Remembering the STINKY perms of yesterday...

A

Aunt Marg

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Anyone else remember those stinky perms of the 60's and 70's?

How they used to stink up the entire house for days?

How they used to make your eyes water - just from the odour?

Our home seemed to be perm-central when I was a kid, for if it wasn't my mom sitting down getting her hair permed by grandma, it was grandma sitting down and getting her hair permed by mom, and perms happened regularly.

Between the smell of the perm solution and cigarettes, it was enough to drive you out of the house!

And while we're on the topic of, let's not forget about those funny vacuum-cleaner like contraptions with the long hose attached to a big balloon-looking, elasticized vinyl cover, that we'd pull-on over our heads to dry our newly created doo!
 

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I never had a perm...except once about 20 years ago, at the salon, and it was no longer the smelly ones I remember my aunties having when I was a kid. ...oooh and the equally very sticky smelly hair lacquer they used to keep the perm solid...
 

hollydolly said:
I never had a perm...except once about 20 years ago, at the salon, and it was no longer the smelly ones I remember my aunties having when I was a kid. ...oooh and the equally very sticky smelly hair lacquer they used to keep the perm solid...
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Yes, I remember the countertop in our bathroom had a rough, built-up reside on it from moms lacquer hairspray.
 
Aunt Marg said:
Anyone else remember those stinky perms of the 60's and 70's?

How they used to stink up the entire house for days?

How they used to make your eyes water - just from the odour?

Our home seemed to be perm-central when I was a kid, for if it wasn't my mom sitting down getting her hair permed by grandma, it was grandma sitting down and getting her hair permed by mom, and perms happened regularly.

Between the smell of the perm solution and cigarettes, it was enough to drive you out of the house!

And while we're on the topic of, let's not forget about those funny vacuum-cleaner like contraptions with the long hose attached to a big balloon-looking, elasticized vinyl cover, that we'd pull-on over our heads to dry our newly created doo!
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My 85 yr. old sister still has one of those hairdryers! I don't think she uses it, but she did use it to do Mom's hair once, back when they were already extinct. She keeps everything!
 
My perm days were in the 70's when I had the white version of an afro .. loved it ... and yes, it was stinky!
iu
 
Damaged Goods said:
Oh yeah, mom's sisters would give 'em to each other and Nana's house would reek. I think the slop was called "Toni."

But not in the '60s, more like the early '50s. I don't remember them after then.
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Toni, does ring a bell.

I remember my boasting about how she bought some new and improved smelling perm solution, I was ecstatic, thinking nor more stink, but such was not the case, even the new and improved version smelled like the dickens! :)
 
Pinky said:
I had to suffer through many Toni home permanents when I was little, and everyone wanted to give their girls that Shirley Temple look.

My older sister had both these types of hair dryers:

View attachment 100834
View attachment 100835
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Yes, yes, yes, Pinky, those are the EXACT hairdryers I remember!

I remember the old hair salons, where an entire wall was dedicated to industrial dome-dryers, and under each sat a woman with freshly styled hair, and in keeping with the times, there wasn't one that didn't have a cigarette going!
 
No perms- I was on the opposite side: trying to straighten my hair. The products I used didn't do any good, so I actually tried ironing it :p .
I can relate to the hairdryer mentioned in the first post though- I hated the effects it had on my hair, but mostly it bugged me that it was so noisy it drowned out the t.v.!
 
JaniceM said:
No perms- I was on the opposite side: trying to straighten my hair. The products I used didn't do any good, so I actually tried ironing it :p .
I can relate to the hairdryer mentioned in the first post though- I hated the effects it had on my hair, but mostly it bugged me that it was so noisy it drowned out the t.v.!
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Yes, I totally remember the noise!
 
I had naturally-"kinky" hair and had to roll it on curlers while wet in order to "smooth" it.

Remember those "wire" curlers with the bristles that we slept in? Your head would feel in the morning like you had shared a pillow with a porcupine.

We had an old salon dryer, one that actually came from a salon. It was like having your head inside a jet engine and got hot enough to cook your brains.

The problem was that it was from the days of pin curls so the inside was fairly small and had protruding rubber nozzles. We'd have to wiggle our curlered heads in there and I swear our heads would swell because it was hard to maneuver out without leaving hair and scalp behind.

Ahhh, the cost of beauty in the 1950's and 1960's.......
 
jujube said:
I had naturally-"kinky" hair and had to roll it on curlers while wet in order to "smooth" it.

Remember those "wire" curlers with the bristles that we slept in? Your head would feel in the morning like you had shared a pillow with a porcupine.

We had an old salon dryer, one that actually came from a salon. It was like having your head inside a jet engine and got hot enough to cook your brains.

The problem was that it was from the days of pin curls so the inside was fairly small and had protruding rubber nozzles. We'd have to wiggle our curlered heads in there and I swear our heads would swell because it was hard to maneuver out without leaving hair and scalp behind.

Ahhh, the cost of beauty in the 1950's and 1960's.......
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Oh my word, yes, I remember! I don't know how my mom managed to get a proper nights sleep wearing them, and she'd wear a sort of black net-like cap over them.
 
Yes I certainly remember the Toni home perms from back then..... smelly and time consuming, the price you have to pay to try and look as good as possible LOL. I also had some of those old hair dryers pictured above and although somewhat awkward and noisy to use, I didn't really mind. I still have perms occasionally as my hair simply doesn't behave the way I want it to. Whenever I have moved though I have to be patient as it usually takes time (and occasionally a bad perm) to find the right hairdresser that I can work with.
 


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