To perm or not to perm?

My mom burst into my room, wanting to ask me something. But as soon as she saw me in my wet hair, the first thing she did was a double-take and the first thing she said was "WAH!! So curly ah!!". And she forgot what she wanted to ask me.

THAT'S when you know you have curly hair. Not straight. Not wavy. Curly.

My mom has not seen me in my natural curls, neither have I. It's just so hard to take care of them and make sure the curl curl at the right place to look nice. So I usually just blow-dry my hair to make it wavy. Easier to manage. Now I have a new set of problems called frizz, hair-loss and too much energy put into maintaining hair.

Close friends around me (those with natural curls) and my sister, one by one, permed their hair. One said that her frizz problem reduced a lot after perming her hair. The other told me that her hair is not so dry and so much easier to manage as compared to when she straightened her hair. Another said that with her permed hair, she looks styled when she's casual and formal, thus no need to go to saloon to set hair.

One even told me that hair perm would be worth it for me because the curls would hold and last longer due to my natural curl. I personally have witnessed my own sister's hair looking better after perming for a year. Her hair no longer looks dry and frizzy. Damn, now I am really really tempted... seriously contemplating getting a perm.

You know during my mother's hey days, there was only one type of perm and perm only meant one thing - curl the entire hair. You only need to tell them whether you want big perm or small perm. Now when I surf the net and read various forums for "inspiration" (yes you must do your homework before you go do anything drastic to your hair), there're soooooooooooooooo many types that my head's spinning trying to read up on their differences.

Digital perm, Japanese perm, cold perm, hot perm, ceramic perm, tight perm, loose perm... Why did they have to come up with so many?? Sweat. I don't want and I don't need to know the differences.

The most important is the end result right? Whether I look good or not in the perm. And whether my money is well-invested.

Perms I don't want


This one will probably make my hair look drier than it actually is.
And I want something with less frizz. This does not look any less frizzy.

Yes I am a big fan of Melina Kanakeredes because I think her character in CSI New York is so cool, sexy, smart and strong with a good sense of fashion.

But I definitely don't want this kind of perm.
Don't think I would look good in that.
Ever.

Perms that look nice & am considering


Style #1: Permed long hair with bangs. I don't think I can keep that kind of bangs
though unless it's straightened. Even that, I think bangs will make my face
look even rounder than it is.


Style #2: The fringe in here, I think, looks the most ideal for me...
even though I prefer the curls of the first picture. The curls in here start
further down the head.


Style #3: This one looks sweet and cute. But sweet and cute is not my style.
* Photos and hairstyle taken from Gabalnara. They have many other cool hairstyles on their website. Just click on the link if you want to take a look but to warn you, the website's in Korean.

My hair is now three inches below my shoulder. I probably need to grow inches more before I perm my hair. That means I'll have time to think until then. Yay! Haha.

I'm thinking about going to a new hair saloon as well because my hairstylist in my current saloon retired and I don't like the way the others cut my hair. While one blow-dry my hair sooooo straight that I look like a tomboy, the other one cuts off 4 inches when I specifically said 2 inches. And God, don't get me started on the difficulty of communicating with them. I spoke Mandarin, not even English! If I have to use sign language, I might as well I go to a Japanese saloon.

Anyway, any idea or remedy to quicken hair growth? If I want to perm or do anything with my hair, I'll have to do it before CNY season because that's when prices will hit sky high.