Permed!

I got a perm--and its for free!

Jonathan, one of my colleagues from the GMA Writing Institute  asked me to be his model for the digi perm, a new service that will be offered in his salon, John Matthews Salon and Spa, after the demonstration. I told him months back that I'm planning to get a perm and when the opportunity came, he immediately called me!

I didn't shell out a single peso for the treatment but I did pay for the hair color. My sister Krishia joined in because she will be graduating in a month's time and I want to give her a beauty present in preparation for the big day.

Honestly, I was reluctant to try the procedure because I don't usually avail of freebies and I haven't availed of any chemical-oriented salon services in the past. The last hair color I had was more than five years ago and I haven't cut my hair for a year so it can grow from a bob--I want to really get curls late last year!

But since I already said yes, I just closed my eyes and leave my fate in Jonathan's trained hands.

The concept of perming, as I found out, is similar to rebonding. Formulas are placed on the hair to break the normal form. From here, the hair can be made flawlessly straight or permed. The concept of digi perm is not different. With digi perm, curls have varying sizes (not just two) and attendants are always in the lookout to avoid drying strands.

Because of the value for not over-cooking hair, the procedure can last as long as five hours. Mine took more than four hours and the longest time was spent on the use of these galactica-ish machines:

Unlike the usual perming method, each roll of hair has a corresponding rod that heats strands from the inside. It takes a minimum of 10 minutes for the heat to dry the hair (and the chemicals) and another 5 minute/s is added if there are parts that are still wet.

Here's how the machine looks like from the back:

Here's the top view:

Since my hair was half a virgin (It already got de-virginized by the hair coloring), the heating took more than 20 minutes! By then, my neck was slightly aching from the rods, which were quite heavy. After the rods, the hair is curled and secured with a pin:

(The parts where I still have rods are the parts that are still not dry from the heating. Digital perming requires all hair to be dry with the formula.) After the curling, naturalizers were sprayed and I have to wait again before it was washed a few minutes after.

By the time we finished with the procedure, my sister and I were starving and we immediately paid the bills, said our goodbyes, and head straight to the nearest food store. If you're planning to get a perm, don't expect it to finish early. But nonetheless, I was happy with the results. :) - 2/25/12