Curly Perm

[rock007junkie]

I know this would be kind of a taboo topic around here but...are there any of you that has had a curly perm done? What has been your experience with it?

[MaKenna90]

I had one done a few years ago, and I loved it. My hair was already kind of curly, but not uniform, it just did whatever it wanted. I loved the perm. I hadn't really processed my hair up until then, so it handled the perm really well, and never got dried out or felt over processed.

Once it started growing out though, I had a pretty blatant line between permed and unpermed. So I had the choice to either reperm it, let it go, or straighten it. I had it straightened, which didn't actually straighten it, but its back to how it curls naturally. And is still relatively healthy.

But overall, I loved my perm. It cut down on how much time I spent on my hair because it would pretty much style itself. And I thought it looked pretty nice. =)

[UltraBella]

I had a perm and it was a complete disaster. I looked like a poodle and my hair felt terrible. Never again.

[spidermom]

One perm held up well, but after a year I decided to refresh my perm because of the difference between permed and nonpermed hair, and the second perm destroyed my hair. Never again!

[rock007junkie]

I had one done a few years ago, and I loved it. My hair was already kind of curly, but not uniform, it just did whatever it wanted. I loved the perm. I hadn't really processed my hair up until then, so it handled the perm really well, and never got dried out or felt over processed.

Once it started growing out though, I had a pretty blatant line between permed and unpermed. So I had the choice to either reperm it, let it go, or straighten it. I had it straightened, which didn't actually straighten it, but its back to how it curls naturally. And is still relatively healthy.

But overall, I loved my perm. It cut down on how much time I spent on my hair because it would pretty much style itself. And I thought it looked pretty nice. =)


That's kind of my experience. My hair is curly but the bottom half of it is weird because it is almost straight.

[rock007junkie]

I had a perm and it was a complete disaster. I looked like a poodle and my hair felt terrible. Never again.

I'm sorry to hear that. Did you have the "too tight" perm experience that a lot of people complain about?

[rock007junkie]

One perm held up well, but after a year I decided to refresh my perm because of the difference between permed and nonpermed hair, and the second perm destroyed my hair. Never again!


Did they just perm the roots on the second application or the whole head? If it was the latter I could totally see how that could cause major damage.

[PrairieRose]

I had perms when I was a teenager. Some would not take well and left a lot of damage. Others took and still left a lot of damage. Overall I think the damage was not worth the body or curls!

[cubedcoley]

Aaaah, the curly perm. I remember it well. I was 14 and rocked the best perm of my life all through my freshman year in high school with my BSL length layered hair. Lovely, lovely. I was the envy (or so I thought) of all hair in the school. Then, the second perm. My lovely long hair, well, I can still see the look of shock on the hairdresser's face as she unrolled the hair that literally BROKE OFF IN HER HANDS!! EEEEEK!!. I went from a solid BSL to just past APL...in the BACK ONLY (at the nape), my canopy ended up about 6 inches long. I was miserable. What a good lesson. NO MORE PERMS...EVER!! :flowers:

[lapushka]

I had one a few years ago that I spent a year and a half growing out before it was cut off (at BSL) recently. A lot of damage was cut off, but I loved that perm. I loved it even while it was growing out, and even though there was a difference in texture for a long time.


But overall, I loved my perm. It cut down on how much time I spent on my hair because it would pretty much style itself. And I thought it looked pretty nice. =)

Same here. It styled itself. Curly hair to me is so much easier than my own texture is.

[rock007junkie]

Aaaah, the curly perm. I remember it well. I was 14 and rocked the best perm of my life all through my freshman year in high school with my BSL length layered hair. Lovely, lovely. I was the envy (or so I thought) of all hair in the school. Then, the second perm. My lovely long hair, well, I can still see the look of shock on the hairdresser's face as she unrolled the hair that literally BROKE OFF IN HER HANDS!! EEEEEK!!. I went from a solid BSL to just past APL...in the BACK ONLY (at the nape), my canopy ended up about 6 inches long. I was miserable. What a good lesson. NO MORE PERMS...EVER!! :flowers:


I wonder how much they have changed in the last 10 years or so. Most people that got them done w while ago seem to have a horrible experience with it.

[justgreen]

I used to get them twice a year back in the '80's and '90's. Spirals. And I had long hair , well long to me. Around BSL and sometimes a bit beyond. But I had a hairdresser that knew her stuff. I think my last one was around mid 2000. Once I moved to Wyoming I learned that curly hair vs. wind was NOT a good thing and I've been straight ever since then. BEST thing ever. My hair never really grew a lot in a year's time with the perms, sort of maybe 2" a year.

ETA: Oh yeah, I bleached then too. Glitzed, can't believe I used to get my hair pulled through a cap. UGH :justy:

[turtlelover]

I used to be very anti-perm cause of bad experiences when I was young, but one of my best friends has APL layered silver hair w/ a perm, and it is soooo pretty. I would NEVER have guessed it is a perm because it looks so soft and natural. I'd say it makes her hair look like a 2C/3A. I don't see damage even after repeated perms. It probably wouldn't work as well for super long hair, but for mid-back length, it really is pretty.

[pepperminttea]

I had one done in my teens. In combination with dye, and not knowing how to care for my hair, it completely fried my already suffering hair. I looked like a poodle too, since I'd gone from one hairtype I didn't know how to care for but was used to, compared to one that was completely new to me. I spent the years I had a perm looking awful. In a way though, I'm glad I did it, because otherwise I'd probably still be dreaming about having perfect curls instead of my barely there waves. It was a bit of a lesson in self-acceptance, if nothing else. :) I think if I tried it now though, with LHC around to help me, I could make it look presentable if I still wanted one.

Fufu had one done recently on her 1b hair - it turned out beautifully! She posted a thread here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=78148). A looser and more romantic curl than I ended up with.

[Merlin]

Mrs M had a couple at various times, and they both looked great and were fine. BUT, they were done by somebody who both really knew what they were doing and who knew her hair well AND it was a length which took the perm well and from which it could be progressively styled out as it grew out with regular cuts.

[MoreWhenNuh]

I had one about 3 1/2 years ago on my waist length maybe longer hair. DISASTER!!!! Granted part of the problem was the stylist who did it but even after washing and conditioning my hair over and over again the very same day and for a week following nothing would loosen the way too tight curl! I ended up cutting my hair all the way to my ears! It also caused a lot of damage!

[monichella]

I had a perm in 2007, when I decided to grow long my hair I had to chop off all the length that had been treated. The difference between my naturally straight hair and the treated part was terrible and the process to eliminate it very long and hard. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!

[jacqueline101]

I had a spiral perm and it damaged my hair.

[rock007junkie]

I had one done in my teens. In combination with dye, and not knowing how to care for my hair, it completely fried my already suffering hair. I looked like a poodle too, since I'd gone from one hairtype I didn't know how to care for but was used to, compared to one that was completely new to me. I spent the years I had a perm looking awful. In a way though, I'm glad I did it, because otherwise I'd probably still be dreaming about having perfect curls instead of my barely there waves. It was a bit of a lesson in self-acceptance, if nothing else. :) I think if I tried it now though, with LHC around to help me, I could make it look presentable if I still wanted one.

Fufu had one done recently on her 1b hair - it turned out beautifully! She posted a thread here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=78148). A looser and more romantic curl than I ended up with.

Thanks for this thread. Nice to have an image to the process and its end result

[spidermom]

I'm not sure how she did the second perm, but I think it would be impossible not to overlap.

[mariazelie]

I have fine and very tangly hair. I had the perm at shoulder length. It made my hair very hard to take care of, in the way of tangles. The second perm broke off the sides of my hair up to chin length (just in time for a trip to Italy. Not very convenient for keeping the hair back like I was used to.) The second perm was 18 months after the first perm. My beautician did not advise against it, so I never dreamed... never again; I just like my own hair better.

[rock007junkie]

Just the breakage that most of you speak of make this whole process scary

[lunalocks]

I had near waist length hair in the late 70's when I had my perm. Boy was it fun to finally have curls. I lived a a dry climate and would roll up my hair sopping wet on huge curlers and wake in the morning to the large curls I had always dreamed of. That lasted the summer. It gradually "fell out" so there was barely a demarcation line. 2 years later is was more "fluffy" on the bottom half. (I hadn't trimmed my hair in all that time) Once out of school and working, I could afford to perm my hair 2 to 3 times a year. t was shorter than, just below or ablove shoulders. Because of the "poof"factor, I had it layered. Because of damage, it gradually became shorter and shorter. For a year I had one side longer than the other, and tendril pieces down the sides and back, very romantic. Oh, the 80's

But eventually, there was too much damage, and it was so expensive to keep up, and I moved on a boat to travel for a year, so I had it cut to my ears. With the next trim, all the perm was gone. No prems since. I spent the summer in the sun and my dark blond hair bleached to the color of honey, but that's another story.

These days, if I want curls for a special event, I use foam tubes to get my ringlets, that gradually fall out into curls.

Anyway, expect damage that eventually you will need to deal with. Then again, maybe things have changed, and perms nowadays are more gentle for the hair.

[UP Lisa]

I have had many perms starting when I was a teenager. My Mother used to do them for me back then. I just wanted so badly for my ahri to be less flat, and to seem like more.

As an adult I have also had many perms when my hari was short. Any damage was livable, since it always got cut off anyway. Perms last very well on me, and they did help me to not have to wash as often.

When I stopped perming and decided to grow my hair out, I discovered I had waves I never knew I had:D

[partlycloudy]

I had my hair permed two years ago, and I loved it. I always wanted curly hair. It did damage it though. My hair was dyed at the time, and I didn't know that you should never dye and perm your hair; it's one or the other for most people. This was too much for my hair to handle (even though I did them a couple months apart). My hair was very fragile and dry and would break easily. The perm 'fell out' after 5 months and the damage lasted much longer than the perm.

It might work for you, but I would not advise doing it if you have dyed your hair. Know that it WILL cause some damage and that it will take ages to grow out. I think my natural hair texture didn't support the perm very well, but I'm f and your m/c hair might handle it better. Good luck!

[torrilin]

My hair won't take a perm unless the stylist uses the strongest solution, and leaves it on basically forever, and uses super tiny curlers. Basically forcing my hair from 1c to 3c. Ew. And of course like all good little girls in the 1980s, what I wanted was gorgeous 3a spirals.

Understandably, my hair does not take kindly to that sort of treatment. It's not a good look on me.

If I'm super duper gentle with my hair, I can almost coax it into incredibly loose spirals now. It's not anywhere near as spirally as a real curly, but it suits me and is much closer to what I wanted the perm to do in the first place.

[Lilli]

Several years ago, when my hair was 1a/1b and collarbone length, I had a "body wave" perm. It was great - it indeed was a body wave, and no damage.

Then a few years later, I asked for another perm, and ended up looking like Kelly McGillis in Top Gun. That was awful, so I made him comb it out, and some broke off.

If I could get the perm from that other thread, with only loose ringlets at the bottom, I would do it in a second.

[Orangerthanred]

I had one a few years ago. But I did not go to the hairstylist because I only trust my mother to do my hair- she went to school for hairstyling and she knows my hair better than anyone.

I wanted loose curls (back then my hair was 1c/2a) so she got the biggest rollers she could find... it was really pretty. It didn't give me any split ends, but it did smell funny and my hair was dried out. I think it was easier to take care of because the curls were always uniform and the same, like an automatic hairstyle.

It works really well on naturally wavy/curly hair.. you can enhance the curls/waves.

[UP Lisa]

Two of my sons have curly hair, and of course they want to cut it off! One of them has the most beautiful 3a ringlets. And Blond. I just want to paste them on my head when I cut them off of his!