I Did A Thing, vol. 20: Perm 3.0

I have a history with perms. Or, perhaps more accurately, a history of perms. My first one was in the early 2000s and it was, well, not good. My next experience, in 2013, was much better; I wrote about it before. The main downside was that, after 3 perms in the space of 18 months (plus constant styling abuse), my hair was fried. But, for a while, I had Pretty Good Hair.

Mermaid hair.

As a person with a head of thick-but-fine, not-straight-not-wavy hair, this is my holy grail.

I’ve been rocking short hair – long pixie, blunt chin-length bob, and everything in (the short distance) between – since 2016. At the beginning of the year, I decided I wanted a change. I used to be quite adventurous with my hair, and I miss the excitement of doing some really drastic; it always made me feel like a new person, and reinvention is like manna to my Type 4 Wing 3 soul. Anyway, what would have made the most sense is to go really short again – instant drama. But I was about to head to a tropical vacation, and a short hair-do is extra work in a humid climate. That got me thinking. Why not grow out my hair a bit longer before chopping it all off?

Wheels, they got into motion.

Arriving at the idea of a perm didn’t take long after that. My last one helped me to grow out my hair, why not use the same trick again? Because of its fineness, my hair has a tendency to go limp and lifeless once it gets near shoulder length … and it still, somehow, requires straightening to look, well, straight. A perm – or its current iteration, the body wave – gives my hair texture and volume which, in turn, makes it look better. It still requires styling, but that’s non-negotiable for me at almost any length.

Dear readers, I went for it.

I got a perm at the end of February and haven’t looked back.

Here’s a before and after, both taken on the day of the perm.

The “after” photo was taken before I was able to wash my hair following the perm. It always looks better once you’re able to wash and style it, but this photo is a fairly accurate representation of how the perm looks with minimal styling. It is not mermaid hair by any stretch of the imagination. To get the “natural” beachy wave look, I need to use products that enhance the curl; I used to use beach spray for that, but don’t recommend it for long-term use – it dries out your hair like whoa. I’m too lazy to investigate better alternatives, so I rarely wear my hair “natural”. I did so in Mexico and it looked great, largely thanks to the combination of sea water and humidity.

Mostly, I do what I have always done: alternate between curling my hair and straightening it. [I use BaByLiss Nano Titanium tools, which are fantastic and super easy to use – I am all thumbs when it comes to styling hair.] Straightening takes a bit longer than before, and I have to be careful about having any moisture near my hair afterwards (it starts to frizz and curl), but my hair looks fuller and bouncier. Here’s a comparison – pic on the right is from April, about 2 months after my perm:

Curling is easier because I no longer have to bother with the underlayers – I just curl the top half. Because my hair is a bit drier than before, I can often go 4 days between shampoos. Mostly, I wash my hair to remove the hairspray build-up, because it rarely gets noticeably oily. [I don’t work out so there is no sweat to worry about.] Other than hairspray and leave-in conditioner, I don’t use other products. As for the latter, currently I alternate between L’Oreal Miracle Oil (an old fave) and the Ouai leave-in mist (from my recent FabFitFun box – more on that next week).

Since I get asked this a lot on Instagram, here is a quick summary of my curling routine: I wash my hair at night; I use a micro fiber towel to get excess water out, apply leave-in conditioner and then leave it to air dry overnight. The next morning, I curl it, starting from the bottom layers up. I divide the hair into quarter sections – part first in the middle of the head, starting from the front all the way back, then divide each half into a top part and a bottom part – and then separate each quarter into 4-6 or more smaller sections, which then get curled separately. I apply hairspray to each quarter after I’ve curled all the sections in it. After all the hair is curled, I leave it alone; no touching. I finish getting ready for work, getting the kids ready, etc. About 45 minutes later, I shake out the curls and give them another spritz of hairspray. And that’s it.

I am by no means a hair expert, but I’ve got a pretty good routine going and I’m happy with the results of my new perm. I was planning to cut my hair short – REALLY short – in the fall, but now I am toying with the idea of waiting a little longer. But you never know … I can be really impulsive when it comes to my hair, so plans have a way of changing on a dime.

I will leave you with one last tidbit I was told by my hairstylist. I recently found my first white hair – or at least the first one that’s incontrovertibly white and visible – which started me thinking about turning grey. How does that work for redheads, I pondered? It’s a silly thing but, honestly, I had no idea. Turns out I likely already have far more white hairs than I realized. My hair has been turning lighter (blonder) over the last few years; I thought it was just a gradual loss of pigmentation in my hair overall. Turns out I was right and wrong. There is less pigment … because there’s probably quite a bit of white hair in the mix. It’s easy to miss because, for the most part, it blends in with my natural highlights. According to my hairstylist, I can look forward to my hair continuing to move towards strawberry blonde, on its way to full white. Considering how much money I’ve spent in the past trying to be blonde, I find this somewhat ironic and bittersweet.