Are you thinking about perming your grey hair?
Let me tell you right now that it doesn’t matter how old you are it is completely possible to perm grey hair.
Are you an older woman like me? Go for it, get a perm! You will not regret it.
Of course, you will have to get an alkaline perm, which uses a liquid much stronger than the usual more acidic perm.
Also, it will depend on the current health of your hair and the length of it, so you can choose the type of curl that best shows off your facial features.
Because let’s be real, when you go past your fifties, the clock’s hands seem to have taken “Red Bull,” that appears to make them grow wings.
Time passes by. And it shows in our droopy eyelids that we cant lift even with the help of some toothpicks
We also notice that our wrinkles begin to reveal the wisdom that comes with the years, and that our skin is like a map of the experiences we have lived.
Don’t misunderstand me! I proudly wear my grey hair. After all, it was a decision of my own to let them surface, tired of having an appointment at the hairdresser every twenty days.
But as the months went by, something didn’t convince me. I looked at myself in the mirror and it seemed that my gray hair needed some styling help.
It looked off, gray strands glued to the sides of my face, without volume and without movement
Then I heard that perms were back in style.
It was as if I had taken a trip back to the 80s!
I remembered how in my teenage years, we would move our curls around to the rhythm of Cyndi Lauper’s song, “Girls just want to have fun.”
So, I made the decision. I would perm my hair in spite of my grey hair.
Do you want to know what happened next?
Put on your glasses, don’t let that presbyopia delay you, and keep on reading because I will tell you:
- Everything you need to know if you want to perm your grey hair
- 4 tips to care for your perm
- Do you still have doubts about perms? You’re not sure because you feel old? Get inspired by these looks.
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Everything you need to know about perming your grey hair
The day I permed my grey hair I learned a bunch of things. Despite age, one should never stop learning.
I learned, for example, that gray hair is quite tough. Even when it comes to dyeing it. It is necessary to use a stronger peroxide to open your cuticle and allow the new pigment to deposit.
Also, grey hair doesn’t absorb moisture, nor does it release it easily as colored hair would.
When I called to make an appointment, the stylist, a hairdresser who had been recommended to me by a friend, and who is super professional, told me I could come in the next day.
She wanted to look at my hair before deciding if I could get a perm.
So I attended the appointment, very hopeful.
After looking at my gray hair, she told me that we would do the perm in fifteen days, since my hair was healthy.
During those fifteen days, she recommended I had three or four intensive hydration treatments, so that my hair would get even stronger before the perm.
Finally, the day had arrived!
Before choosing the right size rods, I didn’t want a very tight curl or a very loose curl, she explained that the perm solution would be alkaline.
For me, that was like she was talking to me in Chinese
She then explained that since my hair was gray it was more resistant to chemical processes, so we had to use a stronger permanent solution.
But, on the bright side, this meant that the process wouldn’t need heat, therefore there would be less hair damage
That is, it was a solution that was strong enough to change the natural pattern of my hair and add body, but soft enough to prevent breakage or dryness.
Also, my stylist would use a formula that had a brightening agent, so that my gray hair wouldn’t yellow.
I must say that my stylist is very professional, since before starting to put on the solution for the perm, she performed a hair strand test.
This way, she could more accurately calculate the exposure time of the chemicals in my hair.
Remember that the perm solution may take longer to act on gray hair than colored hair.
Once the set time passed, she removed the neutralizer from my hair and washed it with a shampoo specifically created for gray hair.
This would prevent my hair from having a green or yellow tone.
When I looked in the mirror I didn’t recognize myself.
I had that lively 80s look that I had in my teenage years.
My hair had been rejuvenated, just like my features.
I could not believe that by adding a little movement and volume in my gray hair it would take off a few years.
4 tips to care for your new perm
Of course, my hairdresser sent me home with a written set of recommendations for my new hair:
- Wait 48 hours to wash your hair.
- Don’t brush your curls. Only use a wide-tooth comb.
- Nourish your hair at least once a week
- And every fifteen days, use a purple shampoo without sulfates to keep the yellows away from the gray hair.
And now what I promised.
I asked my hairdresser to give me some photos to show you different perm looks on gray hair.
Because, thank God, the years were women over forty were condemned to wear short, uniform hair are far behind us.
Capillary freedom has reached gray hair!
Do you still have doubts about getting a perm? You don’t dare because you feel old? Get inspired with these looks
Look in the mirror. You are that mature woman who accepted her gray hair with love and proudly goes around the world showing it off.
While you take care of your facial skin more than ever, based on testing each wrinkle and firming creams that appear on the market, you still aren’t willing to go through a facelift.
How do I know this?
Because like you, I look in the mirror every day, and I made a promise to treat myself with empathy.
Are you the type of woman who likes to keep their platinum locks long?
- Then, become the wise gypsy of your tribe and dare to get a beach wave perm.
According to my hairdresser, this look is for very daring mature women who are willing to take extreme care of their hair.
These gentle movements in your strands will make you remember when in the eighties you were the queen of the beach.
After all, who said that at our age we cannot wear a crown?
- Now, if you have short hair, and are tired of always looking the same, my hairdresser suggests a partial root perm.
This way you will give your roots a lift, achieving volume without sacrificing the length of your hair.
On the other hand, perming your roots will also allow you to hide any areas where you don’t have as much hair, because let’s not fooled ourselves, over the years they appear.
But, it is a look that you should adopt carefully. If you have a lot of wrinkles in your neck and they are very visible this type of perm on short hair might not favor you.
Is your grey hair shoulder length or longer?
- Even if your hair is up to five centimeters above your shoulders, you can also benefit from perming only your ends.
This way, if the wrinkles in your neck are very visible, you can hide them, while at the same time adding movement to your ends.
Finally, I opted for a bob cut with the perm, with silver and loose curls, which softened my features and highlighted my almond-colored eyes.
And I do not regret it. Because after all, renewing yourself means living and even more so when the passage of time is already noticeable in our hair and body.
Do you have gray hair and have thought about perming your hair? Do you feel that you are too old for such a radical change?