OT-Talk To Me About Perms - YouLookFab Forum

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OT-Talk To Me About Perms

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I haven't had one since Jr. High- my one and only. My hair is stick straight, but when it gets a little longer I am thinking about getting a perm (maybe spiral?). I'm just thinking that it would be a more Wash n Wear look for me, since I am having trouble styling my hair lately.
What are everyone's experiences with perms?

General

19 replies

Latest reply was from Zoelicious

Debbie

Veteran

I did it for years but was never truly happy with the look. My hair is also very straight but the perm made it frizzy and that was harder to deal with.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

My hair is extremely straight. I also had a couple of light perms in my 20s and did not like what they did to my hair - it looked lifeless and lost its shine. I decided to go along with the straightness of my hair and do not fight it. I would not want to do a perm again!

Dusty

(website)

My hair is stick straight and just won't take perms. At all. I've tried a couple of times and at best I get a little wave until I wash my hair. I've been told that the follicles are just too tight or something to that effect.

Barbara

Veteran

Yikes! Perms remind me of summers with cousin Bonnie. Aunt Lois would sit us both down, cover our shoulders with towels and assault our scalps and noses with fabulous LILT perms. My hair would be stick straight within 24 hours. Poor Bonnie looked like she stuck her finger in an electrical outlet. For months. Ah, memories.

Khris, visit your stylist and ask him/her about wash and wear perm options. A modern perm might be just the ticket.

I did not mean to terrify you with my goofy childhood memory. LOL!!

ticksgirl

Personally, I have yet to see a perm that is a good wash and wear look. I permed my hair for years and years, but just to get a little body in my plentiful, but stick straight and baby fine hair. I curled it with hot rollers every single day. But on the other hand, if you got one and didn't like the wash and wear look, you could always just dry it straight till it grows out.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I'm not going to talk you into a perm at all! But hopefully we will hear what Taylor has to say.

Queen Mum

Veteran

the last time I got a perm I didn't leave my house for a week.

and I agree with ticksgirl.. I think a perm still needs alot of TLC to look nice. BUT, everyone's hair is diffferent, and you might just find the perfect perm and love it.

biscuitsmom

Veteran

I had several perms way back when I was in my 20's...back in the 80's. Always had good luck with them and they made my hair a breeze to style- whether it air dried or I used a curling iron on it to change the look, the perm made the style last from wash to wash. I have very thick, wavy (but not in the right places!) hair, so maybe that made a difference....

wilson

I considered getting a perm a few years ago to help me through the "in between" stage of growing my hair long but my hair stylist (who also happens to be one of my best friends) refused to do it. My hair is long now and I'm happy with it but I still think it would've been fun to have wild curly hair to play with.

Laura

(website)

Veteran

I am in the witness protection program concerning perms and cannot speak about them.

Barbara

Veteran

LOL Laura. Traumatized, were you?

Anonymous

*sign of the cross*

I'd much rather go super-short to achieve "wash and wear" than get a perm. Unless you find an amazing stylist who's cranking out gorgeous heads of permed hair on a regular basis, there's too much room for error. Not worth it.

taylor

Veteran

Khris....I LOVE perms...I wore a spiral perm for a decade at least AND every client I had from end of 70's to end of 90's had a perm...body, spiral ,stacked etc , etc. I could slip back into that in a heart beat.

The biggest problem with perms it that ...people think they don't have to do anything with a perm..and it showed they didn't do anything!!

Perms are designed to be an aid to your styling...add body , volume etc!! I am quite close to growing my hair out a bit and perming myself.

Did you have a specific question re" perms? that I can answer or just general info?

You should have no problem getting a successful body wave, your hair is healthy and you have no color.

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

Thanks Taylor. I'm glad that your opinion was not as negative as most here. You said a body wave, but that wasn't really what I was thinking of. I love Bonnie Bedelia's hair on Parenthood (the pictures online don't look how it looks in the recent episodes, which is more spiral curls), and am wondering if something like that could work for me. I had a friend who had very tight natural curls who would just twist her hair into spirals and let it air dry. Is it possible to get a curly look without a lot of work? What other suggestions do you have for a wash and wear style for me? I honestly believe that you should just work with your hair's natural texture, but my hair is naturally fine, flat and straight- which looks terrible on my round face. Help!

MsMaven

Veteran

Body wave=Brillo pad. Sorry, but that's my experience with perms. I had to spend a lot more time styling my perms than I do with my fine straight hair.

shana

Veteran

I got a perm in 1994 with my shoulder length hair and I LOVED it! My hair is naturally wavy but fine though I have lots of it. In its natural state, it ends up being a frizzy mess - not straight, not curly even with product. I've tried some of the curly girl methods but I probably didn't stick with it for long enough to see positive results. I usually blow dry it straight every other day and it works OK but it's definitely high maintenance.

I had ZERO maintenance with the perm. I washed it every day with mild shampoo and conditioner, ran some mousse through it and let it air dry. That was it. I thought it looked perfect every single day. The only disadvantage was that I had to at least wet it down every day otherwise it would look sort of like a rat's nest and end up in pinned up.

My hair is currently pretty long but lacks volume - I've been reading up on the Japanese digital perms as an option...

taylor

Veteran

Shana , Thanks for your input

Sorry some of you have had a bad expierience

There is no such thing as a wash and wear. perm they are a STYLING aid Not a STYLE... they require some thought and product!..

Shana is correct in stating that she put mousse, or some styling product in it and then styled in the desired shape and let it dry.

Khris to answer you , I see no reason why you shouldn't get a perm as firm as you desire...green light from me! Wash, add product...mousse, gel , spray and either diffuse, air or blow dry.:)

Sara

I did a million perms in school. Old lady perms, body perms, spiral perms, "I want to look like Taylor Swift" perms.... I had lots of happy clients!

There are some fantastic new perm solutions, and perm rods that can give anything from loose spiral to really tight corkscrew.

Taylor, I'm so happy to see your a perm supporter:) It's true, perms can definitely go wrong, and I've seen fried hair too:(

Khris, find someone who does perms all the time, they can be absolutely beautiful! My Mum has had some gorgeous ones over the years!

Zoelicious

The newest perms are the Japanese digital perms. They are really gentle on the hair and unlike those 80s spiral perms, the curls turn out really natural looking. Your hair is kind of hooked onto a machine - really space-like. if you google "digital perms" you will see lots of images of the variety of curls and waves. The Japanese salon near me told me that I just had to bring in a picture of what I liked and they can duplicate the look exactly. I am waiting for my hair to grow out a bit as it has to be at least shoulder length for them to perm it. These perms are really popular in Asia. Plus the digital perms last a really long time - they should since they're so expensive.