Permanent wave rods I miss but not the perm smell

I started doing perms back in 2002 at a salon in Tulsa. We used those little pink plastic rods with the rubber bands that always snapped on my thumb. The whole process took like 2 hours with the neutralizer and the paper wraps, and my fingers would smell like thioglycolate for days. Now I mostly do keratin treatments and chemical straightening, which is cleaner and faster, maybe 90 minutes tops. But part of me misses the ritual of it, the exact way you had to wind each section at a certain tension or the curl would look like a mess. Last week an older lady asked if I still do spiral perms, and I had to tell her we only carry the rods for special orders now. Anyone else here remember the old-woman perm smell that never quite washed out of your work shirt? I wonder if the younger stylists even learn wrapping patterns anymore.

1 comments

1 Comment

hernandez.gavin14d ago

Man that smell always clung to my fingers for days too!