Not getting bored with your poker straight hair is the hardest thing to do, hands down! If you have always envied other’s flouncy hair and wished that you too could carry off curls or even perms, this may be the solution you have been waiting for.
Luckily, you have the option to change the natural structure of your hair with the help of perms. If you’ve had straight hair all your life and want to switch up your hair game a bit, then here’s a hair treatment you’ll be more than happy to experiment with... we’re talking about permed hair!
What is permed hair?
Permed hair is a chemical treatment that temporarily breaks the bonds in your hair shaft, thereby allowing for a restructuring of the bonds. This chemical treatment allows you to add permanent curls or to remove them permanently. The chemicals used for the treatment break the inner bonds in each strand of your hair followed by hair reshaping and curling with the help of hot rollers and rods. The new shape is then made permanent with the help of a neutraliser.
How to care for permed hair?
- Take good care of your hair before and after the treatment: If you think you can switch to different hair treatments just one or two months after getting your hair permed, you’re wrong! To begin with, your hair needs to be in healthy condition before getting a perm. Unhealthy hair will not be able to withstand processing or hold a perm. Therefore, make sure you are giving your tresses some extra TLC by conditioning regularly and nourishing it with hydrating packs. And once you’ve got your hair permed, keep all your other processing treatments on hold for at least 3 months.
- Pamper your hair with protein treatments: The perm treatment can take a toll on the health of your hair, leading to protein damage. This is because every single strand experiences the breaking as well as re-forming of protein bonds that give your hair its shape. Therefore, it’s ideal to go for some protein-rich hair treatments. Eggs, avocado and coconut milk are some of the natural ingredients that work wonders in softening your mane.
- Deep condition to bring your hair back to life: Any kind of processing treatment is bound to cause hair damage. If you get a perm, you’ll notice how your hair is always in dire need of moisture, especially when you’ve opted for a curly perm. Rather than looking fuller and bouncy, your hair looks dull and dead. Therefore, to reverse the damage, it’s best to go for deep conditioning treatments at least twice a week.
- Do not over-wash your hair: Over-washing can strip your hair of its natural moisture. Therefore, keep a gap of 3 days at least between every hair wash. However, make sure that you never skip conditioning. Hair conditioning after every wash will make your curls look defined and bouncy. Also, keep in mind to never towel-dry your hair. This can make your curls frizzy and at the same time unmanageable. Air dry your hair and scrunch them from the ends towards the roots to define the curls.
- Go chop chop regularly: We hate to break this to you but getting regular trims is one effective way to prevent hair damage. In order to maintain the health of your mane, it’s important that you go for trims every 6-8 weeks. Doing so will rid you of dry/split ends and keep the damage from spreading further up the hair shaft. And neglecting haircuts can damage your hair to a point where you will need to cut your hair for more length than you’d like, because the damage starts at the ends and works its way up the lengths of the hair shaft.
Written by Fatema Habib on May 21, 2019