Perms

Perms are always going to be damaging as the process basically breaks the structure of your hair and resets it to a new shape, I saw an article about 'thio-free' perms that are supposed to be a bit healthier but haven't tried it myself. You might be better looking into ways of styling curls without heat, like pin curls or rags.

I think the operative words there are "a bit healthier". As Lauralei says, by the very nature of what it's doing, it's going to be a long time before there's something that's not very damaging in terms of a perm.

I've been looking at the thio free perms,  I doubt in Cornwall there'd be a salon that does them,  I think I'll be wise to leave it,  I always wreak my hair just as I start liking it!  😅

Like Janine says, I really don't think they're going to be that great for your hair anyway! There are loads of ways to set a bit of a curl/ body into your hair though, personally I just pin mine into a few small buns while it's still a bit damp just to encourage a bit of a wave as it dries.

B.Red is a highlift so your hair will be weaker than with normal colouring and especially if you've overlapped it a perm might not hold for long anyway. Korean or Japanese salons often have very different perm solutions that can protect even very damaged hair, but I don't think you'll be able to find this outside of London.

Olaplex Bond Shaper is coming out this year, it might be able to do the perm you want.

The company has now set its sights on revolutionizing chemical straightening and perming with a brand new chemistry they are calling Bond Shaper. The new service reshapes the bonds of hair without heat, silicone, preservatives, odors or toxic chemicals.

Says Olaplex founder, Dean Christal,  "This product is going to be a wrecking ball to the keratin treatment industry.  It works and what’s wonderful is that it is safe.”

All it involves is combing the aqueous solution through clarified hair for 10 to 30 minutes depending on desired straightness.  No heat or flat ironing necessary.  It is rinsed out and the hair is supposedly left much straighter and healthier than before.

Craving the ever-popular beach wave but sick of the curling iron? Bond Shaper applied to perm rods can give that desired texture but with modern body and movement. According to Christal, their test models have experienced zero percent reversion and repeated use only improves results.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/beamcmonagle/2016/09/18/chemists-turned-hair-gurus-responsible-for-a-blonder-hollywood-target-perms-and-straighteners/#65cc6d7432eb

That Olaplex Bond Shaper looks pretty cool if it in fact works like they say it will. I was actually  just reading an article about Julianne Hough and she got a perm, but its basically a watered down version so that its more of a body wave and not curls, which I would love once my hair grows out a bit further! But yes of course still very damaging and probably not recommended for most people with damaged hair. My hair is pretty healthy since I haven't used any chemicals in almost 5 months, so who knows, maybe once I achieve my shoulder length hair I want, I will give it a go!

I got all excited then and went to have a look at her hair - and it looks like mine does if I don't style it! Living right by the sea has clearly made me a hairstyle trend setter haha!

I'm still on the fence about anything olaplex. It's all still a bit... culty!

I'm still on the fence about anything olaplex. It's all still a bit... culty!

Yes!! I feel like everyone who talks about it uses really prescribed words, like everyone has been completely scripted! It makes me feel a bit weird about it.

Yes!! I feel like everyone who talks about it uses really prescribed words, like everyone has been completely scripted! It makes me feel a bit weird about it.

I would say this is down to lack of scientific understanding in the hairdressing community and the responses from the marketing department towards competing products and the replies from the competing companies being sometimes difficult to understand.

I think maybe it's a lack of it ever being broken down into normal, everyday language so it always feels like the same quotes are being copied everywhere so it sort of sounds like 'advertising' language.