Perm Perm.. Perm?

[SearMeCarefully]

So I want my hair to have a tighter curl (not corkscrew/crimped often seen in the 80s but more 3a/Botticelli). I've thought about getting one on and off for several years but am just now seriously considering it.
Similar to this curl, maybe a bit tighter (3a/3b): http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zN8g4K6kYb...s400/Erin1.jpg

Yes I know it will be damaging. I've given up on trying to get to classic for right now.
My hair seems to have lost some curl in the past couple of years, this makes me really sad as I never was satisfied with the amount of curl I had anyway!
I've tried natural methods of curling hair, it just takes so long for it to try ~ 24ish hours when it's all rolled/scrunched up on my head blah

So I guess I'm wondering if anyone has had a perm fairly recently? What to expect? Both short and longer term, upkeep etc.

When I do go to a salon I usually go to a Deva concepts certified stylist (lorraine massey style of cutting/color etc) who does perms and mentioned it to me before. I asked her at that time about getting a perm but she said as I was trying to grow out my hair to ~classic it would be best not to. Now I'm perfectly fine with being TB-waist lengths so am more seriously considering this..

[FluffSpider]

I was asking the same perm question a while ago- and pretty much got my mind off of it. I don't know if you could maintain TBL healthily with a perm... it does, after all, restructure the hair. It's drying, the roots are horrid to grow out, and the first perm is generally the best, then it just spirals down to worse. After reading 3 or so pages of replies, I decided I would rather stick to the limp fineness and start damp bunning with setting lotions.

[ibleedlipstick]

I had a perm, and it was pretty terrible to grow out. I liked it right after it was done, but the grow-out was terrible, and we could never get it to look as good as it did the first time around. I babied my hair, and I don't feel like I had a great deal of damage, but it just never looked as good as I wanted it to.

[skyblue]

You could try it but I got to say that it is not so fun when your ends start to really dry out and your constantly trimming, I did it once in my twenties and I did love it! But it took years for my hair to get back to normal, maybe if you do a lot of SMTs maybe weekly....religiously, you might get lucky and won't end up that much damage....I would really give it a lot of thought first, do the pro and con thing and see which wins out

[pepperminttea]

I got one in my teens, long since grown out and cut off. My hair was dyed at the same time though, so YMMV. My hair literally became a completely different type - I had no idea how to care for it. In retrospect, regular consecutive protein and moisture treatments would've helped a lot, and a trim directly after the perm itself. At the time, it was incredibly dry, I just couldn't condition it enough. It tangled worse than ever. Every hair seemed to end in a split. It's not something I'd recommend, but if you've got your heart set on it, have all your best hair babying techniques at the ready.

[jesis]

I was looking at your album and I saw a couple of pictures where you have a really tight curl pattern. You look almost 3b to me in those pictures. My hair is less curly naturally than I wear it, I just put oil and gel in my hair right out of the shower and scrunch the water out, then I leave it alone for the rest of the day except maybe scrunching a time or two more. That helps me get my 3a curls.

[jojo]

I don't normally like perms as such but I think it would look great on you. You obviously know how to care for your hair, so why not. Just remember to put twice as much moisture back as the perm will take out.

[lapushka]

So I guess I'm wondering if anyone has had a perm fairly recently? What to expect? Both short and longer term, upkeep etc.

I got mine at shoulder length (more than 2 years ago), and it was difficult to set - the process took a long time (about 3 hours). Things were rushed and hurried along, so otherwise it probably would have taken longer. I lost hair at the back of my head because hair was set and pulled too tightly (rush of it all). The stylist also kept complaining about the length. In her view, it had to be shorter, but then she was used to doing this mainly on older ladies. I asked about really long hair. A perm won't look as good, she said, if it's even possible to set right at such a long length, some issue of the more hair you have to roll onto a roller, the looser the curl at the root will be and then spiral perms will be better. I once got a spiral perm at about BSL (about 23 years ago) and they did it that way because my hair was so long, so... same thing. There's probably truth in that.

As far as upkeep goes, the first perm I got wasn't too tangly, quite okay, good to maintain with a simple coney conditioner and not that hard to comb out. Then I got a second one 4 months later (way too soon). Oh boy... that kind of ruined things; things got very tangly. Now I need enormous amounts of strong coney conditioner. Garnier triple nutrition works wonders also. So I definitely recommend that.

I guess with your hair it's not going to be such a big deal, perming, I mean, you will hardly notice it growing out, so you kind of have to wonder if it's worth the extra effort when all you're going to get extra is more knots and tangles... Your hair is kind of 3a and you have beautiful curls from what I can see.

[Babyfine]

I used to perm my hair every 8-12 months in the 80's and 90's.
I felt that it gave me much needed body and volume, and I loved the bouncy curl.
However, I mainly kept my hair at shoulder-length so most of the damage was getting cut off.
I still get the urge to perm-with my fine/flat wimpy waves, especially in the winter or a drier climate where my hair flattens out.
However, I color now,(demi-perm) so there's no way I could have healthy hair even if I kept it shorter, with a perm, too.
One thing that keeps me from perming is noticing how much stronger and shinier my fine/fragile hair is these days, and how much longer I've been able to grow it without splits.
When I permed, I had good perms and bad perms, and sometimes even found broken hairs on my pillow!Plus the splits. Of course, I didn't have LHC knowledge, either.
These days I just try to work with what I have, and if I want volume I'll do braid or bun waves.
Or keeping my hair moisturized and scrunching/plopping. Not the curl I'd like-but I do like my hair's shine and health. compared to how it used to be.

[Celebrian]

I got a 'soft, body perm' about two months ago on my thick but fine BSL hair (both hennaed and bottle dyed - but very well conditioned and regularly trimmed.) It didn't take very well, and I went away to do deep conditioning treatments for a month and then went back to try again (no extra cost.) He used a perm for color treated hair by L'Oreal - that's all I know - and set it on large curlers/wands.

This time it worked much better. There's a distinct 'S' shape to the lengths when my hair is wet, and I like the thickening effect (and the slight root lift) regardless of whether I dry it naturally or pull it out.

I had one problem with the hair just in front of the ears - which frazzled - and needs LOADS of treatment even now, but that said, I am still glad I had it done! But then I trim my hair regularly to keep it fresh and crisp (been BSL for years now!)

Why? Because I have body and fullness, and waves if I want them.

I've discovered that Herbal Essences 'It's a Curl thing' S & C ('Twisted something-or-other' in the US) hydrates my hair well, if that helps.

Oh, I will probably just have a 'root' perm in a few months time (literally roots only) and leave the rest for another 6 months or so.

I will say that I have had some problems with dryness, and these have been overcome by frequent deep conditioning. Also, I tend to henna a few times a year.

I must add that if I leave my hair its lovely, floppy silky self - I start to look like a spaniel (with long, droopy ears) a bit like this:

http://tiny.cc/ullcp