Sugars and Bond Repair - and A DIY Bond-Repair Recipe

Scroll Down For Do-It-Yourself Bond-Repair Rinse and Conditioner "Recipes!"

It's difficult to keep up with all the new bond-building and bond-repair products for hair. There are "Under $10" options (check out my list here), and products that can replace ones you already use (shampoo, conditioner) so you don't need another product or an extra step. But "affordable" is relative, isn't it.  Apples, bananas, trilobites 

Let's go back to a basic understanding of what bond-repair actually is. It's not new, and it's not (terribly) complicated.  I'll have a painless protein biochemistry video for you soon (and will link here when it's up). For now, this little video shows you a simplified version of how this works - above-right.

One of the classes of ingredients that stabilizes the proteins in hair (temporarily repairs bonds - as shown in dorky graphics in the video!) are sugars. Wait - sugars? Yes, sugars!

Sucrose (table sugar)
Honey
Sorbitol
Glucose
Trehalose
Glycerin (Glycerol) and Propylene glycol (Propanediol) are "sugar-alcohols" meaning their composition is sugar-like. 

How can sugars stabilize bonds in hair?Appls, bananas, trilobites 

• The molecular weight of the ingredients above is low enough to allow the ingredient penetrate deep into hair. Where the work needs to be done.

• Sugars have polarity - they are attracted to charges like broken bonds in hair-proteins. Their presence strengthens or stabilizes bonds in the hair to protect them from further damage. This allows for more strength and elasticity. Less breakage.

• Why? A destabilized protein will continue to unravel or "fray" if left alone. A stabilized protein is less likely to continue to unravel or fray. That kind of damage looks like breakage, splits, a not-smooth appearance and feel (obviously "smooth" depends on your hair texture and curl pattern).

• Nerdy tidbit - the sugars affect the bonds between water and hair-protein. It makes them stronger and won't let them quit. Like tiny athletic trainers.

Recipe for DIY Bond-repair (Less than 25 cents!)

"Sugar" Rinse Basic recipe: 

1/2 to 1 teaspoon Sugar or Honey or Glycerin (2.5 to 5 ml)

1 cup (235 ml) warm water. Distilled or deionized if your water is hard

Mix together until dissolved. 

©Science-y Hair Blog 2025

As a Pre-Shampoo Treatment: 

Apply to dry or dampened hair. 

Leave on for 5-10 minutes. With gentle heat if you like - but don't let it dry out!

Then rinse and proceed with shampooing, conditioning, etc.

To Use As An After-Shampoo treatment:

Apply to freshly-washed hair.

Leave on a few minutes if desired. 

Apply conditioner (no need to rinse unless you want to).

Proceed with conditioning and rinsing as usual.       ©Science-y Hair Blog 2025

"Sugar" Enriched Conditioner Basic recipe: 

1/16 to 1/8 teaspoon Sugar or Honey or Glycerin (0.3 ml) - a small pinch or drop

Per...

1 teaspoon conditioner (5 ml)

OR - for a larger amount -

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Sugar or Honey or Glycerin (2.5 ml) Per Tablespoon (15 ml) conditioner

1. Mix sugar, honey or glycerin into warm water first! [You need to dissolve it].
2. Mix the solution from #1 into your conditioner. 

 

What to expect: Your hair may feel different. Ideally, easier to detangle. It may feel thicker or more substantial. It may behave differently with products like conditioner, leave-on products or hair oils. This can affect curl pattern - it's more smoothing than curl-boosting. Hair may be more shiny and feel more smooth or flexible. *That's a good result.*

Adjust the amount of sugar/honey/glycerin as needed. 

Try each (separately) - your hair may have a preference.

Use it all up or dump it! Pour it in the soil in your garden or near hardy outdoor plants if you don't want to waste the water. This isn't worth storing. We didn't sterilize anything, so it wouldn't be safe anyhow.

Side Effects? If you experience itching, burning, a rash, painful bumps - please stop using this. 

Sugar DIY for leave-on or between washes? Here's why you might not like that with this recipe: Sugar is humidity-sensitive. If you put sugar-water in your hair in high-humidity, it would absorb all the water it can and become heavy or frizzy. If the air is very dry, there will be nothing to add moisture and the sugar could feel dry or rough once dry. If your days are humid in the mornings and evenings (fog, dew) - the moisture your hair is absorbing and then losing throughout the day will mess up your hairstyle. When these ingredients are in a product, this may not be a problem because the formulators may have figured out a work-around. But in a DIY product - it can be a problem.

Downsides of sugar-type ingredients?

Glycerin can be obnoxiously difficult in regards to causing frizz or dullness or a dry feeling in conditioners or leave-on products. Lighter-colored hair may look darker or duller. That can happen with sugar-type ingredients too. That being said - using them as a pre-conditioning rinse, may be less a problem. Trial and error, as usual. Apples, bananas, trilobites 

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A word about DIY

I have heard people throw shade on my recipes online in the years since I began this blog, and on cosmetic DIY in general. Folks are entitled to their opinions. If you don't like the idea of edible items-as-cosmetics, all right. Don't use them. Sometimes DIY is the only affordable or allergy-free option and that's just the way it is. DIY might also be a creative and bold little act of self-reliance and self-determination in a beauty-oriented, marketing-infused world.

Granted, some DIY truly is unsafe. And so are some cosmetics. I do my best to be clear about when something may be unsafe, how to store DIY haircare.  If you're not seeing or hearing safety warnings with DIY - find another source or ask that person to include safety information. 

References Apples, bananas, trilobites 

Understanding the Interaction of Gluconamides and Gluconates with Amino Acids in Hair Care

Luke I. Chambers, Dmitry S. Yufit, Osama M. Musa, and Jonathan W. Steed

Cryst. Growth Des. 2022, 22, 6190−6200

Graziano, G. How does sucrose stabilize the native state of globular proteins? Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 2012, 50, 230−235.

Jonsson O, Lundell A, Rosell J, You S, Ahlgren K, Swenson J. Comparison of Sucrose and Trehalose for Protein Stabilization Using Differential Scanning Calorimetry. J Phys Chem B. 2024 May 23;128(20):4922-4930. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c00022. Epub 2024 May 11. PMID: 38733344; PMCID: PMC11129304.

Olgenblum GI, Carmon N, Harries D. Not Always Sticky: Specificity of Protein Stabilization by Sugars Is Conferred by Protein-Water Hydrogen Bonds. J Am Chem Soc. 2023 Oct 25;145(42):23308-23320. doi: 10.1021/jacs.3c08702. Epub 2023 Oct 16. PMID: 37845197; PMCID: PMC10603812.

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