Root perm or root lift?

[HolyGuacamole]

Has anyone had a root perm or root lift? If so, what was it like? Does it give body/volume?

I have mid length straight hair which does nothing but sit flat against my scalp, can never get any body into it and am not keen on loading it with sticky products.

Any help/advice appreciated

I think you may have my hair! Love the idea of root perm/lift but does it then leave funny kink in your hair as it grows out? Always ask at hairdressers at my biannual cut and blow dry if there is anything which would give it more body, but they only suggest colour. It would make such a difference to life in general to have beautiful hair!

always make sure you dry the root of your hair... so many of us concentrate on the ends but forget the root.. which if not fully dry will just flop with in in a short time....

"It would make such a difference to life in general to have beautiful hair!"

OMG I sooo agree with this statement. I have chest length mid brown straight hair urgh! It does nothing. All I can thing about is all the hot films stars and heroines in stories always have long wavy or curly hair. Humph! I would look so much better with a head of thick wavy glossy hair.

Of course, here on mumsnet, we do all have thick, glossy, wavy hair, and go round tossing our shining locks like a herd of ponies. It's just out there in real life that there are problems ...

can I swap? I have wavy hair that is a pain in the arse - spend hours drying and straightening it so I don't look like an unruly spaniel

Well, I went and seen a new hairdresser today and asked about it and she said I have to go in next Weds and she will have a proper look so I will dutifully report back here The root lift (or root perm - they call it 'root treatment'?!) is £19 on top of £32 for a cut and blow dry so the price seems reasonable. I'll see what they say next week.

She did suggest products but to be honest I can't be bothered with products, I just always imagine they will be sticky or rock hard or greasy looking...I just wanna blow dry it and voila, long luscious, glamorous, voluptuous locks full of body and shine because I'm worth it....haha, fat chance of that I can see it now....going in with intentions of not buying any products and walking out with a 'root treatment' and an armful of products I will never use, spending a fortune and still not being happy...

Will let you know how I get on.....

I used to work in a hairdressers before the kids were born... (12 years ago) and the root perms then only lasted a matter or weeks before they grew out.. can't see that they'd have changed much as the idea is still the same.....
still think that root volume by blowdrying is the way to go.. do you hang your head upside down when drying HolyGuacamole?

RumMum - yeah, had to laugh. I hang my head upside down and it dries like I have 80's style wings above my ears: (this is not me I promise, but this is what the sides go like except poker straight) when I move my head back to normal....then I have to get the straighteners out and correct it by which time it's flat again

I am shit with hair.

If the perm thingamy only lasts a few weeks it doesn't sound like it's worthwhile.

when straightening your hair hold the straighteners from the root ... up and away from your head rather than down and flat...

love the pic... looks like someone hit her on the side of the hair

I would love to be able to afford to pay someone professional to train me how to do nice stuff to my hair so it doesn't just hang all the time.

Do report back as although I have thick hair its very fine and despite copious upside down blow drying, it only works if I wash my hair first thing in the morning but is pretty flat by the end of the day. I also dream of wash'n go locks!

Have a cut booked next week so may ask about root perming then.

I will try the straighteners thing you suggest as usually I drag it down the way and I will defo report back

Update!!!

Went to day and the hairdresser was FAB!! Never got the root perm thingamy because she said it wouldn't last very long and would leave an eventual kink as mentioned below.

What she done was to razor in a deconstruction layer (honestly the terms make me laugh!) which is a shorter layer about 4 inches down from my parting which was razored roughly. She said this would take weight off the top and make it have volume for longer.

She also gave me a lesson in blowdrying my hair. She sprayed in Loreal volume mousee spray which was mousse but came out like a normal aerosol hairspray. She sectioned it all and sprayed the roots only and rubbed it in. The she got a vent brush and dried all the roots in the opposite way that it grows, ie, she dried the sides and back upwards, the crown forwards and the front backwards towards the crown. Then she got a massive round brush and dried it all over, rolling it into the brush and holding it in sections (like a roller would) until it was cool. Then she blasted the whole lot with cool air all over. She also told me not to use straighteners again!

From there she just smoothed it very lightly into shape and sprayed a little bit of hairspray all around. It's amazing! Love it, it all feels really light and not product heavy! It's still straight but has heaps of body and looks kinda glam, for me that's saying something! Don't know how I will get along trying it myself but I'll give it a go.

So I didn't have the perm and didn't buy any products in the hairdressers, heehee! I went and bought a similar but cheaper mousse from Boots and will try it tomorrow. Brilliant tho, fab hairdresser!!

I have curly hair which never looks the same twice but I like it that way and always get comments from people saying they love it, I also tend to have flat roots which I hate, i have tried loads of products, i literally have a drawer full, What I do now is use my daughters straighteners on the roots, I get them as close to my head as is possible and turn the hair the wrong way similar to using curling tongs, this gives my hair the lift that I want with out having a strange curlat the root that I get with tongs