Do you have a cauliflower perm?

[catinboots99]

If so how old are you? How old were you when you got it? Is it something that happens to everyone? Will I reach a certain age and automatically adopt one? Or will cauliflower perms die out with this generation of older ladies?

Sat in my local Wetherspoons and am surrounded by white cauli perms. Just wondering the average age. I reckon some must be only late fifties/early sixties.

The Queen has a 'deluxe' cauliflower perm - rofl!!

My mum is nearly 80 and has had one since before she was 40. All her friends and sisters have exactly the same do. I think every 80 year old lady in Ireland has a coiffre de choux fleur.

Love the term ! In my neck of the woods we call this style the 'helmet head'

I have been banned by DD from having a Can I See Your Manager haircut.

Shame, because I thought it would be practical and suit me....I guess there's the trap.

Marcel’s Coiffure de Choufleur

I am in my mid 50s and none of my friends have such a hairdo. Even my DM who is in her late 70's hasn't got a haircut like that. Both my grans (both long dead) had the cauli do but i thought it had died out with their generation.

We used to call them Poodle perms. I’m 51 and a member of the highlighted bob brigade. I have no intention of doing a perm when I get older.

Ah yes, the classic.... I always dread accidentally being given this!

I honestly can't see what is wrong with that haircut and what it has to do with speaking to the manager.

What's wrong with that "Can I speak to the manager" haircut? I don't have my hair like that but I like it.

Said bag also always contained a plastic rain hood to protect the hair in the wet

My employer's MIL came running out in the rain to force me to wear one of these, she couldn't understand why I didn't want it and was saying Yes I know it's raining... No I don't mind my hair getting wet, it doesn't matter... No I'm fine please leave me alone

She couldn't understand why I would rather get wet than wear a clear plastic rain tie-on hood in the privacy of an enormous back garden. She was rocking a cauli hairdo too, she was sweet and reminded me of my gran, who had exactly the same style (both ladies in the 80s).

I think if it gets to that, I'll just get it cut very short and have a couple of wigs, or maybe big hats, instead.

Mine's still long and brown in my 50's but as soon as I get a decent percentage of grey I'm going for a blonde bob.

That'll be my elderly hair style.

I think you can tell how times are changing and that the cauli perm is going out of fashion, by the fact that you can actually SEE cauli perms when out and about. When I was younger, about 20-30 years ago, you never saw an old lady's hair when they were out because they always had a hat welded onto their head. Nobody wears hats nowadays. More's the pity IMHO.

Talk to the manager haircut - Haircut generally worn by women complaining in shops/restaurants. I would like to say it isn't true, but I have had two customer facing temp jobs in a bookshop and a museum and most of the women complaining had variations of that haircut.

It's a lovely haircut, I have no idea why it seemed that most complaining women had it

I don’t think a cauliflower perm looks bad, certainly better than a Diana. My gran had it when her hair was already thick and wiry, it looked so dense I used to like squishing it so it bounced back.

If my long mop deteriorates to the point that long hair no longer looks good, I plan to buzz it and wear big quirky earrings. I’ve seen several older ladies with buzzed grey hair, chunky glasses and ornate hoops/dangly earrings, and it looks so cool imo, I almost want to go for it now!

There's a hairdresser near me that specialises in those perms. The clientele are mostly very elderly. My DM is 75 and she doesn't have one but my grandmother used to have one and had it for the last 40 years of her life (she was nearly 100 when she died).

It is definitely a way of providing shape and volume to thinning hair. I was surprised on the occasions I saw my gran without her hair 'done' - I'd assumed it was natural because that was how it always was.

Further to my earlier post on this thread I should add that my professional role takes me into care homes for the elderly and I can confirm that for ladies in their late 80s and 90s (and a few who are 100+), the cauliflower perm is still very much the barnet of choice

Most care homes have a hairdresser who visits weekly and there is always a line of ladies in tight rollers outside the 'salon' if you happen to visit on 'hairdresser day'!

I can see the appeal of the cauli-perm if you're old and frail and living in a care home. If you're someone who's always taken pride in their appearance it must be nice to know that your hair is 'done' rather than waking up every day and battling with wispy bits.

Bloody hell my friend has that haircut. She is lovely but she does have a big habit of wanting to speak to the manager.

Since I was five, I've had the image in my head of how I will have my hair when I'm 'old'.

There was an older woman who volunteered in school to teach us embroidery/crafts - she spoke to us all very kindly, politely and 'properly' - as my home life consisted of being shouted at, told I was useless/stupid/ugly/pathetic/incompetent, hit frequently and was absolutely bloody filthy all the time, to be sat with this immaculate lady dressed in shades of camel, grey and white, who smelled of soap and handcream and never criticised my efforts, I thought she was wonderful. She would also tell me stories about her little dog - an equally immaculately groomed working line Cocker Spaniel who she would glide down the road with on Thursday afternoons.

In any case, she usually wore wide leg trousers in camel or grey with a white or cream twinset, always wore subtle makeup and had an absolutely immaculate, pure white, chin length bob. Her hair was very fine, but it almost glowed like spiders' webs in the autumn.

When I'm old enough and the big white stripe coming out of the top of my head spreads, I am having a Mrs Watts haircut.

No bloody cauliflowers here.

@MitziK Mrs Watts sounds divine. Absolutely channel her

MitziK, that’s such a lovely story .

My grandma had naturally curly hair so didn’t need to have it set, but she longed for it to be pure white. I remember watching Tony Heart at her house after school and her saying his hair was her ideal, thick and healthy and pure white. Unfortunately for her hers was iron grey until the day she died.

I don't have one now, and probably won't as I get older, however I did have one when I was about 15, shaggy perms were all the rage, I wanted one, went to the same hairdresser as my Mum used. My vision was a nice corkscrew perm, the reality was like Eddie Large's twin sister ! :(, No-one mentioned that you needed longer hair for corkscrew curls to cascade down, my short hair looked bloody awful, Mum thought I looked lovely (and like her!), I cried, and had to have it permed straight again...never, ever again

My Mum 70 has that style - but her hair is naturally curly though and it does age her she's had it since she was in her 40s.

Both my GM had the same style - though they died a long time ago. DH GM past recently in her 90s and she had it as well.

My MIL has a bob - though it's red not blond and she struggles with thinning hair though she has recently changed hair dressers and it looks a lot better.

I'm depressed now I had no idea that as I got old I would get bald as well as fat

FMFL