Does anybody get perms anymore?

[Alice The Goon]

When I was in jr high and high school in the 80s, I used to get curly perms a couple of times a year. My hair is fine and wavy. After a few days of excessive poodle-like exuberance, the curls would settle down into a manageable mop of curls, or I could straighten it and then curl it with a curling iron and it would have more body.

Then I grew up and became a mom, and adopted the mom hairstyle. For the most part, it's worked for me. I change the color from auburn to strawberry blonde to outright blonde and back and forth at will- I like to have fun with it. But when it comes to the style, my options are limited to wavy or straightened. Lately I've been pondering letting it grow a bit (it doesn't really grow much past my shoulders for some reason, and doesn't look good long, anyway), and getting a curly perm. A long weekend off work and hiding out in the house, and then voila, a nice, new, different hairstyle- curly! And blonde.

So does anybody still get curly perms, and if so, is it the same (electrifying) experience as in the 80's?

[Claire Beauchamp]

Do people still get permanents anymore? Yes. Are they the same style that you got in the 80's? No.

[Maastricht]

I would like to see some modern hairdos that have a perm as base. I was thinking the same thing as the OP; you don't see perms anymore, except on grandmother types.

[Caricci]

When you walk into the salon (or, as I prefer, the beauty parlor) nowadays it doesn't even smell the same. Occasionally I ask the stylist if she does them and she reports that she knows how to do them but doesn't do them often.

[TruCelt]

Have you considered how this would mess with your color? I've heard that permed or straightened hair never takes color the way it did before, and that it's really hard to keep it from turning orange. So I'm thinking especially bad for an auburn/strawberry girl!

It's interesting that you posted this 'cause I've had the same thoughts lately . . .

[Scarlett67]

I get one about once or twice a year, not so much for curl as to even out my texture and body. They're usually frighteningly curly when I first get out of the shop, but relax after the first washing the next day.

[DiosaBellissima]

People most certainly get perms still. Not the super spiralled horror show that my mom rocked in the 80s or anything, but a newer, softer, more gentle kind of perm.

The technique and end result are completely different- think big, soft wavy curls. Something like this or this. Instead of those little tiny, plastic rollers, they generally use the foam rod things that bend down the middle--- these things.

The chemicals used are also different- much easier on the hair. This is why you probably don't smell that famous smell anymore.

Of course, my office is right next to a salon and I asked the owner once- plenty of people come in demanding an old fashion perm (she said more women in their 40s than women in their 60s+. She said the older ladies are happy to try the newer, more gentle stuff- it's the 40somethings that are clinging to the 80s hair.

[Covered_In_Bees!]

My grandmother still gets a perm every few months.

I have little to no knowledge of women's hairstyles, so I can't say if it's a "new" style or the old style. All I know is that she gets one done every few months.

[Giltathriel]

I perm my hair and I'm 24. My hair is really straight and kind of thin and greasy, so I perm it as a short cut to keep it from sticking to my head. I've only ever gotten the little plastic rods, I didn't know that they used anything else. It looks kind of ridiculous for the first day or so until I can wash it, but after that it settles a lot and I don't think it looks too 80's. No idea if it's the same chemicals or not.

[Harriet the Spry]

Everything else from the '80s seems to be coming back, why not? Seriously, I think I saw stirrup pants the other day.

DiosaB, those bendy things are exactly what we used to rock the spiral, back in the day. I think it must be the width, or how they wind them, that makes the difference.

[Freudian Slit]

I was actually just wondering this the other day. It seems like straight hair is all the rage these days and I never hear about people getting their hair curled but rather straightened.

[Sleeps With Butterflies]

My sister has a head full of really tight curls that she hates. She gets a perm where they comb it straight instead of using rollers to curl it. It's an "unperm"!

[dragonlady]

I'd be VERY honest with the beautician about all the color and bleach you've already used and be prepared to be turned away. Perming over bleach even with todays less damaging chemicals is....tricky to say the least. Make VERY sure that he/she knows exactly what you've already done.

[Ca3799]

I have thin, straight, flat hair and tried to get a perm (I asked for a soft, natural- looking wave) two years ago. I wanted to get something casual that I could pull back in a headband.

I wound up with crunchy, tangly, flat, straight and even thinner hair that needed creme rinse to get a brush through. Still in recovery.

[AuntiePam]

I've been getting a couple perms a year for about twenty years, from three different stylists. My hair is fine and thin and has no body. I've always been happy with the results. I don't leave the salon with a head full of curls though -- it doesn't look "permed".

The methods keep changing. It used to take about three hours with a couple stints under a dryer. Now it's two hours (including shampoo, cut, style) and no dryer time. And no bad smell.

I use a blow-brush thing for styling. It smooths out the curl.

As for color -- yeah, a perm will affect the color, usually makes it lighter, but I just re-color a couple weeks after the perm.

[Alice The Goon]

I'm getting mixed messages, here! I guess the only thing to do would be to ask my long-time hairdresser- I trust her, mostly (although, there was that one time...). If I ever do get it, I'll post an update!

[Angel of Doubt]

Originally Posted by DiosaBellissima

The technique and end result are completely different- think big, soft wavy curls. Something like this or this. .

Holy moly. Those pics show what I kept trying to achieve thru perms from approximately 1984 thru 1991, until it dawned on me that perhaps it might not work. Maybe I should go back to ye old perm haus. But why is one picture in your first link labelled "normal" and one "digital?"

[AuntiePam]

Another perm technique if you don't want lots of curl is to leave some of the hair un-permed. The un-permed hair blends in with the permed hair and sorta straightens it.

You can get the same effect with rollers, but nobody seems to use rollers anymore. It takes more time to style.

[DiosaBellissima]

Originally Posted by Angel of Doubt

Holy moly. Those pics show what I kept trying to achieve thru perms from approximately 1984 thru 1991, until it dawned on me that perhaps it might not work. Maybe I should go back to ye old perm haus. But why is one picture in your first link labelled "normal" and one "digital?"

I think it means one is taken from a real camera and one from a digital camera, but I might be wrong.

[the Lady]

I haven't permed my hair in about three years (long hair and perms aren't a great combo - as I can get maybe three and then the hair has to go) but what my stylist does for me isn't that different than when I was a kid. Smell is pretty much the same, and the rods are the same.
I was always really happy with the results as an adult - but you have to have a stylist who is good at it. I've been going to Suzy since I had hair (30+ years) and she's kept track of anything she's ever done to my hair. I think that helps a lot.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by DiosaBellissima

The technique and end result are completely different- think big, soft wavy curls. Something like this or this.

Wow, really? I didn't realize you could do that with a perm; my hair is like that ("digital")naturally, so I assumed other women's must be too. I'm sort of surprised that loose curls would be someone's aim, actually.

[Shecky]

according to the hairstylist in my office, white women really don't. Black women do, and it's called "relaxing"