When the 1980s ended, I, like most women, thought I’d said goodbye to permanent waves forever. I grew out my final perm in 1993 and switched to a more natural look. My friends and I experimented with straightening irons and laughed at our “big eighties hair” in old pictures.
Imagine my surprise when I saw an article about perm revival in the NY Times. “It’s got to be a joke,” I thought. I did a search on Google and found many other articles about permanents. I was in shock, much like my mother must have been when flared jeans came back in style.
I immediately confronted my stylist, Christy Hurt from Stylemup near Denver, Colorado. She’s always on top of trends so I thought she’d be a good person to ask. I printed out an article about perms and handed it to her. “Oh yes,” she said, with no surprise at all. “Perms are back in style.”
After I recovered from shock, I asked her several questions about perms. The first one was “Why?”
Christy said that a lot of her younger clients like the loose curls that Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus have. You don’t necessarily need a perm to get the same look, but it could take a lot of time and effort. Curling and blow-drying hair constantly can also cause a lot of damage. A perm allows women simply to wash their hair and go. This can save time and, in the long run, damage.
The last time I got a perm, the rods were the size of pin curls and they produced a small, tight curl. Now, stylists use bigger rollers; some are as big as an inch and half in diameter. Some stylists even use old juice cans. These larger rollers create big waves instead of Shirley Temple-sized curls.
I talked to a stylist at Arté salon in NY. She confirmed that perms are becoming more popular. She said the solutions are gentler and not as damaging to hair as they used to be. She said the biggest change from the old perms we remember from the 1980s is control. Clients can control the amount of curl that they have. Abbie said that another advantage is that some perms only last for two or three months so women can try a style for a season.
If you’re like me, you might have sworn off of perms because of the fried, frizzy look that many 1980s perms produced. Damage is still a concern, but Christy told me that there are many different types of solutions available. They’re gentler and have better conditioning agents than they used to. Some are even formulated specifically for colored hair.
There are many kinds of perms. Body wave perms create large, loose curls. Root perms give hair body and texture. Weave perms only involve curling some hair, not all, which gives hair a variety of textures. Acid perms are specifically for dry, damaged hair. Stack perms are used to create soft, layered curls for hair that is one length. Some salons won’t even use the word “perm” opting to call them “treatments” or other names.
Your best bet, if you want a perm, is to find a stylist that has a lot of experience with perms. Some younger stylists probably haven’t had the opportunity to practice. An experienced stylist can help you predict how your perm will look and the stylist will be knowledgeable enough to pick the right perm for your hair.
Perms are a financial investment. A perm can cost anywhere from $40 to $300, depending on your location and the type of perm. If you are on a serious budget, you can do a home perm. Believe it or not, you can still buy Olgilvie home perms for around $20 (I wouldn’t). Though the chemicals have improved, you will still have to deal with the smell. You still have to wait to wash your hair for a couple of days after the treatment.
The modern perms stylists are doing now are much different than the perms they did twenty years ago. Stylists are creating a more natural look. It’s certainly more natural than the extensions the women on Jersey Shore sport. Those certainly don’t look natural in any sense of the word. It’s also an alternative to the bobs and pixie cuts that Kate Winslet and Jennifer Aniston recently debuted. I find myself starting to almost consider a perm. I certainly did not expect that to happen.
