growing out a perm....(straight or curly)

[redneckprincess]

I am in the process of not only growing out bleached hair but a straight perm, I wonder how many others here at LHC are doing the same and I would LOVE to see pictures...My last straightning application was 3 months ago, so I dont have much newgrowth to go by...

[redneckprincess]

BUMP ♥ anyone?

[CTH3989]

I transitioned over 3 years ago. Check out my blog, it has a link to my old blog from the previous LHC while I was transitioning. In my sig is also a photo album.

[Buddaphlyy]

I did a short transition (8 months) and it was hell. There's a link to my old journal

My_Old_Journal (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=47956)

and you can see pictures in my album.

[ladylibra]

Yeah, I attempted to transition and gave up after 4 months. I just ended up cutting everything off. It was too much for me, trying to deal with virgin new growth and dried out overprocessed hair (relaxed, colored, with a red rinse over it and daily heat abuse :mad: ).

I am excited to see your natural hair as it grows out... I bet it is lovely! ;)

[Coriander]

Ohhhh boy.

I had my first perm when I was something like 12. Did NOT go well... my very straight hair didn't hold the curl but did manage to turn into scarecrow-like wire.

I was stupid enough to try a second perm when I was 20 or 21. This time, the stylist left the chemicals on for a really long time and it did curl, however it turned into a frizzy nightmare. I ended up having it chemically straightened about three years later, which took out the curl but left me with some seriously damaged hair.

I don't have photos of the growing out, because that particular box was stolen along with a lot of other stuff many years ago.

Take good care of your hair in the meantime. You'll get through this! :flowers:

[ladylibra]

Ohhhh boy.

I had my first perm when I was something like 12. Did NOT go well... my very straight hair didn't hold the curl but did manage to turn into scarecrow-like wire.

I was stupid enough to try a second perm when I was 20 or 21. This time, the stylist left the chemicals on for a really long time and it did curl, however it turned into a frizzy nightmare. I ended up having it chemically straightened about three years later, which took out the curl but left me with some seriously damaged hair.

I don't have photos of the growing out, because that particular box was stolen along with a lot of other stuff many years ago.

Take good care of your hair in the meantime. You'll get through this! :flowers:

LOL, my sister did the exact opposite - tried to have me curly perm her relaxed hair! It sorta worked for about 3 days... the relaxed hair was curly like her 6-8 inches of new growth, until the first wash.

Then it just turned into dry, semi-wavy ends that were always unruly. She's cut most of the ends off now, because they were beyond saving.

[Michiko]

I don't know if this is the right place for my enquiry, but my hair is exactly like yours redneckprincess. At the end of 2008, I got blonde highlights in my asian hair. My hair wasn't damaged so I wasn't fussed. Then I was not thinking and got it relaxed early 2009! My hair since then is crisp at the ends! It even smells burnt, even now! If it is not fragrant from my shampooing, it smells awfully burnt and is unruly.

How did you take care of these damaged bits? I find oil makes my crisp hair even worse. I have no idea why.

Help!

[Kristina713]

I started growing out a curly perm a couple of years ago. I still have about 8 inches of perm at the ends. My hair is very slightly wavy naturally, so the growing out perm looked pretty natural until recently. But as my hair gets longer, the upper waves are getting pulled straight and the line between the straight and curly is more visible. Also the permed hair is very damaged. I think it's probably the worst thing you can do to your hair. Sad -- because I love curls. Anyway, I've considered cutting out the perm, but I'd lose so much length...

[joiekimochi]

Well, I did an afro curly perm on my straight Asian hair (with the intention to dread) back when I was 14. I ended up cutting it off to a longish pixie because a lot of my hair was snapping off about 1 inch from the scalp. It took about 2 years to grow out the frizziness and regain my straight virgin hair at shoulder-length.

I did a Japanese-style perm when I was 17 for big curls; that one straightened out on its own after a few months. I re-permed again when I was 18, and it straightened out after 6 months as well, so I didn't really have much of a growing-out experience for those 2 perms.

[faeflame]

I might not be the best for advice on perms because I REALLY loved my hair when it was curly and I keep debating doing it again..... Anyhow I got a perm on waist length, stick straight hair about 5 years ago, my siggy pic is it at one year.
When I first got the perm, I hated it because I had a lot of breakage right at my scalp and the very ends were crunchy dry. I was worried I'd done massive damage to my hair. I started washing with the gentlest thing I could think of, rhassoul clay and using shea butter or jojoba oil on the ends. The stylist had cut my hair in a V and eventually I had to do several straight across trims to get rid if the velcro ends. It wasn't anything drastic, just for about 2 or three years I didn't gain any length as I cut off the very tips, thickening and evening up my hemline.
I just kept letting my perm grow out and lightened up on the oilings as the tips were cut off and my hair lost the curl and got limper. Now I'm at a solid tailbone/almost classic with my hair just below the curve of my tush. The curls have turned to waves at the ends and all the damage seems to be gone. DH and kiddos keep telling me how soft my hair is now.

So, moral of the story is that you can grow out a perm without seriously losing the length you have now, you just might have to settle at stalling at one length for a while.

[spidermom]

I've grown out curly perms in the past. The worst was the year I decided to re-perm a perm I had gotten the year before because I had liked it so much but the curl was relaxing. The re-perm totally fried my hair, and I cut to short, which was absolutely hideous (think old lady curly perm)!

[Liss]

I'm growing out perm damage. It would be easier to put up with the damage if my hair actually took to the perm I did last month, but I swear it is straighter than before.

My ends are like straw and I had to dedicate several hours to constant S&D to remove the split, broken and dotted ends. My hair was silky before, but not anymore.

I'm predicting that it will take about 3 years to remove all the damage with microtrims. I think that if I cut back, it would still be in the same condition, just shorter. So instead I'm just being careful with my hair, keeping an eye on the damage and learning a good lesson. No more heat or chemicals will hit my hair in a very long time.

As much as I'm tempted to say that I wish I didn't perm it, I know that if I didn't do it, I'd still be longing to try it, so no regrets.

[Kristin]

I was about 11 when I got my first perm. It was hideous. i used to brush the curls wet or dry and my head looked like a giant frizz ball. It took about 3 years to grow that out and ended in a (for me at the time) big chop to remove disgusting white ball ends.

I got my next perm when I was...22? I liked it. It was a wave perm. I re-permed 6 months later on new growth and because I was losing some curl. After that, I decided to grow out. I think it grew out in about 2 years that time. Must've had some good growth because I did not chop.

Growing out the second one wasn't bad. For some reason those perms didn't damage my hair as much and the curls were more relaxed.

[tokidokichi]

I'm also growing out a chemical straightener and heavily bleached hair! My last chem straightener was in November. I have about 3 inches of new growth that gets pretty wavy and the rest is just barely wavey, mostly straight tho. I think it looks okay though and won't be too horible growing out. I'm mainly foccused on getting rid of 2 inches of damaged/split ends!

[Sophie.Bold]

In my case Im growing out relaxer because I started to bold and besides relaxer I never put my hair in any kind of risk, my last relaxer was august 2009, and my curly hair its near my shoulders, my thin straight ends are MBL, so I still have to chop about 15 cm, but I have been flat ironing/blow frying until 4 months ago, first year I keep blowfrying but after that I had to blowfry and curl my ends to look nice because my ends looked straighter than my roots anyway with only blowfry, so its been a journey of learning to love my curls, after discovering oils I think there is no reason for me to relax anymore cause I have learned to tame my frizz( a bit), I will chop all the relax very soon!

Happy trim! :)