Perms??

[Primrose]

I'm 25 and kinda new to this forum .....writing in for Opinions,Advices,Experiences(Good N Bad ) and more Information on getting perms .I have shoulder length fine thin straight hair and would love to add more body to it so it's not just straight and flat ..would perming be the way to go for this or are ther better methods ? Are ther certain perms that would not be so harsh as others? This would be my 1st perm ever .Thanks to all who reply nicely:)

[kdaniels8811]

Well, I don't know what kind of reponse you will get to perming, the focus here is to shy away from anything that could damage your hair and to let it grow. I permed and dyed my hair for years and wondered why I could never get it to grow longer than shoulder length. The focus here is long, healthy hair, and perming damages hair beyond belief - mine broke off at the roots! This is probably not the answer you are looking for. Just my two cents!

I get volume in my fine/thin hair by wearing it in a bun, when it comes down I have nice bun waves. There are other methods, one is called "plopping" and there is information in the articles section. This you do at night and sleep on it, giving fullness and volume when you take it down in the morning. Braids add fullness and waves, also. Good luck with what ever you choose to do.

[Sherri]

I recently got a perm and let me tell you a few things before you deceide this is for you. It is a chemical process which breaks down the hair to form new curl pattern to the hair. You can ask for an acid perm which is not as strong as the other alkaline perms. Still with either it is very drying to the hair in which you will have to take extra special care of your hair. This may mean buying things for it you never did before. ie protein treatments, special shampoos, deep conditioners. Also remember this is somehting you will have to maintain on a regular bases with re-perms every so often and make sure you go to someone you trust. Go informed on what type and size rollers you will be using so you don't end up with tight kinky curls unless that is what you are after. Think long and hard about it before you do it but if it is really something you want to do get all the information you can. Good luck.

[MemSahib]

I, too, have straight babyfine hair and in the past have had many perms, the last one in the early '80s. That time I had a reaction to the perming solution and we had to abort the perm because my scalp turned bright red and burned like mad. I jumped into the shower and rinsed for a long time to try to get it out. It was with this perm that I finally came to grips with my straight hair and vowed I would NEVER perm again, and I haven't. My hair is straight, fine and as such it has its very own beauty, unlike the curlies to be sure, but its very own.

We do have at least one member who perms her babyfine hair sucessfully, if I can remember her name... well, I can see her pictures in my mind but I'm not bringing up her name at all at the moment. She is a babyboomer, has greying hair and I believe her husband is a minister. Can anybody help me with this?

I would strongly suggest that you learn to like your hair. Our hair is sleek, shiny and silky to touch. Many curlies try to straighten to look like us! A few years back when watching that first Lord of the Rings movie I was entranced by the straight, fine hair of the elves. It was beautiful. Perhaps you and I have elven tresses?

[MsBubbles]

Thanks to being on LHC for the past year, I have learned to love and accept my fine, straight hair. It sticks to my scalp like glue but I have finally given up the dream of trying to get my strands to stand away from my scalp, even just a little bit.

As a teen I killed my hair through perms designed to make my hair not be what it was born to be, and as an adult I killed my hair with daily velcro-rollers and blow-frying in an attempt to get Jennifer Aniston hair or some other helmet head anchorwoman style (which all fell flat again immediately after going outside in the humid air).

I usually am not so bold as to tell someone 'don't do it!', but in this case, I'd like to throw the suggestion out there for you to come to love your fine hair.

Oh and by the way...bun waves or even french-twist waves give my hair some body for about an hour without the damage of perms/rollers/blow-drying.

[templeofvenus]

POersonally I have only ever had 2 perms in my life back in the early nineties say 1992 and no way would I get anymore, I think the process is too harsh to be honest! unless they have changed the solutions etc now I can't speak for the perms of today. Have you tried volumising mousse on your roots to add some lift? Label M sold in salons do a good root lift mousse and I found it worked well for my fine straight hair. Otherwise blow dry gently with your head upside down to give root lift, or trybig rollers in the root area to give lift. I hope this helps and if you do decide to perm I hope its lovely.

[melrose1985]

I got a perm at the send of last summer. 4 days later I HATED IT. I chemically straighten it which ended with me cutting my hair into a bob to get rid of the damage. At that time I think was almost APL. I had to cut a lot off, and even not the ends are still not great. Once I make it my year with not cutting my hair at all I know I’m going to still have more to cut to get rid of the damage I still have.

Basically, I’m not saying no you shouldn’t get one but if you are as flippy floppy as I was where one minute you wants something and the next you don’t then you might be better off maybe setting your hair a couple of times a week to get some bounce. Also with everything around here people recommend the 2 week rule. Give yourself time to think it over for 2 weeks or so.

Either way best of luck!

[Tap Dancer]

We do have at least one member who perms her babyfine hair sucessfully, if I can remember her name... well, I can see her pictures in my mind but I'm not bringing up her name at all at the moment. She is a babyboomer, has greying hair and I believe her husband is a minister. Can anybody help me with this?

No, sorry. The only person here I know who has permed hair is AquaViolet1973. She was getting yearly perms, but she recently made a decision to stop because it was causing her hair to break off. :(

[Kunoichi]

I have fine hair also, and have had perms. The first perm I got literally 'fell out' within 2 weeks. I like the way they make my hair look; the straight hairs want curly, and curly want straight; but I have decided to keep it straight, uncolored, and healthy. Good Luck on whatever you choose. :puppy:

[spidermom]

It depends on your hair length goal. The longer you want, the less damage you should risk. If curl and volume are more important to you than hair length, a perm will give you both. However, the new hair growing in is going to be as straight as before, and perms look pretty weird after awhile with straight roots.

If you were to wash your hair in the evening and then do a top-of-head scrunchie bun, it would give you body and waves, possibly even curls. Give it a try.

[Sherri]

I think I am the only one who has a perm on the boards? Not sure but I did ask around before getting mine and had no responses except for people that have had them in the past.

[Ursula]

As others have said, perming breaks down the chemical structure of your hair, and (trys to) reset it in a new shape. This is almost always quite damaging, as not all of the chemical bonds that hold the hair together are re-formed, and it tends to make hair break more easily.

A lot depends on your long-term hair goals. Someone who is happy with shoulder-length hair can often get away with damaging treatments that would make it difficult or impossible to reach a longer goal length. It would be helpful if you filled out your profile information to show your current/start lengths and your goal length in inches, so that we could more accurately judge your goals, and how different things might affect reaching your goals.

It might be worth collecting shed hair, an getting a home perm solution, then doing a mini "perm" on the shed hair. See how the hair reacts, and if it is still strong afterwards. (This is called "strand testing" and often recomended around here when considering any sort of treatment with permanent effect, such as hair dye, henna, or, in your case, a perm.) Keep the treated hair for several weeks, washing it when you wash your hair, to see if the perm stays, and if damage shows up over time.

[Sherri]

Some say a good test is to get one of your hairs and see it is floats in a glass of water. If it floats your hair is healthy if it sinks you have to much damage and perming might be a bad idea.

[Deborah]

Don't do it. :tmi: It is not worth the damage it will do to your hair. My hair is fine-textured and straight too. Many folks use flat irons and other harmful devices and chemicals to have straight, shiny, silky hair just like ours! Try some updos. Fine hair works just fine (oops, a pun) in beautiful updos. Fine and straight can be truly beautiful. :)

[earthdancer]

If you were to wash your hair in the evening and then do a top-of-head scrunchie bun, it would give you body and waves, possibly even curls. Give it a try.

I agree; having had a perm that made my hair shafts split down the middle, I wouldn't do it again, myself!

However, when my hair was APL up to BSL, spidermom's advice worked great. It even worked for me with dry hair. Now that my hair is almost at tail-bone, it doesn't work as well, but that was my choice.

I also have bangs, and if they get flat, I use hairspray to make them look fluffier.

I also have started using shampoo bars instead of commercial shampoo, and suddenly my hair has a lot more body and is thicker-looking than I've ever been able get in my life before, even with mouse, blow-dryers, and hair-thickeners! I've even been able to stop using hairspray on my bangs!:D

[kdaniels8811]

I found the same thing, natural soaps and processes and NOT doing chemical treatments, including shampoos, hairspray, and mousses made my hair fuller and softer and healthier than it has ever been before. By the way, I also permed my hair - a good 15 years ago and damaged the heck out of it, it broke off at the scalp and I had patches that looked like I had been buzzed. Benign neglect has worked better than anything else for the health of my hair.

[Magdalene]

I actually permed my hair regularly through highschool and college- I only really stopped because of the expense. My hair is longer now but not significantly- it was always at least waist length for most of the time I was perming it. My hair is pretty resilient, though. I kinda miss the curls, to be honest.

[Jessica Trapp]

I don't know anything about perm-perms, but pre-LHC, I did a temp perm on my hair once and it was a total wreck. What a horrendous frizzy mess--took it weeks to calm down. :tmi: Never again.

Whatever you do, I hope that doesn't happen. :flower:

[Kina]

My hair is naturally wavy/curly but it's fine and looked thin. I was unhappy with it so I permed it. Turned out beautifully, my hair was about BSL and I was able to leave it alone to grow. After a couple of years (doesn't look bad when you start out with texture in your hair -v- straight) I wanted to have the roots done as it was getting flat from the length.

That's when it got fried and I wound up cutting off the length.

So it wasn't the initial one, but the follow ups killed it.

[lynnala]

I have very fine, slightly wavy hair. I got a perm many years ago (let's see, I think it was around 1992), because, like you, I wanted more body. Maybe they are better at it these days, but my hair went "full bozo" on me! It looked like braid waves gone wild. I hated it, and once it is permed, you just have to grow it out. So my advice would be: be careful!! I now use Indian herbs to wash my hair and it has much more body than it used to.

[MadPirateBippy]

Perming can make you go bald, no joke, especially with fine, thin hair.

Check out the articles section and try the techniques for deep waves. Also learn how to rag curl- Torrin Paige has an incredible video on how to do it on YouTube. Your hair will be perfect- it will not only have amazing curl, wave, and body, but it will be shiny- something most people lose when they perm.

It's also not permenant, and it's fun. You can pin curl your hair every night, and when you want it strait again, just wash it and let it do it's thing, where if you flat ironed perm damaged hair...it would be very, very unhappy and probably fall off.

That would be pretty epic.

I have fine hair that's just wavy enough to look frizzy. Before I would perm, I would try one of these techniques- pin curls or deep waves- every day for a month. Permed hair requires a lot more work than you'll be used to with your hair, and if you aren't willing to pin curl it every night, you probably won't be happy with the work required to keep your hair looking good with a perm.

Hope that's helpful!

[Kina]

I rolled my hair last night with "wrap, snap and go" http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/311%2BWB5d2tL._SL500_AA222_.jpg curlers.

Worked beautifully. Had a nice full do all day.

[GlennaGirl]

Oy. Perms.

I destroyed my hair so many times with those. (I was a teenager and in my early 20s in the 80s...enough said.)

There is a percentage of people who don't see significant damage from perms. As someone who wants to grow her hair long, personally I wouldn't roll the dice to see whether I fell into that small category.

I get nice, wavy hair by bunning...cinnabuns give tighter waves; wrapped hair (like the lazy wrap bun) gives much looser waves but definitely the look of a bit more volume than when it's in its natural state.

[ktani]

Perms, like any conventional chemical process vary, and can damage hair but do not necessarily have to, to the degree many people think and have experienced. It is about choosing the right kind of perm for one's hair type, how it is used, the condition of the hair before processing and pre and post perm care.

I finally researched perm chemistry and to my surprise, found that minimizing damage from a perm may be be possible using the same oils reported to help minimize damage to hair from conventional hair colour and lightening.

Here are some posts that may be of interest.

1. This information would also apply to hair before perming. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=521865&postcount=759)

2. Possible way to help prevent damage to hair from perms with coconut and argan oils (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=581693&postcount=866)

3. The breaking and reforming of different bonds in hair. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=581755&postcount=868)

4. Informtion on the pretreatment with and about the oils. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=233176&postcount=1)

5. Types of perms (http://books.google.ca/books?id=pHrX2-huQCoC&pg=PT516&lpg=PT516&dq=permanent+wave++solutions+oxidize&source=bl&ots=4voKqAxFqx&sig=-AdjPjn8figJfGYjNPcxERWD4dY&hl=en&ei=PskFSuqVNYbOMdWi9aID&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8#PPT519,M1)

6. Digital perms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_perm)


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[Longlocks3]

I've always been told that fine hair won't look fuller after a perm, that it'll actually make it look thinner. If it's a matter of being bored with your hair, you can try lots of other things; there are many many great hair ideas on here that are tons less damaging. If you really want the perm, get it. If you really want long, long, long hair I'd say it's more probable you will have a harder time growing it.

[Fractalsofhair]

Large foam rollers might help if all you want is volume! Also, try using a lighter conditioner and a volumizing shampoo.

[Kina]

I've always been told that fine hair won't look fuller after a perm, that it'll actually make it look thinner. If it's a matter of being bored with your hair, you can try lots of other things; there are many many great hair ideas on here that are tons less damaging. If you really want the perm, get it. If you really want long, long, long hair I'd say it's more probable you will have a harder time growing it.

Mine looked waaaayyyyyyy fuller, although I lost all the shine.