When a trend is more than just a trend
I still remember it like it was yesterday.
I was sitting in the beauty salon chair, must’ve been around 11 or 12 years old. Or maybe I was 13 — who can remember that far back? And I was staring at my own reflection through the strong, bitter stench of perm fumes — a head full of tightly wrapped curlers in different sizes, presumably strategically placed to best frame my young face.
In retrospect, perhaps I might have chosen a hair studio rather than a beauty salon — there is a difference between the two, even way back in the last century, back when I walked myself into this travesty. I might have asked my mother to book an appointment at a place that catered to teens with ridiculous delusions about how they should look, rather than beg for an appointment at the salon where my bestie’s grandmother was a regular and that specialized in perms for the 60plus crowd.
Because I was a preteen (or teen) who wanted what she couldn’t have. As is the way with preteens (or teens), I suppose. So, my wavy hair that’s neither stick straight nor super curly but could be stick straight with some effort and the right brush ... ya, I didn’t want that. I wanted long, luxurious coils and curls. And maybe because she was sick of listening to me beg, or maybe she was feeling guilty about the whole dog fiasco*, she finally relented and booked an appointment.
(*After years of begging for a dog, my father, high on painkillers for a slipped disc in his back, finally agreed. We had Shauna, the high-energy beagle puppy, a few months when it became clear she needed more exercise and room to run around than our family could provide. So, my mother found what she thought was a nice family to adopt her. The nice family who, after a week, returned her to our front porch in the middle of the night, saying Shauna didn’t understand French (this was Quebec, after all) and they had run out of patience trying to teach her. Needless to say, the whole episode was very traumatic for everyone involved. My mother found another English-speaking family to adopt Shauna where I hope she lived a blissful life, despite her language deficiencies.)
Anyway, when the curlers came out, I was thrilled. There they were — long coils and curls, just like I had seen on TV and in magazines, just like I had fantasized about. But then the stylist picked up a pair of scissors and started to cut.
Back then, most of the ladies who walked into her beauty salon wanted short curls, tight to the head, à la Sophia Petrillo on “The Golden Girls.” And so that’s what she gave me — short curls, tight to my head. And in the end, I walked out with the exact same hairstyle as my bestie’s grandma and Sophia Petrillo, which … for a pudgy kid whose awkward phase felt extra-long and extra awkward, the hairdo didn’t help.
But according to Pinterest via InStyle magazine, perms might be back — at least in South Korea, which means it’s five minutes away from becoming a trend here. In a roundup of summer trends to watch for based on Pinterest pins and searches, InStyle reports that searches for perms have jumped 205 per cent in the past year in the country famous for its beauty products. Of course, the photo InStyle used to illustrate the trend is of a platinum blond whose tanned face is framed with long, luscious locks. Exactly the look my preteen (or teen) self wished for way back when.
And in Canada? We’re searching for blond highlights, says Pinterest — that search is up 345 per cent for Canadians since last year. This … surprises me for some reason. I’m not sure why, but it does. I would have been less surprised if it was pink hair — a look that’s very popular in Sweden, according to this story. Or unicorn hair. But alas, I guess we’re not as adventurous as the Swedes. Although in France bangs are apparently a popular search, a look that so very few women can successfully pull off and that requires so much maintenance.
In any case, let this story be a warning to you. If you do get a perm, be very careful about where you get it done. And if the stylist wants to cut more than you bargained for, speak up. Stand firm on what you want. Or suffer the consequences.