Q by Ashley: You mentioned that perms are most always a no-no.  What about body waves?  I have small hair and something that will make it look bigger (I totes want GINORMOUS hair) is really tempting to do.  So I guess my question is do body waves even look good?  Will not doing as much heat styling kind of cancel out the damage from a body wave?

A by Reagan: Ashley, I know you want to look like the picture above, so march right on over to your local beauty parlor this very second! Hehehe. (When someone calls it a beauty parlor, the only thing that I can picture is a bunch of women with tight roller sets and perms. And FUMES from perms!)

In all seriousness, a lot of people have asked this question. Ashley asked it most recently, so I just copy/pasted her Q for the post. I’m afraid to say ladies, loose, wavy perms do not really exist. They don’t. If you insist on getting a perm (don’ say I didn’t warn you), the closest thing you could get to wave, is bigger rods with very small sections, or small rods with bigger sections of hair. The chances of it coming out the way you want it are very slim, and the chances of it coming out damaged are very high. Especially if you have color treated, or long hair.

Honestly, I rarely do perms. But the fundamental rules for perms haven’t really changed….the bigger the rod, the less likely the curl will take. But you are still putting a very powerful chemical on your hair, so whether or not the curl takes, that damage will be there. Another honest opinion, I like perms. I like perm-perms. Perms that look like this…

I can tell Halle’s style is done with a curling iron, but it is similar to how a normal perm with normal white or purple rods would look like. And I like it. I almost did it with my own hair, but seeing as how my hair is brittle, and I knew I’d grow it out again, I opted to keep my natural instead.

Back to your Q…a body wave will give you some damage (that you might actually need), and make your hair a little bigger. But it wont make it ginormous, and it wont make it wavy. I think you should get a small curling iron, wrap big sections around it, and shake it out furiously. That will give you ginormous hair.

Ashley (and others), I think you shouldn’t do it. But if your heart is saying perm it, follow your heart. (don’t come chase me down when you look like the first picture!)