Heads Together- Types of Perms

Spiral Perm

Spiral perms are created using long perm rods. The end result is extremely tight, cascading curls or ringlets. They look like tightly wound spirals or corkscrews. How tight the curls are depended on the size of the perm rod and the various chemicals used.

Body Perm

Body wave perms help to give volume to hair. They’re generally suited for people with thin or flat hair and the curls will be larger on women with hair that is naturally quite straight. It produces loose curls and a gentle wave which is great for adding volume and a bit of life to dull hair. It’s great for shoulder length hair or longer and suits people with square faces as it tends to soften facial features.

Spot/Plain Curl Perm

Plain curl perms (often referred to as ‘spot perms’) focus on curling a specific section of hair. They’re used generally to help achieve a certain style, for example curling only the ends or midsection of your hair. With plain curl perms, you can choose to either have tight or loose curls. The result tends to be natural looking waves depending on where you choose to have permed.

Muti-Textured Perm

If you’re worried about your perm looking a bit too uniform and unnatural, a multi-textured perm could be perfect for you. It’s created using two different sized styling rods which means the curls end up varying sizes throughout your hair. This is thought to look more natural and the uniform and defined curls you would get otherwise. Due to the nature of the perm, it’s best done on women with long hair – the result isn’t quite as flattering on short hair I’m sorry to say.

Root Perm

Root perms are perfect for women with flat, limp and lifeless hair. As the name suggests, this process involves perming just the roots. The slight curl will give your roots a bit of body which will in turn help to lift the rest of your hair, giving it volume.

Root perms can also be used on women with short hair who simply want to bring a bit of life to it. It’s perfect for giving your short hair an incredibly fashionable and retro look.

Stacked Perm

Stacked perms work better for women with hair of all one length opposed to hair with layers due to the fact it adds a lot of volume to hair. Generally, it suits women of all face types too. Stacked perms are where the stylist focuses on curling only close to the ends of the hair, giving hair volume and creating the illusion of layers.

Pin Curl Perm

As the name would suggest, pin curl pins are created with pins and curlers. They tend to create quite tight curls however you do have some control over size as you can choose the appropriate curler size to be used. The one drawback to pin curl perms are that they tend not to last as long as other perms, especially if your hair is quite long. This is best done on medium or short hair.

Loose Wave Perm

Loose wave perms are a great choice if you’re not totally committed to having super curly or wavy hair. As the name suggests, this type of perm creates loose waves which can be easily compared to the beach wave look, something which looks fab come summertime. It can be done on any length of hair but the longer the better in this case or the waves likely won’t have much effect on your look.

Partial Perm

Partial perms involve perming only the bottom half of your hair (or even just the very end if you choose) and leave the part of your hair nearest your scalp completely straight. This is a great way to add volume to your look without overdoing it and also tends to be a much manageable style than most other perms. If you’re going to be tying your hair up a lot this look is perfect for you.

Types of Perm Hairstyles