Appreciation post: Remembering the old school perm rods from my aunt's shop in Tacoma

I was cleaning out my kit and found a box of those gray plastic perm rods from the early 2000s, the ones with the rubber bands you had to hook on. Compared to the modern thermal rods I use now, the curl pattern was so much tighter and less natural looking. It makes you realize how much the goal shifted from just getting curl to creating movement and texture. Anyone else have a tool from back in the day that feels like a relic now?

3 comments

3 Comments

stella225d ago

My aunt had a salon in Spokane and I used to help her clean those rods on Sundays. I always thought the tight curls looked a bit dated, like a poodle perm. But I saw a client last year who still gets her hair done with them, and the shape it gave her fine hair actually had a cool, architectural vibe. It made me see the style as a specific choice, not just an old technique. Sometimes the old tools just need the right head of hair to make sense again.

the_alice5d ago

Honestly, I miss that kind of defined curl. Everything now is so loose it falls out in two days. Those old rods gave you a set that lasted weeks, real staying power. Sometimes you want a precise, uniform look, not just beachy waves.

fisher.thomas5d ago

Oh man, this reminds me of my friend's mom. She had this whole drawer of those exact rods, the gray ones with the little hooks. She used them on my friend once for a school dance, like, ten years ago. The curls were so tight and springy, it was like a helmet of perfect little rings. My friend hated it at the time, said she looked like a cartoon character. But now she says that set held its shape through three days of rain and humidity, something her modern curling wand could never do.