Style by Anastasia

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Dealing with Damaged Hair That’s Been Permed or Colored – Oklahoma City Perm

It happens to everyone. Women tend to push their hair to the limits at least once in their lifetimes thinking nothing bad will ever happen to them. But the reality is, perms, color treatments, and the day-to-day of styling can really take their toll. If you’ve recently pushed your hair to the edge, you’re probably trying to come up with a way out of your situation. The best advice is, don’t do anything without the help of a professional stylist. If your hair is already dry, frizzy, and damaged then you’re courting disaster by trying to fix the problem on your own. Instead, enlist the help of someone who’s dealt with hair emergencies before so you can get back to your beautiful self.

Hair coloring
Hair coloring (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First of all, there are some myths out there about hair color. Some women believe that coloring their hair won’t damage it as long as they’re not using bleach. This just simply isn’t true. Every time you color your hair, some damage is done to it. It may not wreak as much havoc as bleaching, but if you’ve dyed your hair a darker color multiple times, beware of doing anything radical with it by yourself. Don’t attempt to perm your hair or bleach it a lighter color without the help of a stylist. Though you may be eager to make a big change, sometimes it’s best to let the hair grow out and start over than to risk having it fall out in chunks because it’s been damaged beyond repair. An excellent professional-grade conditioner specifically for damaged hair may be needed and it definitely pays to get the advice of a talented stylist to decide what to do next (perhaps a hair cut is in order!).

Perming your hair will inevitably cause damage to your locks. Like it or not, a perm may make your hair super-sensitive to hair color. Even if you get a perm and the perm doesn’t take, you still need to exercise caution if you decide to make a color change. A qualified stylist will be able to find hair color options that will work for you despite a perm, but don’t get too confident and try it on your own. Most boxed hair color treatments that you can buy at the local grocery store have a warning in the instructions about using the dye on permed hair because the results aren’t certain. Because perming alters the constituency of the hair, color treatments can go off-course which means damage times two (you’ve damaged your hair by perming it and by dyeing it or bleaching it). Undoing these messes often means doing even more damage to the hair which can be precarious. That’s why women are encouraged to find a stylist who is knowledgeable and trustworthy if they find themselves in this kind of a pickle.

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Keep Your Hair

It’s easy to ignore the possibility of thinning or lost hair until it’s already gone. But hair health is part of overall health, and you can do some basic things to take care of your hair and reduce the potential for hair loss. This applies to both women and men, younger and more mature.

My Hair Makes Me...
Image by Christi Nielsen via Flickr

You lose about 80-100 hairs per day, but if you’re losing several times that, it may be time to see your doctor, consider improvements in your diet, reduction of stress, and possibly products that help with the appearance of thinning hair, like Nioxin (available in our salon).

Protecting your hair from excessive hair loss requires some common sense hair health techniques:

  • Don’t band it with rubber bands, or tie it too tightly into pony tails. The tension on your hairline increases hair loss.
  • Use a wide-toothed comb, not a fine one or brush, especially when hair is wet.
  • Switch shampoos every 8-10 months.
  • Avoid shampooing daily. That can strip your hair of oils and proteins, and increase hair loss during washing, drying, and styling.
  • Use an essence or essential oil on your hair (again, available in our salon). This will increase circulation to hair roots and replentish hair.
  • If you’re losing hair, you probably shouldn’t be straightening, perming, coloring, or blow drying. But if you are going to do those, then do it less often, and choose processes that last longer (we use color with less fade, straightening and extensions that last much longer than normal, etc).
  • Drink lots of water. Eat healthy. Get enough sleep and routine, adequate exercise. Again, hair health is part of overall health and there are direct connections.
  • Stop stressing. Stress will leave you looking like a scalped lawn. Yoga can help, or other destressing measures.
  • Some medications are known to cause hair loss, have that listed as a side effect, or have anecdotal reports about it. Just one example with anecdotal claims of hair loss is Metoprolol, sometimes used for hypertension, but others are numerous. Chemotherapy and other cancer treatments can cause ongoing hair loss. Be aware of these risks.

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Perms Came a Long Way, Baby!

Women have come a long way from the late 1800’s, when they began wearing perms. Back then, Marcel Grateau specially designed tongs heated by gas or alcohol flame to create a wavy look.  Ironically, the method used back then is still in existence today – just greatly modified.

Hair wound ready for permanent-waving, with (o...
Image via Wikipedia

With Mr. Grateau’s design,  the person perming their hair would comb the hair towards the operator, slowly moving the comb with the hand to keep tension while applying the tongs to the hair pulling down the lock to the point. The tongs produced a two dimensional wave. The process of using high temperature degraded the hair. By 1905, Charles Nessler, devised an alternate method using cow urine and water. This method was called the spiral heat method and was designed for long hair. By 1909, Mr. Nessler’s machine was used in London to produce waves on ladies’ long tresses. By 1917, Isidoro Calvete design the first permanent-wave heater. It resembled something from outer space (think colander with wires coming out of the top of the colander). In 1924, Josef Mayer designed a curler that made the ends of the curls pointy. In 1930, J. Bari-Woollss designed a reduction method. A heatless system was introduced a the Midwest Beauty Show in 1931, this system was used frequently in salons, where it was left on the client overnight and removed the next day. It was called the overnight wave. Both Mr. Mayer and Mr. Bari-Woollss designs were modified over time and this modified unit is used in salons today.

As technology and chemicals developed, the perming process improved dramatically to include the cold wave in 1938 using rods and reduction lotion and acid perms in 1970. Additional modern perms were introduced throughout the 1970’s – exothermic, digital perms, and permanent relaxer that straightens the hair.

Because of these inventions and improved technology and chemicals, today’s women may safely perm their hair.

  • Acid perms create conditioned, flexible curls; they are best for fine, sensitive, fragile, damaged, or tinted hair.
  • Alkaline perms create strong, firm curls; they are best for normal and resistant hair.
  • Exothermic perms create bouncy, strong curls.
  • Body perms are soft, loose perms that create volume with a little wave vs. curls.
  • Root perms lift and add volume the root area; they are best for short hair.
  • Pain curl perms create soft, natural waves, and curls.
  • Stack perms create curl and volume to one-length cuts; they are used on the middle and ends.
  • Spiral perms create spiral curls. Hair is rolled vertically vs. horizontally.
  • Spot perms support the area they are applied to; they are best used where a little lift is needed such as the crown, fringe, or side around face.
  • Weave perms curl sections of the hair and leave the rest straight; they are best for bangs, and the face.
Regardless of the type of perm that’s right for your hair, you don’t have to know a lot about perms, or how they came about, to walk out with a great look. Consulting your stylist is important. They should be the kind of professional that’s willing to listen, advise you and make recommendations. If you get the sense that they only have one option in their repertoire, get a second opinion. As with your health, your hair needs the services of a pro.

Anastasia is a salon hair stylist in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Out of town appointments welcome.

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