My stylist Brandi recently revealed to me that she now uses me as a cautionary tale for her clients when they ask for a perm. Brandi tells her clients about how she refused to perm my hair, how I spent a lovely afternoon being adventurous at an Asian salon and finally why I showed up at her salon a few days afterwards begging her to fix my broken hair. Oh, the shame … the shame. Thankfully, Brandi was nice enough not to sneak a picture or say “I told you so” that day.
Well, four months after getting my digital perm, I’m here to update you on how my hair has been treating me or rather, how I’ve been treating my hair. For those of you who haven’t read my initial blog post 7 Things You Need to Know before You Get a Digital Perm, I suggest you read that post first before you read this entry.
Overall, I want you to know that I have made peace with my permed hair and that I do genuinely like my hair curly. Would I ever perm my hair again, you ask? Um … I would perm my hair again but I’d make sure
that the salon only used big rollers in my hair and hot permed my hair for 30 minutes so that the curls wouldn’t be so tight. I would also have make sure Brandi is available a few days later to give me a keratin treatment (if she hasn’t disowned me yet for perming my hair again).
Anyway, there are 3 things that I’ve given up on since I’ve had my hair digitally permed and let me just tell you, I’ve never been happier.
1. My blow-dryer
Well, I have to be honest with you guys … I’ve given up on blow-drying my hair out of sheer laziness and because GENTLY blowing my hair every morning takes too long. I now just scrunch some Bumble Bumble product in my semi-wet hair and let it air dry. Of course my hair takes about an hour or two to actually dry but the end result is surprising better than when I blow-dry my hair. I’ve discovered that if I leave my hair to dry naturally, my curls come out more defined and stay intact longer (which means less frizz).
2. My twirling habit
I’ve cut my twirling habit down because I started losing too much hair. No more explanation needed.
3. My seemingly endless need for miracle hair products
As some of you may know, I’ve searched high and low for curly hair products that would give me back the luscious locks I had before my digital perm. I’m not even going to begin to tell you how much money I’ve wasted on products (it was probably enough to buy me a really nice pair of leather fall boots) but I eventually smelled the coconut oil and realized that I need to stick with what I know. And what I know is that Dove conditioner works well in my hair. Also, I gave up on most of the recommended cleansing products for curly hair (Yeah, I’m looking at you cleansing conditioners!) and now just buy Shea Moisture, a gentle shampoo with all natural ingredients at Target for about $10.
On a higher note, since I’ve been conditioning my hair non-stop since I got my perm, my hair is coming back around to the condition it used to be in. It’s not completely there yet but I no longer have to go running for cover when it starts to rain. Yay!
Cindy Xiong 
OMG! When i saw this blog, i felt so sorry that i dint check around before getting into digi perm. I just had mine few weeks back and i cant help but cry on the result after few more days that’s the time when i got to see the real result! this is not what i have dreamed off like what you shared i was eyeing for that beach big wavy messy hair. Now i have to spend even more just trying to put on down the curls. I even spend more time in the morning than the time i was doing my own curls.
I have tried few calming lotions but i haven’t found the right one. Now im still trying to find for that calming creme i saw in your blog. I also try to have a keratin treatment as frequent as possible but likewise i’m spending too much.
I had a nice straight and a little wavy hair, if you ask me whether i’m getting digi perm again, NO, never again!
My question is, how do i get to have my hair look shiny again?
Hi Tin,
I too worried that my hair would never be smooth and shiny ever again after I fried it with a hot perm. It took a few months but after my hair got over the initial shock of a hot perm, it calmed down after I replaced hair creme with regular hair conditioner (see “My Digital Perm: 9 Months Later“) for additional details.
Any suggestions on what shampoo and conditioner to use? I got my body wave digital perm a few weeks ago and love it the only thing is it’s quite frizzy at the ends and I need something to help with it!
Hi Mary,
To combat the frizz and retain the moisture I had left in my hair, I used SheaMoisture Raw Shea Chamomile & Argan Oil Baby Head-To-Toe Wash & Shampoo. It’s a baby shampoo but I liked it because it was gentle on my hair (and affordable). As far as a conditioner, I just used Dove conditioner (because that’s what I used before I got the perm). For more information on the products I used after my perm, please read My Digital Perm: 4 Months Later. Hope this helps!
I got my digiperm about 2 months ago and still love it. My stylist knew hair and gave me big loose waves. I started with the scrunching air drying but been doing the twirling air drying. I did notice past weeks i was loosing a lot of hair and thought maybe cause I needed to get a trim (normally I get a trim every 3 months cause my hair sheds a lot every 3 months) but it was more then normal and saw you post about the “twisting hair”. Reading this does make sense now cause I have been losing more hair since I started twisting it to get more big loose curls. So I’m gonna cut down on that on only do it on special occasion days.
Hi! I was wondering how often you wash and condition your hair? I was told not to wash the hair every day because the shampoo will dry out the hair. But then I also heard that we should condition more often. Do you ever condition your hair without washing it with shampoo?
There was a period of time after I got my digital perm where I skipped the shampoo every other day and just used conditioner – this was mainly because my hair was still recovering from the perm. After my hair recovered, I washed my hair with shampoo and conditioner daily. I have a lot of thin hair so if it gets greasy, it falls flat.