Why have perms never made a comeback?

[Sooobooored]

I am watching Top of the Pops 1982 and reminiscing about all the hairstyles, most of which I had myself. Perms and big hair have never made a comeback and I’m not sure why.

My DM had one and I didn’t speak to her for weeks! I remember her coming to meet us at the bus stop and not recognising her.

I asked my salon a couple of years ago and she said none of them is trained to do them.

I'm getting another one on 8th May. My hair looks and feels more like me with a bit of curl in it. I debated about going back to my natural thin (thanks, dc) very straight hair, but it just makes me feel so utterly drab that I have decided to reach for the chemicals once again. I figure a perm a couple of times a year is no worse than regular colouring which everybody seems to get as a matter of course.

My mum (in her 80s) in normal times regularly has her hair permed. Her natural hair is dead straight. When I saw her last weekend it was the first time I had seen her with straight hair since the 1970's.

We had perms, streaks or demi-waves in the 80s.
Loved my demi-waves, like something out of Van Halen.

I had a perm in the 80s. I asked for a spiral perm but emerged looking like Jon Bon Jovi.

One of my friends is a hairdresser in Hereford and she gave someone a perm last week - looks like a wavy bob.

As a child of the 80s living in the States, never heard of this nonsense about perms and colouring. Everyone I knew had both! Most teens did colouring at home as it wasn’t cool (or heard of) to actually go to a professional. Think back to the Cure. It was only the girls whose mom wouldn’t let them dye their hair themselves and would only allow it if they went to the mom’s hairdresser to get it done “correctly” that went to a professional in my school.

Last perm I had done was in 2002 by a hairdresser on my coloured hair (when I was visiting a friend who lives in San Francisco). Nothing bad happened.

Always had a perm and colour back in the 80s and 90s, but since the kids kept my hair cropped. Just been in to the hairdresser for a consult because I've decided I'm ready for curls again

I had perms AND colour in the 1980s. Loved it. Eventually the hair couldn't take any more perms so I crimped it instead.

@Fluffycloudland77

They did fuck your hair up though. I love old programs that show life before hair serum was invented.

Do you remember the hair diffusers too?.

I dry my hair with a diffuser everytime it's washed.

@TheMoth

Spiral perms. The 90s twist on it. Ideally, with a straight fringe that you made stand up and bend over.

More 80s. I was a perming and colouring specialist but gave up hairdressing in 1991 I've did hundreds of spiral perms in my time.

Do you remember the hair diffusers too?.

I was desperate for a diffuser in the early 1990s but I never got one. I bought one for myself only a couple of years ago! My hair has a natural wave to it but tends to look frizzy/bushy so neither straight or curly. I hoped the diffuser might make it look more civilised! I havent mastered it yet!

@Nekoness

As a child of the 80s living in the States, never heard of this nonsense about perms and colouring. Everyone I knew had both! Most teens did colouring at home as it wasn’t cool (or heard of) to actually go to a professional. Think back to the Cure. It was only the girls whose mom wouldn’t let them dye their hair themselves and would only allow it if they went to the mom’s hairdresser to get it done “correctly” that went to a professional in my school.

Last perm I had done was in 2002 by a hairdresser on my coloured hair (when I was visiting a friend who lives in San Francisco). Nothing bad happened.

Agreed. I was perming all through the 80s as a specialist. We wouldn't touch perming on bleach though, but very few blondes are actually bleach.

I've had big curly hair all my
Life .. amazing how many people comment on it and say they would love it ! Just get it permed . You can always straighten it again .

Because, in my case, I looked like a high court judge.

Whatever happened to acid perms? (Not to be confused with Acid House). They used to be a hell of a lot kinder to your hair and gave a much softer curl that dropped slowly hence you didn’t get the horrendous re-growth situation.