06 October 2015

Retro Beauty - The Home Permanent

When I was a little girl, my hair was stick straight - as it still is.  My mother, on the other hand, had a thick head of hair that had a lovely natural wave to it.  She was a BIG fan of home permanents, and I cannot even remember how many I suffered through!



These were of course much less expensive than going to a beauty salon.  The brochures showed you results with women whose hair was lovely, flowing, with the perfect amount of curl.  Then Toni introduced Tonette, a home perm for young girls.


You may not be surprised to learn that I never turned out looking like any of the pictures in the brochures or the ads.

I spent a lot of time with frizz balls, evocative of a poodle.  

My mother of course, always said it turned out "perfect" ...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I had ALL of those at one time or another. OH THE STENCH! Your head smelled like rotten eggs for days!

But, it was okay because so did every OTHER 5th grade girl.

Marie said...

I also had every one of those perms at one time or another. I have finally come to terms with my straight-as-a-stick hair. I haven't had a perm in at least four years and I'll never have another one.

Lorette said...

Oh Lord, that smell. I can smell it just looking at those boxes. Even the professional perms made me look like a poodle.

elns said...

Ah yes, the permanent. I have thickish straight hair that hates everything but a ponytail holder. I never tried the permanent myself, but I remember in the late 70s my parents both got them. I STILL love that photo. I joke with my sister that that was the REAL cause of the divorce ;)