When hair is weak, brittle, and breaking, beauty experts advise reaching for bond-building treatments, especially for those who tend to bleach, color, or heat-style their hair. It makes sense: Bonds make up our hair’s structure, so healthy bonds mean healthy, shiny hair. So, why not apply the same kind of science to other parts of our body? Namely, parts that also go through a lot of damage, like our nails — they’re buffed and polished, scraped and picked at, and blasted with UV light. Even if you’re not a manicure kind of person, there’s still all that hand-washing and nail-biting and chemical cleaning products to content with.
This is exactly the thinking behind OPI’s latest offering: The Repair Mode Serum, which has already taken social media by storm with its seemingly magical nail-strengthening and soothing abilities. But there’s no magic here, just all that good, honest bond-building science. Repair Mode uses something called “Ulti-Plex technology,” a patented secret ingredient that penetrates the nail to build new keratin bonds (the protein that our nails are made from). Rather than just hydrate and nourish on a surface level, the serum strengthens nails from within, making them feel and look stronger and smoother, with fewer ridges, less discoloration, and more resistance to breakage or peeling.
It does all sound too good to be true, so we rounded up three R29 editors with weak nails to put Repair Mode to the test. Two members tested it out over a week — the time frame OPI claims you’ll see improvements by — and one for a whole month. Read on for their thoughts.
