The perm,
grown up.

Almost nobody, which is why people end up searching for it. When we priced the market across Flintshire, Denbighshire, Wrexham and Conwy, around forty-five salons published a price list and four of them published a perm price. It has quietly fallen off menus — not because clients stopped wanting it, but because it takes two and a half hours of a stylist's day and a lot of salons stopped stocking for it.

No, and that look was not inevitable even then. Eighties perms used small rods, laid out in a rigid uniform grid, with one strength of lotion for everybody, processed all the way to maximum curl. Larger rods, mixed sizes on the same head, irregular placement and a shorter process give movement and volume instead. It is the same chemistry and a completely different result.

A body wave. Hair that holds a blow-dry instead of hanging flat, that air-dries with some shape in it, and that has visible waves rather than ringlets. On straight hair it is roughly the effect of a loose tong — except it survives washing.

It is a chemical process that permanently alters the hair's internal structure, so it genuinely changes the hair. On healthy, uncoloured or lightly tinted hair, at the right strength, the effect on condition is modest and manageable. On bleached or already fragile hair the honest answer is no, and Charlotte will not do it.

Usually yes if it is tinted, subject to a strand test on the day. If it is highlighted it depends how much — the traditional guideline is not above about a third lightened, and results can be uneven because porosity varies across the head. If it is bleached, no.

Not as a routine. UK professional guidance is a minimum of two weeks after colouring before perming — ideally three or four — and ten to fifteen days after perming before colouring. If you want both, the perm goes first, partly because perming lightens the colour that is already on the hair. That means two appointments a fortnight apart, and it is worth knowing before you book.

A perm does not need the forty-eight-hour allergy alert test that hair colour does — that test exists for the dye chemistry, not for perm lotion. What a perm needs is a consultation and tests on the day: elasticity, to see whether your hair can take the process; porosity, because uneven porosity gives uneven curl; and a test curl to get the strength and rod size right. If you are having colour as well, that does need the forty-eight-hour test.

The hair is still settling into its new shape after the neutralising step. Washing it, wetting it, tying it up, clipping it or brushing it hard inside that window can drop or distort the wave. Manufacturers and salons are consistent on forty-eight hours, and it is the one piece of aftercare that genuinely changes the result you are left with.

A standard perm is roughly three to six months. A soft body wave — which is what this is — is nearer two to three, because looser waves relax faster. That is the trade-off for softness, and it is better said now than discovered in month three.

No, and this is the perm's best feature. There is no demarcation line anywhere. The wave gradually softens and new growth comes through straight at the root. If you decide not to have it done again, nothing goes wrong — it simply fades out over a few months.

Allow about two and a half hours. It is not a service that can be rushed — the processing time is the processing time, and hurrying the neutralising is how perms go wrong. On length: the hair has to wrap round a rod at least once, so roughly three inches is the absolute minimum and four or five gives the softer, looser result most people are actually after.

No. Like the colour services, the perm price covers the perm itself and not the wash and blow-dry finish afterwards. A blow-dry is £22 and a cut and blow-dry £35, booked at the same time if you want it.

It will make it look fuller, by lifting it away from the head and giving it shape and volume. It does not add strands and it does not make individual hairs thicker. Nothing does.

Yes, during. Perm lotion has a distinctive sulphurous smell, and in a salon it disappears into a big ventilated room — in a domestic kitchen it does not. Expect a smell while it is on and some residual smell for a day or so afterwards. Open a window, and do not book it for the morning of a dinner party. Modern lotions are better fragranced than they were, but they do not smell of nothing.

They work in a specific and limited way, and it is worth being precise about it. A conditioning treatment coats the hair and smooths the cuticle so it lies flat, which makes hair softer, shinier, far easier to comb and noticeably better to blow-dry. You will feel the difference. It sits on the hair rather than inside it, and it lasts a few washes rather than forever.

No — and be careful of anybody who says otherwise. Hair above the scalp is dead keratin with no ability to heal itself, and the UK advertising regulator has been explicit that it has not seen evidence a conditioner can repair damage. What a good treatment genuinely does is make hair behave better, feel stronger, comb more easily and break less. That is worth having. It is not repair.

For hair that is bleached or heavily processed, yes: the measured benefits are real — less breakage, easier combing, better tensile strength during and after a chemical service. What the evidence does not support is the marketing story about rebuilding bonds deep inside the hair and restoring it. If your hair is in good condition you are paying for something you do not need. What is offered here is a conditioning treatment, which is a different and more modest job — and Charlotte will tell you which conversation you are actually in.

Not a stronger chemical. A more thorough one. Fifteen minutes as an add-on does a real job: hair comes out softer and blow-dries better, and it lasts a few washes. The standalone version buys a proper detangle first, sectioned application so the product actually reaches everywhere rather than being smoothed over the outside, time to sit, and a thorough rinse. Better executed, not twice as powerful.

If your hair is bleached or heavily processed, roughly every four to six weeks alongside your other appointments. If it is in decent condition, when it starts feeling rough — which for a lot of people is twice a year. It is not something you need every visit.

Fine, limp hair that is easily weighed down — a treatment can make that worse, not better. Healthy hair that has never been coloured. Anyone already using a decent conditioner properly at home. And short hair that is cut every five or six weeks, because the damaged part keeps being removed anyway. Charlotte will say so rather than adding £11 to the bill.