To perm or not to perm!

Who remembers the days when you would walk past a hairdresser’s and smell perm lotion? You could smell it long before you even saw the salon!

Fashions come and go, and hairstyles are no exception.

There has been a recent rise in requests for perms, particularly among young males.

Curly hair has definitely become much more popular of late.

Where it all began

In the 60s and 70s, perms were very trendy.

The original perming method was complicated and time-consuming. Way back in 1906, a German hair stylist invented a machine that hung down from the ceiling and had metal rods which were attached to the hair. Hair was curled using a mixture of water and borax paste!

This was a very crude way of curling the hair. It took over 6 hours and often burnt the hair and scalp

A simpler version was updated in the late 1920s, which was a more simplified version and incorporated heat protectors for the scalp.

Within a few years, a chemical treatment had been invented to curl hair. This was known as cold perming and was fairly successful and a lot less dangerous and time-consuming than the earlier methods.

In the early seventies, acid perms were introduced, which were much gentler on the hair and scalp, and this resulted in a massive surge in perming.

What actually happens to your hair

The active ingredient in perm lotion – thioglycolic acid – hasn’t changed over time. It has a very strong unpleasant smell and is used to break down hair protein and hydrogen bonds. This creates a curl in the hair, and a neutraliser is used to set the curl into place once the bonds have been broken down.

Although much quicker than the old-fashioned method, a perm can still take a few hours, depending on the length and thickness and how tight a curl is required.

Perms largely disappeared in the 2000’s due to customers having tint or bleach on their hair. Colouring took over in popularity, and unfortunately, the two are not compatible.

It’s not impossible to have a perm if your hair is coloured; however, conditioning treatments would need to be applied regularly, and heat styling wouldn’t be recommended. Hair can be difficult to style when permed and coloured!

As a fan of perms back in the 70s, it is nice to see a slight resurgence and in particular for young men.

It remains to be seen if anything is created to enable your hair to be curled and have colour applied without compromising its condition.

Until then, we shall enjoy seeing some of our younger clients enjoying their curls!