I Permed My Hair! - From 4a to 2c (Pics)

trinity8mod8

trinity8mod8

New Member
So I decided to try something new with my hair because I really wanted to wear wash-n-gos more without my hair tangling and dealing with shrinkage. There isn't a lot of information about perming (permanent waving) Type 4 hair on the web, but I decided to go for it anyway. So I used an alkaline Tressa perm for resistant hair and 7/8 inch perm rods. My mother-in-law put in the rollers and applied the wave lotion. I sat under a dryer for 25 mins, which may have been too long because my roots are a little straighter than I would like.

But the end results turned out pretty well and I like the curls/waves in my hair. This treatment loosened up my texture quite a bit, next time I will probably use a milder perm. I plan to grow out my hair for a year before doing another perm. My roots are usually very wavy with weight on the ends, so I am hoping the roots will blend with the waves over time. I am new to all this, so this is all just an experiment. I was hoping maybe some ladies here could chime in with their permanent waving experiences so that I have some idea of how long before the treatment wears off and what the processed texture will look like over the next few months :)

I didn't lose any hair and my hair doesn't feel dry or damaged. The waving solution smelled horrible though. I am also wearing my hair with a deep conditioner on it right now.

Before:




After:





Deep Treatment Mask


This is the perm I used:
 
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DarkJoy

DarkJoy

Bent. Not Broken.
Yes, I would also like to see a dry pic. Looks beautiful, though OP!

Also, how would a TU go? Do you apply the lotion only to the roots? Will you have to protein the hair a lot like a relaxer? Will it be drier? This is all very interesting--I've never know a Type 4 to get a perm like this before!

I also wonder if the demarcation line will be weak like a relaxer as well, particularly since you will be stretching...

Anyhow, keep us updated!
 
trinity8mod8

trinity8mod8

New Member
VeryBecoming It looks really curly and defined. Because I just finished the treatment at 1 am this morning, I didn't want to brush through it and disturb the curl pattern while it is still air neutralizing. I will post more pics after I rinse the deep conditioner out tonight and comb through it.
 
trinity8mod8

trinity8mod8

New Member
DarkJoy said:
Also, how would a TU go? Do you apply the lotion only to the roots? Will you have to protein the hair a lot like a relaxer? Will it be drier? This is all very interesting--I've never know a Type 4 to get a perm like this before!

Anyhow, keep us updated!
Click to expand...

1. From what I have seen on YouTube with touch-ups you basically just do the treatment over again, although I will be using a much milder version of the perm for touch-ups, with an acidic pH and only yearly.

2. I don't think I will have much breakage, because my hair doesn't feel weak or brittle, but I will definitely be using a protein conditioner regularly to make sure it doesn't get that way.

3. Yeah I know, I could barely find information about it. This article from black hair information is what introduced me to the idea: http://www.blackhairinformation.com/relaxed-hair/lets-talk-curly-perms-are-they-a-real-alternative-to-a-relaxer/
 
Browndilocks

Browndilocks

Browndisha Brownie Sundae
Nice! I'm really interested in seeing your maintenance progress. Knowing that a permanent wave has less alkalinity than a relaxer or texturizer, I'm wondering if you'll need as much protein/moisture etc.
 
trinity8mod8

trinity8mod8

New Member
MixedGirl Yeah I didn't want to relax it because bone straight doesn't look good with my facial shape and my hair is fine and usually doesn't have any body after a relaxer. And I wasn't really sure if the curl pattern would be loose enough if I just texlaxed.

greenandchic Thanks, but without my mother-in-laws rollersetting skills my hair would have probably looked random and crazy :lol:

Browndilocks Yeah the pH was only 8.5. I've been getting good increased moisture results from hot oil treatments every 2 weeks and for protein I plan to use Hairtrition Keratin Conditioner, so I'll see if that works.
 
southerncitygirl

southerncitygirl

Well-Known Member
your before and after is nice, i can't wait to see the finished result as well.

there's a member i think her name is PretteePlease) on the board that let a stylist give her a wave nouveau and she had excellent results. think she had the stylist mix oil or condish into the solution and roll her hair on med or large perm rods.

yeah, think with the ph you will fare better than a relaxer and its better than taking a chance with bkt with all the horror stories i've seen on this forum.
 
wavezncurlz

wavezncurlz

LHCF addict
Interesting.
I love your original boingy coils though - maybe because my natural hair is less coily like your after.
 
CHI10

CHI10

Well-Known Member
your before hair was really pretty...can't wait to see the dry "after" hair...how will the maintenance be?
 
sharifeh

sharifeh

Well-Known Member
Wow beautiful job. Good info too. I didn't know we could do curly perms.
 
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HeChangedMyName

HeChangedMyName

Well-Known Member
I love your before hair and the after looks good too.

Is this a perm like a jherri curl or is this like the perm that normally we would associate with what a white person would get? I've never heard of this before. . .im interested
 
trinity8mod8

trinity8mod8

New Member
wavezncurlz Thank you. I liked my curls, but after my hair dried in a wash-n-go it didn't look shiny and got really dry. Plus I wanted to see some more of my length. I was thinking that maybe it would be easier to grow my hair out with looser ends, so I may not get a second treatment and just cut the processed ends off once I get to my goal length. Oh yeah and I really love your curls! :)

CHI10 Thanks My new growth is pretty wavy, so I was hoping it would blend in with the waves and I would only have to touch-up once a year, but we shall see. I'm just playing it by ear now.

PretteePlease Thanks Yeah I looked into the info about different rod size. It seemed like most women were getting good results with medium rods because a lot of women were complaining about hard to control frizz with the smaller rods that I was going to get at first. So I settled on 7/8 inch rods. But the curls on the ends on my hair look about 1/2 inch in diameter on average because I kept scrunching my hair while the neutralizer was in. I hope it doesn't loosen to much though :ohwell: Thanks for the info, I am definitely worried about that

blackmaven thanks
 
trinity8mod8

trinity8mod8

New Member
sharifeh I didn't know either until recently. My mom always told me it was a treatment that ww got and not for our hair. I didn't even think about it until I found that article.

HeChangedMyName I got a brand of perm that a stylist in another forum recommended for white women, but I know there are some brands of perms specifically for our hair. I think a jherri curl is a perm over previously relaxed hair, along with doing the upkeep using specific products. But that's just my guess based on the little research that I've done.
 
trinity8mod8

trinity8mod8

New Member
This is how my hair looks dry. I left hairtrition keratin conditioner on it and eco-styler gel on the roots:







 
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