This dream cream is the most exciting development in haircare in a decade | Sali Hughes

Can damaged, breaking hair be repaired by anything other than scissors? Until three months ago, I’d have scoffed at the idea. Now, if I had the faintest inkling of how to buy shares, I’d go large on haircare company Living Proof. In my view, its new Triple Bond Complex is the most exciting development in haircare in a decade.

It’s a non-greasy cream containing a plant-derived ester (chemical compound) that can penetrate hair and rebuild all three types of damaged bonds in the fibres. Glazing over? Understandable. So I’ll say this: if your hair, of any type, is bleached, heat-damaged, weakened or breaking off at the ends, you need this.

Triple Bond Complex effectively strengthens the scaffolding of damaged hair, making it more resistant to breakage. Eight times more resistant, it turns out. Clinical testing is the holy grail of the beauty business. While countless excellent products aren’t clinically tested (it can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, so prohibitively expensive), those that do pass evidenced trials have either something to trumpet or nowhere to hide. Living Proof can confidently sound the horn.

In a lab recently, I watched strands of bleached human hair being mechanically stretched under a microscope. Hair treated with Triple Bond Complex was measured against hair with either no bonding treatment or that of a competitor. The Living Proof hair broke last. After a four-week trial with 75 samples, the response was overwhelmingly positive.

I now apply it once a week after washing and conditioning, and for me the results are undeniable: smoother, softer, thicker-looking hair that’s way easier to manage.

I still add styling products (JVN’s Instant Recovery Serum at mid-lengths, and a volumising spray at the roots), but I wait the minimum 10 minutes after applying Triple Bond before adding anything else, then I dry (the treatment is heat activated). In addition to the bonding technology, it offers heat protection and instantly improved smoothness. And it’s vegan.

All that research, multiple patents and lab trials don’t come cheap. Triple Bond is £42 for 45ml, which sounds a lot for a seemingly paltry amount, but with two pumps a week lasts four months, and the effects aren’t washed out with the next shampoo. (There is a tiny 15ml bottle for £19 if you want to try it out.) But if you’re paying for conditioning treatments and unwanted haircuts in a salon, it’s a saving. Otherwise, perfection. I have no notes.