It’s the beginning of the New Year and resolutions are being made. Ladies, put self-care on your list! We should take time to look and feel our best in 2024. In the 1970s, this was the time of year when I asked Mom for a home permanent wave. My goodness, who the heck remembers this rite of passage?

My hair was always poker straight and I longed for curls and waves. Perms always took place on a Saturday, and the process took up most of the day from beginning to end. It was agonizing.

First, Mom gathered all the supplies. In her full apron, she collected a comb, a towel, some hair clips, a spray bottle of water, and the most important pieces to the puzzle were the perm rods, and the Lilt Perm in a box. 

I hated the process of getting a home perm but couldn’t wait for the results. Mom would follow the directions carefully setting all the bottles filled with the magic concoctions on our newspaper-covered kitchen table. The hair separating and combing. The hair pulling. The thin white papers that needed to be wrapped up with the perm rods (The person getting the perm was responsible for separating the papers and handing each one to Mom as she needed them.) The snapping of the rubber end of the rod to secure your hair. And the big one…the smell of the perm solution. If I think about it, I can still recall the awful, chemical scent that permeated the whole house for the entire day.

It felt like an eternity to sit and wait on the same black stool we always used for perm day for the magic to happen. Then came the rinse, conditioner, and shampoo in the kitchen sink so Mom could use the spray hose to rinse my hair thoroughly. The moment of truth happened when she started unrolling the perm rods as I bent over the sink, always complaining that my neck and scalp hurt. 

Were my Mom’s home perms successful? Hmm..My straight-layered, Carol Brady hairstyle was now a tight-curled version. I can’t honestly use the word “success” to describe the look, but every year I always begged for another round of hair torture. Mom, thank you for always trying to make me feel special and beautiful through those awkward and turbulent adolescent years. It never went unnoticed.

You bet ya those are our original perm rods in the picture! I have them displayed in a jar in our bathroom. It’s one of my favorite retro decor pieces I treasure!