Wednesday, April 18, 2012

"P" Is For Perm

The birthday before I entered 4th grade (August 1993) I got my hair permed.  It was my present from Mom and Dad.

I was beyond excited to go to a Salon.  And have my hair done.  I'd seen girls on magazine covers in the checkout lines at grocery store lines with thick long curly hair. 
I was going to look like them.
I was about to be beautiful.  Disregard the fact that I was turning 9.  Not quite magazine cover material at 9.  No curves.  Or womanly complexion.  Just a 9 year old with knobby joints and crooked teeth.
But!  In my mind.... this perm was to be a transformation.

The only thing I remember about the day is my mom taking me in and then staying in the waiting area.  (So I felt more adult.)  The stylist asked if I wanted tight curls or loose.
Being a young, uneducated girl I said, "Tight!"
I'm pretty sure that's where I went wrong.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you ever do it again? With loose curls?

Julia Marcum said...

I remember when I got a straight perm. And then I washed my hair when I got home because I couldn't stand the smell. Oh dear.

DoublClik said...

BAAA HAHAHHHA I want to frame this and just look at it in my office

Gossip_Grl said...

Oh my your posting reminds me of the summer before going it turned out, but my what a head of curls.

Brett and Tiffany said...

Oh, this reminds me of my childhood. I should post pics of my sister and me...we looked just like that except with blond hair...glasses and all! We had perms all of the time. We would have a perm day and me and my siblings and mom would go to my aunt's house and her daugters and us would all get perms...they evened used the extra perm stuff and permed the back of my brothers' hair. Oh, the days.

Beth Willmore said...

You totally need to submit that into Ellen, I can't remember what her segment is but it's like "photos I paid money for..." and that perm would definitely win the contest! Love it! I did the same thing with a crazy perm (my mom did it at home) and it was NOT a good thing!

Kar said...

Hahahahaha! This was soooo me. For so many years. The nineties were a bad, bad time to be a tween,eh?

Unknown said...

Oh how I remember my first "tight curl" perm. I feel your pain.

Michelle :)
www.michelle-pickett.com/blog

Grammy said...

Oh, my goodness! Your picture could be my oldest daughter, when she was about your age! She has natural curl to her hair, and when she was about a fourth grader, she wanted a perm. My sister gave her a home perm, and it nearly broke my daughter's heart, because she hated the outcome. She cried, "I look like Bozo the Clown" Bless her heart. She had to wear it that way until it grew out, because we were poor and couldn't change it except to cut it after it grew out some more. I think you are brave to put it out there now and give people a chuckle. Best regards to you. Ruby aka Grammy

Michelle said...

Having lived through several at home perms and a few salon ones as a youngster, I vowed to never get another one and more importantly, never let my daughter have one. She can decide to do that herself when she moves out of the house, but so far she thinks perms sound horrible!

Lynn Proctor said...

oh yours was cute--i have horror stories from perm experiences--once my hair was burnt so bad--and in a salon---that i had to get my hair cut reallllly short--cute post

Tamara Narayan said...

I made the same error, at sixteen. Thank Bob we were moving to a new town so no one laughed.