BEAUTY FROM THE INSIDE USING CUSTOM NUTRITION

This article is to tell you a bit about what happens to your hair when you perm it. Here's Wikipedia's discription.This is a cool thing to read. It gives a bit of the history of perming and where it started. It sure has come a long way!

OK, so let's begin. First, you will have your hair examined to be sure it's in good condition. Having strong hair is the foundation of a great looking perm, one that stays in a healthy condition even after the service. If your hair is not strong, having a perm is not a good idea. A perm will look better and hold well if the hair is strong to begin with. How to have strong hair.

The hairdresser should ask you questions, like;

1. what do you use for shampoo?

2. Do you condition?

3. When was your last perm?

4. Have you ever colored your hair? When?

5. Do you use styling products?

6. Do you use a blow dryer?

7. Do you use a heat tool? Curling or flat iron?

8. Do you intend to purchase high quality hair care products today to make sure you take the best care of your new curls?

You and your hairdresser will talk about the style you are looking to achieve. You may have a picture. You may want to look for one. This is extremely helpful in knowing what you are thinking of as a final result. Pictures speak volumes.

Then, you will have your hair washed with a deep cleansing shampoo. This will remove buildup that may come from your water as well as any product you may have been using. If you take more than 3 medications daily, be sure to let your cosmetologist know. She/he can use a product to remove it from your hair. Medication builds up on the hair shaft and can possibly make the perm take hard and/or fall out within a few days. It's important to remove it before perming.

Next, your hairdresser will cut your hair before or after the perm. It is dependent on how much needs to be cut. Talk about this with them. Here's what I tell folks. I cut before if I need to cut off anything more than 1/2 inch. If I'm only trimming a 1/4 inch, I'll do it after the perm. The reason? Let's say I perm your hair and then cut off 2 inches (this is on short to medium length hair), the curl will be significantly looser. If I cut first, this will not happen. On the other hand, if I trim 1/2 inch before and then it's too short to get into a curler, I'm stuck. If your hair is very short, I'll perm first and trim lightly, after.

Now comes the wrap. Your hairdresser will wrap your hair with the appropriate sized curlers. Depending on the amount of curl you want, this can be anything from a tiny curler to a great big, body wave curler.  

(Unfortunatley, body waves don't hold up quite so well on short hair. There is a trick I've learned. Pass it on to your hairdresser, if you like. This perm gives the hold of a curly, curly perm, but, with the look of a body perm. Here's how. You have your hairdresser perm your hair on very small curlers for the time needed for a great curl. Now, have your hair rinced for 5 to 10 minutes in the warmest water you can stand. Towel blot to as dry as possible. Next, remove the small curlers and replace with small to medium set curlers. Neutralize for 5 to 7 minutes. Remover curlers and rince. Style as you like.)

Now, your cosmetologist will put the perm solution on for the amount of time needed for a great curl. (times vary)

Now you will be rinced for 5 to 10 minutes. The water should be as warm as you can handle it. Then towel blotting comes next. I use paper towels to make sure the hair is as dry as I can get it. This is VERY important! (a quick note here, if you have very long hair, I do what's called "air neutralizing" which is just having you sit under a cool dryer for 15 minutes. This ensures getting the hair even dryer) Neutralizing is the final step. This will be left on for 5 to 7 minutesas well, 15 if you have very long hair.

There you have it. A step by step process of the perming technique. Please don't try this at home. Have a professional do it.

If you do choose to do it yourself, here's a few tips.

It is a fairly long term commitment, having your hair permed. The longer your hair is, the longer the commitment. And, as always, you really need to usesalon quality products to maintain the health and pH balance.

Any time you get a chemical treatment, you need to do some research. Check out your choice of cosmetologist thoroughly. Ask around. Talk to people who go to her/him. Ask to see some of her/his work. (come to think of it, I need to get some of my work put together for viewing) Pictures speak volumes.

If he/she does not have pictures available of his/her own work,(I'm going to work on that) look at books of other styles. Pictures help communicate what you see as the final result. I know that at times I have a client in my chair and she may be seeing a different style than I am, so out come the books. It really helps the with the communication barrier that can come up between two people, especially if this is your first visit.

Next will be for your stylist to determine if your hair is a similar texture as the hair in the picture. If it is, great! She/he will be able to duplicate the results much easier if it is. If your hair is a completely different texture, she/he might suggest a different style. She/he might also let you know that, yes it can be cut/permed that way, but it will not look like the picture. This way, you know right up front what is possible and what is not.

Another thing to keep in mind is, how much time do you have to devote to styling your hair every day? Will having a perm make it easier? I think that with every ones busy lifestyle that easier hair is the way to go. So, if doing so will make your life easier by making your hair easier to style, by all means have one. If, however, you find that your style is easy without one, DON"T do it. It will make your life more difficult by having a style that requires more time devoted to it.

Now, since you have decided that yes, this is something you are ready to do, how much curl do you want. Are you looking for some soft natural looking curl. Go with a body wave, The curl will be the size of the curler used. So, the larger the curler, the larger the curl. To have a body wave, you will want to make sure a large curler is used. Something to keep in mind. If your hair is short, a bit smaller curler will still give just body. The longer your hair is, the larger the curler needed.

How about a curl to wash and wear. No work to make this look great. Wash, condition, add a little mousse and run a pick through it. Allow it to dry and pick it out again. That's it! This is great for the person who has a limited amount of time to spend on your hair each morning.

OK, I'm going to add just a bit about perming your own hair. As usual, I'm going to STRONGLY recommend that you NOT do it yourself. Have a professional do it.

BUT

If you have done it before with success, no one can stop you from doing it again. So, I might as well give you some pointers.

Make sure the hair is NOT colored and has not been for at least 6 months. Make sure the ends of the hair are nice and smooth as you wrap, using end papers. Make sure the person (maybe yourself) is using good quality products. Be sure to schedule a trim shortly after perming to clip off any fuzzy ends.

Follow the directions on the box. It's a step by step process. Make sure to rince after the perm solution for an entire 5 minutes with the water temp as warm as you can stand it. Then be sure to towel dry extra well, using paper towels as well as regular ones. If you have a hair dryer, put it on cool and dry your hair all over for 10 minutes or so. Now add the neutralizer for the recommended amount of time.

Take the curlers out and rince ane last time. Use a tiny bit of conditioner. Style as you want. Do not wash for 48 hours, at least. Longer if you can stand to. This ensures that any perm solution that might still be in there will now be air neatralized. This is how perms can be relaxed so fast, if someone washes their hair right away. The wait of 48 hours is an insurance against relaxation, not just for torture. :-)

One more thing about good quality hair care products. They are designed to bring your hair back to it's normal pH, which is 4.5 to 5.5 Perming brought it up to about a pH of 13, so it needs good quality stuff to help bring it back down. Hair products bought on the super market shelf have a pH between 7 and 12, which means that every time you use them, you are getting the same amout of damage done to your hair as a perm, only you're doing it everyday. These products also relax perms and fade colors.

Please consider a good high quality shampoo and conditioner.

You can also contact me if you have questions or if you see that I've missed putting something important in the article. Need help talking to your hairdresser? Just email me at michelle@michellemoseley.com  I'm here to help.

Have any questions? My toll free voice mail number is 800-363-4918. I'd be happy to return your call. Just leave me a detailed message.