Why are many people afraid of perm?

The demand for this procedure is growing, new curling preparations and hair restoration products appear every year. True, many clients and hairdressers are wary of the perm process.

Valentina Antonenko , co-owner of the beauty salon "Valentina Antonenko's Curl Studio", former technologist, teacher, organizer of the International Club of Hairdressers, organizer of seminars and master classes in Ukraine and abroad, winner of championships and competitions, co-organizer of a large online platform for communication between specialists hairdressing, practicing master with over 37 years of experience, specialist in the field of hair curling

Alexander Antonenko , co-owner of the Beauty House beauty salon, director of the beauty salon "Valentina Antonenko's Curl Studio", organizer of seminars and master classes in Ukraine and abroad for the Hairdressers Club, administrator and developer of Ukraine's first professional website for hairdressers Perukar.org (now Volosy.org), practicing master with more than 10 years of experience, leading hair curling specialist

Let's try to figure out whether we should be afraid to curl our hair?

Harm

The first thing you hear in response to the hairdresser’s question, “Why don’t you perm?” “It ruins my hair and is bad for my health.” The first thing I want to clarify in this case is: in what year did you last attend a hair curling seminar? Modern preparations are no more aggressive than ammonia dye, and now it is possible to curl not only colored, thin, “tired” hair, but also previously curled or bleached hair.

Smell

Hairdressers and clients complain about an unpleasant odor after curling. It should be understood that today's perm does not smell the same as it did 15 years ago. Modern preparations based on cysteamine have a completely adequate odor, which can be compared with ammonia-free permanent dyes.

True, this does not exclude the need to equip the salon with a supply and exhaust system in accordance with all standards. In addition, the supply and exhaust system is necessary not only for working with curling - it is also needed for working with dyes.

The reason for the persistent odor that appears on the hair after curling may be the following:

• hair not washed sufficiently after the procedure;
• peculiarity of the composition used;
• The client's hair is especially sensitive to odors and absorbs them well.

In all cases, the odor can be removed during the curling process using special products offered by various professional brands.

Blonde

Today we can safely talk about getting the desired result when curling blonde hair. True, I would like to ask newcomers in this field not to confuse blond hair with bleached hair, because these are two different concepts and two different hair conditions.

Lightening is when the hair is 2-4 levels lighter than the natural base. Such hair curls beautifully, and the curl lasts longer than on natural strands. Blonde hair is 5 to 8 levels lighter than natural hair. Modern technologies can do a miracle - curl bleached hair.

What made this possible? A special composition - marketers will say, experience and practice - the masters will answer. Both are right. But neither the best composition nor the wisest hairdresser will be able to curl bleached hair without first artificially filling it with all the microelements that it lost during dyeing.

Everyone calls hair filling differently: some as treatment, some as reconstruction, some as Botox, but the essence of the procedure does not change from the name. Therefore, in order to perm blonde hair, we must artificially restore all existing connections in the hair structure, using products that can do this at the molecular level, and not just create a beautiful shine and silky structure on the outside. All “treatment” aimed only at the hair cuticle will not precede successful curling.

Henna

Old books on hairdressing strongly discourage perms if the client has used henna. Nowadays, with improved henna production formulas, perming has become possible. Considering that the artist does not always know which type of henna the perm will work well with, it is worth conducting a test: it will not take much time, but will warn you of possible unpleasant surprises.

Hormones and PMS

PMS and taking hormonal medications have always been considered a contraindication for curling. We once conducted an anonymous survey among clients, which showed that those clients who did not know about the contraindications of PMS and had a perm had excellent results in 94% of cases. Among those who knew about the contraindications but took the risk – 78%.

Our conclusion: a positive attitude is the key to success. Taking hormonal medications can affect curling, and to solve this problem, we always suggest making a test strand, and if the curling turns out good, feel free to curl all your hair.

In order to avoid damage to the hair structure during curling, as well as many other mistakes, we recommend that you visit the “Trichologists Forum 2020” , where you will learn a lot of useful information from professionals, and also get answers to your questions.

Basic mistakes when working with perm hair:

- hair diagnostics were carried out incorrectly (not in depth);

- the roller is not selected correctly to create the required curl size;

- incorrectly selected curling technique to create the desired curl shape;

- poor-quality roller wrapping;

- insufficient hair development and creation of shape using a haircut;

- the composition is incorrectly selected (this error follows from the first point).

conclusions

To overcome your fear of perms, choose good materials to work with, educate yourself, connect with perm experts on social media, and become a better person for your clients.

The material was first published in the Fashion Mirror magazine No. 2/2017