I really want a perm!

[OhRevwah]

Is this such a bad idea?

I love MN, I get so much info. I hadn’t heard of these digo, Korean, Japanese terms. I can sound a bit more modern if I ask for one. I’m not the OP but have been thinking about a perm. I had several Af the appropriate time, in the late 80s.

I have a loose perm and I love it. Have it cut regularly and use decent products to keep it in reasonable condition, and only occasionally use a semi colour on it. My hair is thin and dead straight so I hate my natural look.

Are you mad @OhRevwah ?

Speaks from very bitter experience.

Sounds really nice

I remember having perms in the 80s as a teenager! My friends had beautiful corkscrew curls and mine was always a giant frizz ball.

Strangely, had my DC and now my hair is super curly naturally! Curly hair is definitely high maintenance.

Me too and I agree about MN being a mine of information

I've had multiple perms over the last few years, some good some bad. Make sure you find someone that knows what they're doing. My hair is currently to just above boob length and only the ends are destroyed. I would say it's similar to bleaching in terms of damage, needs to be done with care and not too often. Alternating sizes of roller helps make it look more natural. On the whole I love having texture and curl to my hair, and I just sling it up in a claw clip if I can't be bothered.

Edit: no one can ever believe it's a perm when I tell them!

I’ve had perms for over 30 years - it’s naturally very fine, quite thin and very straight, so I have stuck with it to give me some semblance of having a full head of hair with some body. It looks entirely natural (the few people who know are still surprised after years that it’s a perm) and is always in good condition. For two years through lockdown and beyond I couldn’t have it done due to vulnerability of both me and the person who does it for me, so I used a heat styler instead, and boy, that ruined my hair, to the extent I’ve had to lose 6 inches of length due to the damage and breakage. Don’t imagine perms are all bad for you or look like the 80s poodle perms - it’s all down to product and skill.

I'd love one.

I love massive, unruly hair but I also like having options.
Sometimes I want very silky smooth hair and others I want it massive and wild.

Have you ever tried any of the curly girl stuff? I found out I can get my hair nice and wavy doing it despite having very straight hair normally.

Is there a special name for the type of perm you have this sounds wonderful

Can you talk me through what you do as my hair is straight normally, but I would love wavy hair

I've been having perms for years. My hair is fine ( individual strands) but thick ( there is a lot of it). It has a natural "kink" not enough to curl on its own but enough that I can't just leave it to dry naturally. In its natural state I have to spend ages either blow dry/curling it or using straighteners.
With a perm, it looks a bit tight for the first week or two but after that I like it. I can just put conditioner and curl mousse into wet hair and leave it to dry naturally.
I get my hair cut every 6 week ish and can make a perm last 6-8 months. My hair is layered and a out 2 inches longer than my shoulders.

I do it because it gives the easiest way to have a reasonable appearance with hardly any effort!

I'd love a perm. Not an 80's style perm but loose waves, so I don't have to do it every morning with the straighteners!
Lots of young lads have perms don't they, I believe it's called 'meet me at McDonald's'
😂😂

Sure!

So when my hair is wet after the shower I flip my head over and use curling cream, spread through all my hair. Then I dunk my hair into a sink full of water. As I come up I scrunch my hair gently upwards which helps squeeze the water out and form the waves/curls. I do this a couple of times. Then really go to town on squeezing out the water by scrunching until you think you've got as much water out as you're going to get. Then use a curling mousse and scrunch again. Then plop hair in a microfibre towel and ignore it for about 15 mins or so, then dry upside down with a diffuser on a cool setting.

I love perms on long hair.

In the 80s I had a chopstick perm which cost £225 which at the time was very expensive but the result was amazing and it lasted well.

My other perms wee of the big shaggy types and they didn't look so good as they grew out and as another poster said, the initial look was very tight and you had to wait for it to relax before it looked good.

I had one horrendous experience where my regular hairdresser got a call about her mother going to hospital and she was about to start my perm and a junior took over.

She left the top and front on too long and took the rollers out of the back too soon.

It looked ok when I left but a week later the back was almost straight and the the sides were very curled! 😩

This is my straight hair then perm. This is second perm and prob a year since last had one. Also this is day 3 so not at it’s best

That’s really lovely @Jinglebellrocked

I had one in about 1991 when I was 14. I wanted to look like Nicole Kidman. It took hours to do and grew out quite fast so looked like shit within three weeks. I grew it out and had a Demi Moore crop. That also looked shit so I've mainly had it long ever since!

These damn celebrities!