See How Perming Short Hair Can Give You a Completely New Look

Perming short hair and maintaining it correctly are great tips to flaunt a new look. While perming short hair, opt for a wavy pattern, rather than creating large curls.

Young woman washing hair at hairdresser's.

Perms or permanent hair waving continues to be in trend since the last few decades. Basically a chemical treatment, it involves changing the hair texture by using a specific solution. There are lot of things that you can do with this hair treatment, some of which include straightening curly hair, body perm, spot perm, spiral perm, and stack perm. Thus, you can either make a major change by creating chunky chunks or just add volume to your existing hairstyle.

Also, it does not matter whether your hair is short or not. Perming short hair though, has lesser options as compared to perming long hair.

Perming Short Hair at Home

Let’s first see what actually happens in hair perming. The procedure involves three steps, the first is to wrap hair around perm rods (straight or cylindrical) of specific size, second step is application of perm lotion to break down the disulfide bonds of hair and lastly, a neutralizer is applied to set hair in the permed texture. Over here, size of the curls depend upon the size of the perm rod. Smaller rods will give small and tight curls, while larger perm rods are used for clients who prefer to have wavy and voluminous hair.

Do not consider perming your hair just because your friend does it or your favorite Hollywood star has spiral perms. After all, it is a chemical treatment, which can result in various side effects. In case, you have recently colored your hair, wait for some time, or else repeated exposure to chemicals will cause hair damage. The same duration should be maintained for perming already permed hair. In short, if you know about the perming procedure and the toll it takes on hair, then only go for it. Following are tips for perming hair at home.

Check Out your Hair Type

Determining the hair type is the first step for any hair perming session. Is your hair colored, short or long, coarse or thin textured? Based on these, the chemical treatment time and rod size should be decided. Certain perming methods go well with specific hairstyles. For example, spiral perm short hair is possible, but it suits best in longer hair.

Things You Need

The required tools are hair perming kit, 20 or more perm rods of specific size, comb, clean towel, mixing bowl, and hand gloves. The most crucial step is selecting right size perm rods that will give the perfect wave pattern for your short hair. For carrying out this process, you will need a helping hand, may be your friend.

Preparing for Perming

Go through the user directions provided in the kit. In order to get good results, you will need to wash your hair with a mild shampoo just before perming. The effect of the chemical will be better in clean hair strands. Towel dry your hair after shampooing. Then, comb gently to remove tangles and knots.

Applying Perming Lotion

For this step, divide hair in equal sections and wrap hair around the rods (starting from bottom and moving upwards). The size of curls is based on how tight you wrap your hair, size of the rod, and length of chemical treatment. Keeping this in mind, apply perming solution to the hair thoroughly and wait for the stipulated time period.

Hair Neutralizing Step

After the waiting period is over, rinse hair properly to flush off the solution. Towel dry your hair and remove perm rods one by one, making sure that you are not puling them. Then apply neutralizer to your hair, covering each part of the treated hair. It may take about 24 hours to set perm hair. Accordingly, do not wash hair for at least one day after perming.

While selecting short hair styles perm, take a note of your face shape. In general, large curls look weird for short hair. Also, after perming short hair, it is very important to follow certain hair care instructions to reduce hair damage. If possible, use only permed hair shampoo that is specifically formulated for chemically treated hair. Last but not the least, avoid exposure to harsh sunrays and make sure you use appropriate hair products.