Curls for Girls – Part 2 – The Permanent Wave

In 1928, a machine was patented to permanently curl the hair. This scary looking thing is reminiscent of the electric chair, but was the rudimentary beginnings of a process dearly loved and used by millions of women today. Thankfully, we have much better ways of doing this now. As I noted in Part 1, the permanent wave breaks and reforms S bonds in the hair, causing permanent structural changes. If you have hair that does not like to hold curl, this may be a miraculous solution to your problem. For those of you with naturally curly hair, the reverse process, the chemical relaxant, can be a great answer (but that is another article…).

Sparing you the chemistry here (I think we have all had enough of that!), when you break these bonds, some changes occur to your hair that really help it retain its shape. What this means to you, is that with a permanent wave, not only have you changed the structure, but you have given it a much improved ability to hold even the particular style you have put into it, as well as the basic curls from the perm. You will have to take less time and effort to style your hair, and it will better resist environmental factors (moisture) that would normally cause your style to flounder.

Personally, my recommendation is this: I hate the perm. I swore I would never have one again (but I am sure I probably will someday). But, I have enough natural wave in my hair that I don’t have too many problems in the curl department. If you know if you are one of those people who just cannot keep curl in their hair, and love to wear it curly–get a perm, as it will save you a great deal of time and effort trying to make your hair do something that it is hell-bent not to want to do. You can still straighten it with a brush and a hair dryer when you want to wear it straighter. The real beauty of hair is that it grows. Unless you have a mane down to your hind-end that is your pride and joy (please, no), you can change it to your hearts desire. A permanent wave is only permanent until you cut it off (or you can even chemically relax it to get the perm out).

I will delve into the H bond curls next time! Hope you will stick with me!