The Home Perm

Dave Webster’s article about the history and experiences of the perm machine made me laugh and wince at the same time. Reading the article brought back my own specific 40-year-old memories with a mix of amusement and horror. Obviously, my generation never experienced the perm machine process described in Dave’s article. Unfortunately, many young maidens, including friends, family members, and myself endured our generation’s intentional self-inflicted pain known as the home perm.

My personal experience is as follows: My hair is naturally curly to the extreme. Back in the days of “The Brady Bunch” all the girls had beautiful long straight blond hair. Many young girls were secretly a bit envious of the perfect blondes. I was beyond envy. I was mortified by my hair’s curls galore. On the school bus, other girls laughed and pull at my wild curly hair until they had me crying. In an attempt to undo the injustice, my mother covered my hair with a towel and iron it straight on an ironing board before I left for school starting in the first grade. Depending on the weather, my mother’s loving gesture lasted at best until I arrived at school. This process went on throughout my elementary years.

By the end of my elementary years, home perms had become popular. Despite the fact my hair was still chocolate brown curly, I was subjected to the home perm the day before I was confirmed.

The process began with soaking the roller paper in the perm solution, which stunk to high heaven. The paper was then rolled onto the perm rod. The smallest of rods were used to ensure the tightness of the curls. I sat still for hours as my mom pulled my hair out and rolled it up tightly. By tightly, I mean I looked like I had a facelift. The perm solution-soaked rods stayed stretched on my burning scalp for what seemed an eternity. The rods were left on beyond the recommended time. Again, to ensure the perm took. Inhaling the putrid perm solution for the duration of the process added to the misery. Finally, as the rods were pulled from my hair I awaited with anticipation for the perfect perm. Perfect would be the opposite of what were the actual results.

As my hair dried, still stinking of solution, it began the slow process of puffing. It continued to puff right before my eyes. There was no stopping the puff effect. When the puffing finally subsided, I was left with hair looking as if rabid bees had made my hair into their nest. I was horrified! I cried well into the night, explaining why my eyes were red and puffing in my confirmation picture. The perm smell lasted for days serving both as a reminder to me and as an announcement to my friends. I had endured and survived the first and last home perm.

For my home perm article, I asked my cousin and sister for their home perm memories. Without any prompting, below are their experiences:

“When I was around 12, my mom and I decided we could do a perm ourselves. We didn’t realize that the size of rods determined the size of curl." [A good grief emoji followed her sentence.] "Since my hair is so fine and straight, we used the tiny rods. Oh, my word…no curl, just frizzy puff. It was terrible. Needless to say, I never got another one. Even during my hairdresser years, no color, no perms on myself. I was a boring stylist." [A tear laughter emoji follows that sentence.] "My feelings on that day…completely traumatized. Mom was, I think, madder! I’m really surprised we didn’t do something like that ourselves when we grew up together.”

Nadine references all our ridiculous childhood adventures and mishaps. “Enough to write a book,” she said. I have decided to write an article about our childhood adventures. I believe the statute of limitations has run out on our varies misdeeds. Our children, grown now, the only consequence of revealing our actions would be complete embarrassment.

My younger sister, Rhodie, the person who completed mine and Nadine's threesome, tells her home perm story.

“[Tenth] grade, April’s mom gave me the worst perm of my life. My hair was fried. Curlers were so tight to my head, I couldn’t think. The smell made me sneeze and gag at the same time. My boyfriend and friend April both made fun of me in Spanish class. After that, I decided to go to straight hair really fast. I also vowed never to get a perm from anyone, although Mama did a good job.”

Perhaps, my mama’s experiment with me, gave her the knowledge to make the home perm work for my sister.

Our brother, Eric, had a curly perm. He does acknowledge having had a perm, but he is not talking details.

Oddly, pictures of friends my age who had home perms have either intentionally been destroyed or unintentionally disappeared.

** In Memory of Beth Sayre, who at one time also sported the home perm. 1964-2010