If you were a teenage girl in the late ’80s and early ’90s living in the East Bay Area, everyone you knew either had or wanted a spiral perm. I can still remember the scent of that distinct perm smell lingering in the salon whenever I got a hair cut!
As the resident friend with naturally wavy hair, I never wanted a perm because I didn’t really need one. When all the girls were getting them, I was happy to be the person who introduced the power of Studio Line by L’Oreal (Pumping Curls!) and crunchy gel (LA Looks and Dep gel were especially popular). Oh, and mousse. There was so much mousse!
Anywho, what’s old is new again because now teen boys are getting perms. I KNOW!
I found this out through a local online group of moms. This morning, a few moms were asking where to go in town to get a perm for their teenage sons. Apparently perms for boys are a thing around these parts now because several of the ladies chimed in to say that either their son wanted a perm or currently had a perm, which is so interesting to me.
Why do all these teen boys want perms? And why now? I wonder what famous curly haired person brought this trend on. LOL!
Have you ever wanted a perm? Did you end up getting one, and how did it turn out? I hope it was good.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S.
Hiya, friend! Happy Friday. I had a happy mom moment this morning when I ran into Connor’s science teacher at her school. She said Connor was quite the little scientist, and that she’s got a curious and scientific mind. I guess this makes sense seeing how Connor does things like saving her baby teeth (instead of giving them to the tooth fairy) for the sake of “research,” and is always building things out of any and everything.
Is it just me, or has this technically short week has felt so very long? Thank goodness the weekend is just around the corner.
I hope things on your end are great and that you and your family are happy and healthy.
Hi Karen, happy Friday! The last time I went to the salon I saw a young man getting a perm and I was surprised! I used to do perms back in the 80’s and 90’s. I wanted to get a spiral perm and my stylist at the time said she couldn’t do it and I ended up looking like the mother on the “Golden Girls” TV show. Ended up having my mom do it and I got more compliments! Hope you have a great day!
Oh my gosh, how funny! When did all these boys decide that perms were a thing? LOL
Happy Friday, by the way. Doing anything fun this weekend?
It’s been a busy tough week. I may do some retail therapy at Ulta!
A little retail therapy always helps. 🙂 I might do some myself.
I had a perm in the 90s. I was probably around 10 years old and I only wanted it because friends and cousins were all getting them. I cared nothing about my hair except that I wanted a perm. Ugh I hate that phase in my life where all I wanted was to fit in! Anyways it was very ugly and unflattering but I have a picture of myself and 2 of my cousins all with bad perms, and it is quite hilarious!
I’m so glad Connor Claire is taking a shine to science! We need more girls in STEM!
I think what was savage about the perms in the ’90s is that nobody seemed to gave any advice on how to keep the curls looking cute after you got the perm! It was like, “OK, now you have curly hair. Good luck!” LOL
If Connor Claire ends up being a scientist who loves to dance, I’ll be totally OK with that. 🙂
Happy Friday to you. Got any fun plans for the weekend?
Right?! Like I didn’t even know how to style my straight hair let alone a head full of curls! And my mom certainly wasn’t buying me any fancy products to help!
We are headed to the farmers market in the morning and then there is a parade going through town so I think the girls will enjoy that!
How fun. Enjoy your weekend and your time with your family!
Yes, I got a perm in elementary school because it was the thing to do back in the 90s. I have a lot of bad hair photos!
Girl, same. I had a perm in the first grade (back when my hair was straight), and it was totally *not* my idea. I didn’t want one, but my grandma was going to beauty school at the local community college and decided that I would be her experiment! It didn’t end well.
No! And I’m still mad about it! I was the little girl with curly hair, about which my dear straight-haired mother didn’t have a clue. My two, younger, straight-haired sisters got the fun Tonette perms (the hairdos had fairy tale heroine names!) I got brush rollers to sleep on – a pre-teen Golden Girl…
Aww, Deretta! You made me laugh out lout with the Golden Girl reference! Happy Friday to you. 🙂
I got talked into a perm more than once before I was in my mid-20s. But I have naturally wavy hair. Totally not needed, and all it did was make my hair frizzy, and took forever to grow out. Still didn’t look as bad as I did with the “Mullet” haircut.
The thing the mullet is a right of passage for everyone. Mine was accidental, LOL!
One of my older sisters had a very frizzy perm in the mid-80s. It was so bad and (unfortunately) memorialized in her senior portrait. It still comes up in conversation once in a while lol
That’s funny about Connor saving her baby teeth. My son did the same but for very different reasons. When I explained the concept of the tooth fairy to him, he said that he didn’t want a stranger coming in to the house to take his teeth— not even to give him money for them.
Oh my goodness, I never even thought of the fact that a stranger would be up in my house. The things kids think about!
I have fine, thin, flat hair so of course I had permS! I had regular perms which fried my hair and then I found out about AIR perms (skipped the neutralizer) which didn’t fry my hair and lasted much longer. In fact I’m thinking about doing one now again because I’m tired of straight flat hair. The only problem is all perms now are “self timing” and don’t process long enough on my hair so the perm doesn’t last more than about 6 weeks.
Air perms are new to me. How interesting!
I had a perm through college and a few years after. It was the 90s after all. My hair was long (shoulders) & I have a LOT of hair. If you look at the sorority composite photo we all gad the same basic look. The amount of Aqua Net we all used. Since then I have had a pixie cut and friends who see pictures from them are always like ‘whoa!’
I was influenced by television and magazines into thinking I should perm my hair in the early 1980s. I was half-way through a home perm when I bailed out of it – the stench of the chemicals bothered me so much. It was just as well – my regular hair was so thick and wavy that I didn’t really “need” a perm like people who have really straight and thin hair do (to attain a bulky, big-hair look).