New Curl in Town

When permanents first came into fashion, not only a woman's hairdresser but everyone else too knew for sure. The springy mass of kinky curls that at best looked like Shirley Temple's and at worst like a Brillo pad was all too easy to identify. Women eventually smartened up and went straight, turning to the long, sometimes stringy look of the late '60s and early '70s. Now the curls are back, thanks to a hairdo dubbed the "unpermanent."

This new twist to an old curl looks very little like its predecessor. Instead of tightening into frizzy ringlets, the hair strands fluff out in graceful waves or very floppy curls--what celebrated Coiffeur Vidal Sassoon calls a "marvelous, curly 'Greek boy' look." As another hairdresser puts it: "The difference between the old permanent and a careful unpermanent is the difference between your first dress and a Balenciaga."

The secret behind the unpermanent is a new kind of odorless setting solution that is much milder than the old stuff and produces a looser curl. Moreover, the choice of rollers is generally the sausage-sized ones instead of the familiar skinny kind used for the standard permanent. After the hair has been set, the stylist applies the lotion--sometimes uniformly, often just on some parts of the head, leaving the remainder of the hair straight for an unusual textured effect. Once this is done, the hair is partially dried under a heat lamp in a scant 20 minutes, then blown fully dry.

Unpermanents first appeared a few seasons ago, but have just begun to catch on. Stylists at Superhair, a Manhattan salon, now do about 18 a day compared with five a week last year. At Chicago's Mark Benaim salon, requests for the new hairdo have doubled.

What is most remarkable about the run on curls is that males are involved. As Paul Mitchell, co-owner of Super-hair, puts it: "A few years ago, if a fellow agreed to a permanent, he'd ask to be closeted in a room alone. It was rather like going to the bathroom." Now men sit around Superhair and countless other salons with a head full of rollers while their unperm sets. Confided David Silverman, 22, from North Miami Beach: "I was tired of the long, straggly hair that always knotted. They say with this new style I can let it blow in the wind and it will go right back again." Some men even bring their girl friends along for an unpermanent. Their order to the stylist: "His and hers."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.