How Does A Perm Work?
Ever asked yourself how does a perm work?
Well wether you wondered or not, today’s post will answer this question.
I have previously described how we can temporarily reshape the hair through styling by changing the physical (otherwise known as the temporary) bonds of the hair with heat or moisture into the desired shape. What if we wanted a permanent curl or to remove the curl to create straigtness, from the hair for good?
Yes that’s right, a “perm” can be used to straighten curly hair too!
When we curl or straighten the hair permanently we also work with bonds in the hair. Instead of the physical ones, we work on the chemical ones. We wind the hair and place in the shape we wish it to take, for example different sized rollers for alternative shapes or flat boards for straighness. Then we apply a solution that literally breaks apart the hairs chemical bonds.
Once enough bonds have broken, the hair is rinsed for approximately 10 minutes to remove the solution from the hair. In addition to this, the oxygen from the water starts the rebonding process which creates the curl shape, then a new solution called neutraliser, is applied to make the new shape permanent.
It’s sounds aggressive because it is!
We literally break the hair apart to reshape so there is always at least a little loss of moisture and/or strength, as well as breaking of bonds that do not reconnect.
I bet not many of you have perms these days but it’s important to know that these bonds in the hair can be sensitised by too much colouring, bad home care and also your styling regime.
The good news is that we now have special bond treatments in salon to help protect them at the time of colouring/perming as well as being able to upkeep at home to help prevent all that damage that happens at home.
I will share more about bond treatments next time but for today I hope you enjoyed the answer to ‘How Does A Perm Work?’
If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair some love I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.
I guess the really important thing to tell you though is that I don’t offer perms of any type!