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Original poster

To miss perms?!

109 replies

PutTheBunnyBackInTheBox · 20/02/2017 18:37

I grew up in the 80's and had a few perms over the years and loved them! My DC of course piss themselves at the pictures but a perm was the best thing ever! (Do you remember the first hair wash after getting it done, so nerve-wracking in case they all fell outGrin)
So this morning I was driving into work and this older schoolboy was walking along with the most magnificent head of tight curls blowing in the wind Grin I'm pretty sure it was natural (men don't do perms anymore surely) but it brought back fond memories of my yoof.

What fabulous hair styles did you crazy MN'ers have back in the day?!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
MakeItStopNeville · 21/02/2017 15:27

Kondo Grin

CondensedMilkSarnies · 21/02/2017 15:29

I had loads of perms - I scrunch dried the ends and hot brushed the top , I looked the dogs Grin.

I remember there was a two week period where it was just right , not just permed tight and not too grown out. Those were the days .

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 21/02/2017 15:33

I was born in the mid 80s so by the time I got to teenage years the perm was out. I've got super thick hair and know for a fact my 80s hair game would have been well on point.
I'd love a perm now. Perhaps with bigger curls I have no idea how much maintenance they are though

Gingernaut · 21/02/2017 15:42

I had a few perms.

My hair is thick, dry and quite curly anyway.

Every time I went to the salons, I was promised a 'loose', quite 'shaggy', 'not tight' head of curls.

Every time I was suckered, I ended up with a tight, frizzy ball. Which grew out like a mullet.

Garnethair · 21/02/2017 18:37

I used to rock my shaggy perm with bright blue mascara and eyeliner.

The80sweregreat · 21/02/2017 18:51

Polkadot, so funny!
What was i thinking with my perms!,,same problem here.,
So glad i saw the light and let it grow out.,

NapoleonsNose · 21/02/2017 19:08

I had my first perm when I was 8, so very early 80s. My mum decided that as my hair was so fine she'd give it some oomph with a Toni foam home perm. I can still remember the smell now. I continued to have perms on and off right through until I had my last one in 2000 just before I got married. Perms did wonders for my fine mousy hair, giving it body and direction. I wish they'd come back.

On a slight tangent, does anyone remember when the ozone layer suddenly became 'a thing' and hairspray was reinvented in pump bottles so no CFCs? That stuff was the shizzle for giving your 80s perm the lovely crispy texture we all remember Grin

CondensedMilkSarnies · 21/02/2017 19:11

I remember the pump action hairspray bottles- they used to leak and I'd end up with sticky hands as well as sticky hair !

My dad used to perm my hair - was he a hairdresser ? I hear you ask . No he was a builder Grin

derxa · 21/02/2017 19:19

This thread reminds me of Legally Blonde

Shnorbitz · 21/02/2017 19:23

Those were the days!! I used to love putting so much mousse on my hair that I could spend all day crunching individual curls between my fingers. I probably used half a can of hairspray or so as well just to keep everything in place!

I like to think I suited a perm. I remember one I had when I was 15 and it was perfect. Never to be repeated after that though.

I would kill for a perm now. I have a kink in my hair, it needs washing, drying and straightening every day and it still looks like shit.

I used to get my mum to do mine. She wasn't a hairdresser but quite adept with a roller. I'm sure it was poly foam or something like that. Cost about £2.

I work with a lady who has the most perfect curls and it's all bloody natural. The bitch can just get up in the morning, give it a quick ruffle and it looks amazing Angry

derxa · 21/02/2017 19:25

I wish I could teleport back to the 80s. Good times! Grin

twinklefoot · 21/02/2017 19:28

Yes I loved the perm. I looked luffly. I loved drying it with my head upside down with the diffuser and it really suited me I definitely looked like Julia Roberts! Grin

twinklefoot · 21/02/2017 19:28

I so would have one done the second they come back into fashion.

MargotLovedTom1 · 21/02/2017 19:35

The short back and sides with curly top was known as a 'beans on toast' when I was at school back in the 80s. Hilarious that it's now come back into fashion. I had perms and biiiiiig hair back then thanks to a fuckton of Elnette.

ElectricMelon · 21/02/2017 19:46

My mum had a perm when I was little. I remember her friend used to come over every few months and do it for her and the house stank! It would linger for ages after and made me feel sick. Her hair was quite long and bleach blonde and she would tease it and back comb it until it was about a ft off her head Grin

GettingTooOldForThis · 21/02/2017 20:34

I've just had a perm so much easier to manage. Never thought I'd be on the leading edge of a fashion trendGrin

ohtheholidays · 21/02/2017 22:32

My first ever perm I was 13 and it was 1988 and I became known as the girl with the hair Smile it was about 5 inches below my shoulders and auburn(my natural colour)and it was a lovely loose perm.

Other crazy hairstyles I had,well I've had my hair lots of different colours,blonde,blonde with caramel brown low lights in,Rose red,blonde with pink highlights in,black,black purple,Mahogany red,chocolate brown.

I've had it very long near my waist long and very short shaved up the back,I was a Punk when I was younger and then a Goth so my hair changed alot when I was younger.

I loved experimenting with my hair and I've let all of my 5DC do the same with they're hair.

Notinmybackyard · 21/02/2017 22:47

www.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/people/kylie-minogue-turns-back-the-clock-with-her-curly-perm/

Kylie with her new perm in 2016

olderthanyouthink · 21/02/2017 23:12
Hmm

I have naturally curly hair. (Just straightened it for the first time in ages, actually)

This could be good, I won't have to put up with "This Seasons Hair: Sleek/Poker Straight/Bed Hair" as mine doesn't really do any of that.

Wickedstepmum67 · 21/02/2017 23:15

Ah, what a journey through perms good, bad and...um, mainly ugly I had back in the day! Home perms were guaranteed to give a nice range of frizzy bits and random straight bits. You walked about for weeks after looking slightly traumatised. I did used to like 'acid perms' that came in late 80s/early which were a LOT kinder to your hair. To my embarrassment I last got a perm as recently as ten years ago - I know, I know - in a despairing response to growing out layers. Instant regret! My hair actually snapped off in bits. 😮

AtlantaGinandTonic · 21/02/2017 23:27

If perms are indeed coming back into fashion... woo hoo, my curly hair will be fashionable at last! I still remember spending about an hour a day blow-drying and straightening my hair in high school. One day I decided to just put some anti-frizz gel in it and for about a week, my classmates just assumed that I'd permed my hair, the change was so radical. I've not gone back to straightening it, although when I get it cut I let the stylist straighten it and I get to run my fingers through my hair for a day!

S1lentAllTheseYears · 22/02/2017 00:05

I wanted to look like 1988 Kylie when I had my first perm. Sadly went to the local salon, who were better geared up for my Gran and her friends - ended up like a cross between Kevin Keegan and Deidre Barlow! My boyfriend burst out laughing involuntarily when he first saw it, then tried to backtrack furiously and say it was lovely but the damage was done!

Still hope they come back into fashion though as my hair has weirdly turned curly all by itself these last few years so I could just buy some moose and embrace the curls!

Janey50 · 22/02/2017 03:30

I had my first perm in late summer1981,when I was 17. I loved it! It was the easiest hairstyle ever to look after. Just wash,comb and leave. Didn't matter if you got caught in the rain,it still looked good once it dried. I had a few more over the years,up until 1988,by which time their popularity was on the wane,and I've never had another one.

AutumnalLeaves38 · 22/02/2017 03:59

All those PPs with natural curls: they're beautiful. Wear them with pride Smile

scaryteacher · 22/02/2017 05:55

I think I was 16 or 17 when I had my first perm in 82/83. Carried on til I was in my 30s, and had my hair highlighted as well. I still have it coloured now to hide the grey. Have finally got a hairdresser who can do good things with my straight hair, and I am not sure if a perm would suit me now.

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