The Serum That Instantly Solved My Bleached Hair Woes

Remember that makeover scene in The Princess Diaries when poofy-haired Anne Hathaway is whisked away into the grandiose depths of Julie Andrews’s palace by a team of beauty godmothers, only to later emerge with tamed, silky, and smooth tresses? This can happen in reality, dear readers. Beauty godmothers exist, and they exist in the form of a magical serum.

Behold — Drybar’s 100 Proof Treatment Oil, a lightweight dry serum made with nutrient-rich ingredients. I stumbled upon this gem during my deepest, darkest hour: When, as an assignment from the magazine I was working at, I bleached my hair platinum.

Going blonde isn’t easy, they (the internet) said. It requires a lot of time and money for upkeep and treatments, they (Google) said. And yes, there’s an expensive reason Kim K and Kylie Jenner’s platinum hair looked so good. But wait, my inner id thought. You’re not the first plebe on the planet to go blonde. Real people do this, so you can, too.

Alas, the double-process left me with stringy, coarse, and stiff strands. Here I was, the new me, appearing like I materialized from a Cyndi Lauper video. I tried conditioning treatments and masks, like Olaplex, but I craved a daily styler, a one-stop shop, an immediate remedy.

I discovered 100 Proof during a random Drybar visit almost a year later. This stuff instantly — as in, with just one blowout — made my processed, hay-like hair silky, shiny, and non-crunchy. I felt like I underwent a great metamorphosis. I was the revamped Anne Hathaway with the ultimate hair awakening.

“A little goes a long way,” the stylist told me when I finally purchased a bottle. One or two pumps per use will do. (A three-ounce bottle has lasted me ten months and running.) Just work the oil into wet hair from the ends up, blow it dry with a brush, and your locks will be left swinging and hydrated, bleach be damned.