The stylish wavy hair that you see on every TV actress and celebrity is almost impossible to achieve without a few painstaking hours every morning with a curling iron -- or is it?
A hair process has been growing in popularity in East Asia and the Asian American community may be the answer to achieving a permanent beach-y wave: the digital perm.
It differs from the traditional, tight-curled perm, by creating a looser, wavy or even boho look, depending on how you style it. The technique is also different — digital perms, called hot perms, break down the hair with a chemical solution but rebind it with heat that is digitally regulated through the curlers. They work best on thick, coarse hair.
I've had straight hair my entire life, and honestly, I was bored. My thick hair automatically bounces back to being iron-straight no matter how I try to style it, so I was intrigued by the prospect of waking up every day with a full head of wavy hair.
It lasts for about 6 months or so, and as an extremely lazy person, this also appealed to me. It also tends to look more natural and mature -- I'd been wanting to cut my hair into a bob for a while but feared it would make me look like a child. Even with longer hair this was a problem I faced -- when I flew to Austin a few weeks ago, the TSA security guy asked if I was “under 12.” I’m 24.
I chose a Chinese salon that my cousin recommended, knowing that Asian-run salons are generally best-equipped for digital perms, the technique originated and was perfect in Japan and Korea. I set aside my entire afternoon, as the stylist on the phone said that it could take up to four hours. He was not kidding.
The initial wash and application of perm solution took most of the first hour. I spent the rest of the hour under a sort of heat halo that would soften my hair up and give it more elasticity.
After another wash, my hair was sectioned off into small electric rollers that were then plugged up to an intimidating heating contraption. Because of the excessive heat, the rollers could only be placed halfway up my hair to avoid burning the scalp, which would eventually lend to that more natural look. But my stylist, Ryan, still took extra care to avoid any burning dangers, placing pieces of heat-resistant foam around the rollers and my roots as buffers.
I stayed hooked up to The Matrix-like machine for about an hour (pro tip: bring a good book) and was given a final neutralizer over the curls after the heat had died down. This was the most uncomfortable part of the process, because aside from the heat, the rollers felt like they weighed a ton. I have extra thick hair too, so my stylist used more rollers than usual.
After a final wash, Ryan showed me how to properly blow-dry my hair and maintain my curls.
Most of my hair was still soft, if a bit frizzy, and my curls were almost too natural — you could only really see the ends curling up. I chalked it up to my shorter cut and that blow-dry show, and decided to experiment later that week to see if I could get more dramatic waves.
I tested out a combination of air-drying and twisting my hair into sections (this video will give you a pretty good hint at what I tried) and was able to tease out some messier-looking waves.
So, worth the cost? As someone who has had rod-straight hair all my life, the digital perm is a nice change of pace and much more manageable than I expected. It cost upwards of $100, but for six months worth of TV-ready hair, I'd say it was worth it.
