further stressing it. “Shape Set offers a strong hold while our proprietary technology works underneath to strengthen and create long-lasting results with a lightweight, non-damaging finish.” That’s thanks to the brand’s Bond Set Technology, which, as Popescu explains, is a “unique encapsulated peptide developed by Olaplex that works inside the hair to relink broken disulfide bonds.”
Another fancy phrase, Shape Preserve Complex that’s also in the formula, is really just a blend of flex-hold polymers and plant-based extracts—the cumulative benefits of which, Popescu says, include preserved styles with frizz control and secondary benefits of 450 degrees Fahrenheit heat and UV protection. Plus, there are replenishing active ingredients, like panthenol, that add hydration and shine. The result is a natural, healthy-hair finish with adequate hold that doesn’t sacrifice movement or a touchable feel—with the added perk of bond building, of course.
My Experience With the Olaplex Shape Set Hairspray
My mom has always been a hairspray enthusiast—it dates back to her ‘80s metal years, when big hair was non-negotiable. Despite it remaining an essential styling product for her (of course, mega-teased hair is long behind her now) I, on the other hand, have often found myself to be a hairspray hater. Perhaps it’s because I associate it with childhood recitals, bridal parties I desperately don’t want to be in, and the overdone updos that are often associated with both.
As I’ve grown out my bob, though, I’ve begrudgingly come around to the product, because of its necessity for a bouncy blowout. To combat the crunch, I often brush out my hair once the product has had a moment to dry down.
