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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why Toni home perms are no longer all the rage?

109 replies

DameDoom · 30/12/2014 17:56

Newcastle, New Years Eve 1984 - what better way to begin afresh than with an elegant Toni demi-wave from the chemists?
No sitting round in Fenwicks salon for us - not when mam and aunty Joan had a bag full of perming rollers, 40 silk cut (each), 2 cans of Kestrel Super Strength, and an almost emptyish kitchen sink - twas a right pamper sesh.
I can remember the big reveal like it was yesterday. Begone waist length tresses and becometh Vera Duckworth style frizz.
Mam lied and told me it just added a bit of body and bounce...aunty Joan said I looked quite French
Absolute lyin' bastards...

OP posts:

Thread gallery

SandyVagina · 30/12/2014 21:33

God, the straight fringe. I used to blow dry my hair upside down - with a diffuser, natch - and then blow dry the fringe up and out..hairspray the ever living FUCK out of the roots.. Then a quick blast on the sides...hairspray the roots...then hairspray everywhere and leave the house.

I left the house like that. A massive inflammable head on a massive shouldered body.

Lagoonablue · 30/12/2014 22:15

This thread is hilarious. Curly perms, frosted highlights, bad makeup. I used to wear my hair all back combed in the mid 80s with White ankle boots and a mini skirt. Nice.

Bean89 · 30/12/2014 22:28

But DO perms ever look good? I ask because my hair is crap, it's waist length and some of it's wavy, some of it's straight and some of it is curly. But I mean each individual fucking strand is different. And it's thin. Oft I consider a perm, but I have this lovely romantic notion of having gorgeous tumbling curls down my back. It isn't like that is it?

Lagoonablue · 30/12/2014 22:31

Ask your hairdresser. Perms are ALOT better these days.

BaffledSomeMore · 30/12/2014 22:49

My 80s perm was best described as a loose poodle, pinned back at the sides with combs and washed weekly in dilute bleach.
Fortunately my sartorial elegance diverted attention by out horroring my hair.
Mind you my flat mate who had shoulder length blonde hair had a fabulous spiral perm and looked lovely.

CiderwithBuda · 30/12/2014 22:49

Sigh. I loved my perms. Went from a loose shaggy perm to permed bobs. Loved them all.

Tried to recreate in about 1998 while living in Vietnam. My Australian hairdresser wasn't sure but I persuaded him. Bad idea. Not the same.

I looked like the queen. And then it grew a bit and one night I had it done for a ball. I ended up looking like a beefeater. I sat in the hairdressers in hysterical fits of laughter at just how hideous it was.

CiderwithBuda · 30/12/2014 22:50

Bean - look into digital perms. There are a few threads on here about them. They sound good.

Dowser · 30/12/2014 23:00

If my mum was to do it to me now, it would be called abuse and I would be in care.

Standing for hours in the 60s with stinky perm solution dripping all over me.

Me nearly crying! Wanting. To play with my friends and stuck in. I have naturally shiny, straight glossy hair. Not when mum finished with it it wasn't. It stuck out in all directions...just one big frizz ball.

I'm sure I rebelled when I was older and wore it straight down my back well into late twenties..

I've practically reverted back to the same style now.

Never, ever again.

Offler · 30/12/2014 23:04

I've just upside down diffused my hair it is naturally curly though. Oddly enough I've spent most of my life trying to get it straight.

One day I'll be in sync with fashion

LuckyCharms · 30/12/2014 23:11

I was the only girl in 4th year who didn't have a perm.

When we went on PGL everyone bonded over their cans of mousse and diffusers every morning, scrunching their hair in the mirrors and talking about the mcdonald twins (corrie, they came to our school assembly, people actually fainted).

Never forgave my mum for not letting me get one and therefore making me a social outcast.

Fluffyears · 30/12/2014 23:46

I was never allowed a perm and was so jealous of friends who were!y hair is fine and flat andi suit curls but they fall out I scantly so a perm was probably a great idea for me. I used to be taken to a shitty wee place who did haircuts for £2 and sold rainmates. Mind you my dad drank all our money so it was sometimes a choice between heating, bus fares it eating. A perm was too extravagant.

mrssmith79 · 31/12/2014 00:23

My perm always looked it's best when I was wearing it in my banana clip . I always used copious amounts of Insette to ensure that it was rock solid, honestly, an axe blow to the head wouldn't have even registered it was that crispy!

x2boys · 31/12/2014 07:40

and if you shook your head mrssmith did you get white flakes from the dried hairspray?

PumpkinsMummy · 31/12/2014 08:29

I just googled digital perms, lusted after them and decided I MUST have one.....then saw the price! Close to £200 for 3-6 months of gorgeous hair , maybe one day...

In my school in the mid 90's, it was the fashion to have long hair with a spiral perm, scrape it back as tightly to your scalp as possible leaving either a straight fringe or two straggly dangly bits, then fluff the ends. This has to be worn with dark lip liner and rimmel heather shimmer lippy. Short as possible skirt with tights and short socks with a pair of high heeled kickers, teamed with a fruit of the loom massively over sized jumper and you were the height of fashion.

mrssmith79 · 31/12/2014 08:35

Like a human snowglobe x2boys

x2boys · 31/12/2014 08:36

me too I expect we looked delightful!

GaryShitpeas · 31/12/2014 08:39

Omg I was a 90s child / teen and had the most spectacular perms

My mums mate used to do them for me

I thought I looked amazing

GaryShitpeas · 31/12/2014 08:53

Pumpkins mummy! You have literally exactly described me aged 13.

Dreadedsunnyday · 31/12/2014 08:57

Offler I was out of sync too. Long curly hair that I crimped the bejeezus out of, hairspray and all, so it was lovely and solid and crispy, a bit like wavy toast. Then ferocious back combing and hacking away of the sides with blunt nail scissors. Sigh. Those were the days.

Now I have learned to embrace the curl. It has taken many years and the blessed invention of many styling products. I love progress.

Pagwatch · 31/12/2014 09:00

My hair was so massive that it once caught fire when someone hit it with a cigarette, I smelt burning, whacked it a bit to put the flames out and it didn't look much different

That was a great night. Until I slipped over in someone else's sick.

Dreadedsunnyday · 31/12/2014 09:05

I wish we had more photographic evidence of these hairstyles. I'm getting all nostalgic.

BrightSunshineyDay · 31/12/2014 09:24

My sister used so much hairspray that the local shop asked my mum if she was sniffing it
I was only allowes a perm when I was a bridesmaid. My shoulder length hair pinged up to above my ears. Dressed in a peach shiny bridesmaid dress that had puffball sleeves and giant bows all over, with a cork screw perm - I felt the dogs bollocks

greeneggsandjam · 31/12/2014 09:40

This thread has really made me smile! 'Scrunch' is surely THE word for today!

Hmmm, where did I put my diffuser and mousse?

FayKorgasm · 31/12/2014 09:45

I convinced my poor mum to give me a perm. I thought it would transform me into a sophisticated goddess. I looked like Nelly Olsen .

Bartlebee · 31/12/2014 09:51

Lol at Nelly Olsen.

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