You’re thinking about getting a perm and you still don’t know where to go?
You’ve come to the right place because I’m going to tell you about how to find the BEST salon in your city to get your perm.
Why is it important to find the best salon?
Because doing a perm is complex process.
- If it’s done well, the results will be fantastic, and you can have the curls or waves you were always dreaming of.
- But, if it goes badly, the results can be disastrous. I’ve had women who’ve had to cut their hair to fix a poorly done perm.
That’s why it’s so important to find a good salon, with stylists that are well-qualified to do the job.
Think about that a few seconds.
Who knows how best to do a perm?
A person who’s been doing it for years and years or a person that’s just starting out in the profession?
Someone who’s very informed about the latest trends in perms or someone that’s been using the same technique since the 80s?
Let’s not kid ourselves.
The women in the 80s ended up with damaged hair because the perm solutions at the time were much stronger and more harmful than today.
But, thank god, we’ve advanced beyond that and perm techniques and chemicals have changed a lot.
But, the results will always depend on there being a well-trained professional to do the perm.
After all, you can have the best products, but if you don’t know how to correctly place the perm rods, the perm can turn out really terribly.
I’m not saying all this to scare you or to stop you from getting a perm. I’m just telling you so that you’ll be very careful when it comes time to choose whose hands you’re going to put your hair into.
So, if you want to have beautiful curls after getting your perm, stick around, because I’m going to tell you:
- 5 ways to find a good salon to get your perm in your city
- 5 red flags that should make you run out of a salon
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5 Ways to Find a Good Salon to Get Your Perm in Your City
It wouldn’t help you much if I told you about the best salons in Buenos Aires or Tokyo because there’s a good chance you don’t live in those cities.
That’s why I think it’s more important to teach you.
No, don’t get angry!
I’m not calling you dumb. I’m talking about giving you the tools you need so you’re able to identify the best salons for getting a perm in the city you live in.
Because, like the Chinese proverb says: “Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you’ve fed him for a lifetime.”
Besides, if I teach you to distinguish between a good salon and one with a concerning reputation, if you move away from your city, you’ll always know how to differentiate between them.
You’ll have learned something that stays with you for the rest of your life, or at least as long as hair salons exist. Or as long as perms continue to be on trend.
Can you imagine what the first trick might be to find a good salon to get your perm at?
Yes! Our majesty, Google!
Look up “hair salons for perm” on Google Maps
- What do you do when you want to find a recipe? You look it up on Google.
- And when you want to find out which are the best beaches in Cancun? You look it up on Google.
- And when you want to find a boyfriend? You look it up on Google, although the results aren’t always the best…
So, look on Google Maps for “hair salons for perms” or something similar to that and you’ll get a few results.
Now, how will you know which of those salons are the best?
Google is fabulous, but it’s not fail-proof.
The most important thing to do is read the reviews or comments from other people that have gotten a perm done there.
If it just has one or two comments, don’t even think about it. A salon should have at least forty or fifty comments from people that have gotten a perm there.
Does that seem like too many?
No, it’s not at all. Today consumers are much more active, and they don’t keep quiet after bad experiences.
Do you use Instagram to share your craziest pictures?
Well, now it’s time to use some of the other benefits that the site has to offer.
Look Up the Hashtag #perm or #hairperm on Instagram
That should give you some results of women that have gotten perms, and in most cases, they’ll also mention where they got it and with who.
Today people always comment on their experiences, good and bad, so you should probably get results with both positive and negative comments.
Can you think of another social media site just as powerful as Instagram nowadays?
Have you heard of Mark Zuckerberg? That’s right!
Facebook is also an incredible place to get recommendations for hair salons where you can get a perm.
Look up the Word “Perm” on Facebook
Since Facebook uses your location to give you results, it will show you salons in your city.
When you look at the results, you should immediately go to the opinions section. If there aren’t any opinions, don’t even consider the salon.
On both Facebook and Instagram you can send messages to other women that have gotten a perm and ask them about how their experience was.
Human nature is unpredictable, so you never know who might answer you, but I can assure you that the angry clients are the most open ones and they absolutely will vent about their bad perm on social media.
Some might respond while others won’t but giving it a try won’t hurt.
Ask Your Family and Friends
If you don’t put much stock in the opinions that you find on social media, you can also try something a little closer to home.
Do you remember the famous “word of mouth?”
You can do a little research by talking to your friends, coworkers and family members, yes, even those cousins you just see once a year.
You’ll be surprised by the number of your acquaintances that have gotten a perm and can give you a good recommendation.
If you’ve researched on social media and talked to your friends and family, and you still haven’t found a salon that meets your expectations, you can always have a look at local newspapers, in print and online.
Online and Traditional Local Media
Another one of the oldest ways of looking for recommendations of salons that do good perms is by taking a look in the newspaper.
Generally, magazines and local newspapers, online or in print, publicize salons in your area.
Pick out a few that give you a good vibe based on what you read and call them up.
Pay attention to how they treat you, how they answer your questions, if they give you any extra information, and wherever you feel most comfortable, make an appointment.
Take your time choosing a salon to get your perm at. Don’t rush yourself. It’s better to take your time in making a decision than to make a bad decision.
After all that Sherlock Holmes-style investigation, you should have a list of two or three salons that you’re interested in.
Let’s say you decide on one and you make an appointment for Saturday morning.
You get to the salon and something just isn’t right. Maybe it’s how the salon looks, the stylist’s mood or maybe it’s even a dozen clients that look super unhappy.
So, let your alarms sound because there are also five reasons why you should run away and never look back from a salon.
5 Red Flags that Should Make You Run Out of a Salon
We’ve all had this happen to us at some point in our lives:
“It’s Saturday afternoon and you’re sitting in the salon, looking in the mirror while your stylist starts to brush your hair. You have the unsettling feeling that something just isn’t right… but no, you can’t make a big deal. You’re going to wait and see what happens.”
Three hours later, you’ve already paid the bill, left the salon and you see your reflection on a storefront window. That bad feeling is confirmed: “Yep, you hate your new look.”
When this happens with a haircut or a dye job, that moment can be pretty tough.
But if you go through that with a bad perm, the moment can be disastrous because you might have even ended up with burned hair.
Avoiding this situation is in your hands, so pay close attention to the following red flags that you tell you to immediately jump ship and head somewhere else.
- They don’t evaluate your hair’s health.
Before doing a perm, the stylist must take their time to evaluate how healthy your hair is.
Like I’ve been telling you, it must be completely healthy, because if not, you can say bye-bye to your hair.
And they should at the very least do a strand test on one piece of your hair to see how it responds to the perm solution.
If the stylist doesn’t ask you anything about your hair’s history, like when was the last time you dyed it or if you’ve ever gotten a keratin treatment, forget it. That stylist is more interested in your money than in your hair’s health.
- If they get offended when you show them pictures of what you’re hoping to achieve with the perm.
I’ll never forget how once when I showed an architect a picture to give her an idea of what I wanted when I renovated my terrace, she just laughed at me. I almost felt like an idiot.
But, you should never feel embarrassed. A picture is the best way for the stylist to understand what you’re looking for.
If they’re a good professional, they won’t feel offended, and they can tell you about what they can do to get your hair to look something like that or not, and why.
- If they resist telling you about their professional training or the quality of the products they use.
A good hairstylist always shows off their certificates from all the courses they’ve taken over the years in their salon.
It’s almost a pride thing, like when you go into a doctor’s office. A real professional doesn’t hide their diplomas.
You also have the right to know what kind of perm solution and neutralizer they’ll use as well as the brand of the products.
Because, after all, you’ll end up paying for them.
- Lack of hygiene in the salon.
If you notice a lack of hygiene in the salon, I beg you to please get away from there.
Look around yourself.
- Do you see mountains of hair on the floor as if it’s been days since the last time they swept?
- Do the combs have lots of hair stuck to them?
- Is the place a total mess and you can’t even imagine how they’re going to find the perm rods?
And well, if you smell something bad, that’s about the worst thing you can possibly find in a beauty salon.
You should also look at your stylist’s appearance. Pay attention to how present themselves and how they look. It might sound superficial, but if they can’t take care of their own appearance, they probably can’t take care of yours either.
- The stylist doesn’t look happy to be there.
Last, but definitely not least, if instead of looking like it makes them happy to be there, the stylist looks like they’re serving out a life sentence, get out of there quick.
There’s nothing worse than an angry, mopey person doing your perm.
The hairstylists should be nice and be ready to work with you to assuage your doubts, because at the end of the day, you’re putting something as valuable as your appearance and your hair into their hands.
Have you had a bad experience in a hair salon when you went to get a perm?
Leave us your comments and you might be able to save another unsuspecting girl from the same fate.
