Can you straighten a perm? You can ask this because various things can make you rethink your idea of getting it. Maybe you haven’t got the ideal beach waves curls, or you miss your pin-straight hair.
Hair perming involves drastic chemical treatment of your hair to introduce curls that redefine your styling. It enables you to pull off cooler looks with very little effort.
While hair perms save you a lot of time that straight hair styling takes, they make your hair dry, frizzy, and weak. Also, you lose the perks of changing your hairstyles easily. So, you may think of straightening the perm and going back to your original straight hair.
We sat down with our beautician and hairstylist, Ifza Rana, to help you with useful information about whether you can/should straighten the perm.
Can You Straighten a Perm?
Yes, you can straighten a perm but to a varying degree. There are various ways like flat iron, chemical kits, and keratin treatment that allow you to achieve partial to full straightening of perm.
But, they also escort some level of hair damage. Therefore, you should wait at least three weeks after your perm to have a hand on perm straightening tools.
A perm generally lasts for three to six months. So, if you feel you are comfortable with your perm for two months, there are also techniques to help you fade it naturally. The good thing about these methods is that they don’t cause any damage to your hair.
However, if you consider that straightening the perm holds more value than your hair health, the following ways will help you complete the task with hair damage included.
3 Ways That Revers A Perm To Straight Hair
During perming, the chemical treatment of your hair breaks the bonds (disulfide) in keratin protein. It happens because these chemicals decrease the pH, which destabilizes these bonds.
When the hairdressers finish curling your hair, they finally use another chemical that neutralizes the pH change and allows bond reforming.
Now, let’s see to what extent the following techniques can help reverse this process of perm and get you straight hair.
1. Flat Iron to Reverse a Perm
Flat irons are a great invention to straighten curly hair but do they offer lasting straightening? No, you lose the flat-ironed straight hair every time you get a shower.
The same is the case with a perm. The heat of flat iron breaks hydrogen bonds of keratin (a protein that makes up your hair) and gets you straight hair.
Why? Because you pull your hair straight with that iron and immediate cooling reforms these bonds in a straight form. But, your hair will turn curly again when you wash your hair.
Why is so?
Both heat and water cause the breaking of hydrogen bonds. When you wash your hair, the water breaks those hydrogen bonds that previously made your hair straight.
So, when the water dries, the disulfide bonds force these hydrogen bonds to arrange according to them. And, you get curls unless you flat iron again.
So, all in all, you can straighten a perm with a flat iron until the next morning when you wash and shampoo your hair. This method also helps settle the hair that sticks up, but only for a day.
Flat ironing escorts hair damage if done excessively, and may cause split ends or white spots on the hair strand. Therefore, try not to overdo it.
2. Keratin Treatment to Straighten a Perm
Keratin treatment is generally a hair smoothening process unless it employs formaldehyde that causes hair straightening.
This chemical, also known as formalin, breaks the disulfide and hydrogen bonds in your hair. As a result, your salon expert can arrange your hair straight so that bonds can reform themselves in that shape.
So, keratin treatment that includes formalin can straighten a perm or reverse it. However, you should know that this chemical (formaldehyde) is harmful, and the FDA does not recommend using it.
Still, many products carry it, and Brazillian blowouts are employing it to straighten hair. With this type of keratin treatment, you will be able to permanently reverse a perm to your original hair form.
3. Straightening a Perm With DIY Perm Kit
You can straighten your hair with a perm but expect dryness and roughness in your hair. Straightening the curls procedure is almost the same as getting a perm for beach waves like hair. Beauticians also employ this kit to fix the too curly lash lift.
You will need to buy a good at-home perm kit, but we will suggest you deeply moisturize your hair before that. It will help you with dryness and hair damage after straightening the perm.
Your hairdresser coiled your hair at the salon at small sticks to introduce curls. However, now, you will need a wide mouth comb to straighten those curls with this DIY kit.
Follow these steps to straighten the perm:
- Take a bath and wash your hair with a regular shampoo.
- Comb your hair straight to untangle.
- Make sure you wear gloves before applying the perm.
- When your hair becomes near dry, start applying the perming cream.
- Apply it to smaller sections of your hair and comb them straight continuously.
- When you are done applying the perming cream, comb your hair for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Now, apply the neutralizing solution to your hair and comb for 5 minutes. It will allow the disulfide bond to reform.
- After this, rinse the perming and neutralizing solution with a good clarifying shampoo.
Ensure you nourish and moisturize your hair with coconut oil daily to repair the damage.
The Takeaways
Straightening a perm can make you feel better about how you look, but it is not a wise idea unless you have strong and healthy hair. The flat iron will cause less damage than the other two techniques, but it is a fleeting straightening of a perm.
Our hairstylist suggests adoring your curly hair that you got after a hectic procedure of perming. Why? Because perms are temporary and vanish within three months, maybe more quickly, if you employ these homemade hair straightening creams.
However, if straightening a perm is inevitable for you, talk to your hairstylist to try keratin treatment or an at-home perm kit.
