| Wave Hair Sets: Chemical Dangers! |
| Karen Marie Shelton |
| Date: 7/15/06 |
Introduction A very
recent report by
ABC news warned consumers about the dangers of
receiving chemical perms, also known as hair waving
treatments, wave hair sets, chemical waving or similar
other names that all relate to creating artificial waves
in the hair.
The New York Post also issued dire warnings against hair
perms.
My mom's baby sister, my Aunt Margie was a
hairdresser for many years. She did hair for
clients as well as for everyone in the family, including
my beautiful unspoiled hair. At the tender age of
five, my mom and Aunt Margie decided that I should have
a chemical perm to create masses of Shirley Templesque
curls for my First Communion. I suffered through
the pungent aroma, the tugging and pulling of the
rollers and the burning of the perm solutions. I
absolutely hated the results which was a headful of
frizz and lots of breakage.
Chemical hair perms have had a long and sometimes
unfortunate history with hair consumers.
The chemical waving or perming process has been
officially around since 1905 when the first treatment
designed to permanently (until your hair grew out) add
curls and waves to hair was created by hairdresser Karl
Nessler.
Unofficially Mr. Nessler had been working with very
harsh chemicals since the late 1890s in order to develop
a way to form curls on wigs. From those experiments he
decided to create a formula that would add curls and
wave to human hair.
Chemical Dangers Of Wave Sets
In the early days Nessler's chemicals were extremely
harsh and were too dangerous to be used on human scalps
and near human skin. Nesslers experiments
continued until 1906 when he demonstrated the first
chemical waving treatment. His first attempts
results in completely burning the hair off the head of
his loving wife who also suffered scalp burns in the
process.
Combining a heating device with sodium hydroxide, the
hair to be curled or waved was carefully wrapped in a
spiral direction around huge metal rods that were
connected to an even bigger machine built with a special
electrical heating device. The newly spiral rolled
hair was then heated to 212 degrees Fahrenheit for
several hours. To keep from burning the scalp, a
special system of pulleys and rollers were used to keep
the hair with the solution away from the head. The perm
or wave machine looked like a machine that might be used
for torture in a science fiction film.
Ultimately the new fangled "wave machine" which
created waves in big S shapes and an array of curls, was
patented in London in the year 1909. Thus began
the evolution of the hair permanent or perm for short.
By far one of the biggest and earliest concerns with
wave sets and perms was
chemical and/or heat damage to the hair. In
reality, those concerns are still in play almost 100
years later. In the early days it was extremely
important to keep the scalp free of any of the sodium
hydroxide formulas which could create fierce burns.
Even though chemical perms have come a long way
since they were first invented, the chemicals used are
still extremely harsh and can be very amaging. All
hair experts stress the importance of keeping contact
with the scalp and the skin to a bare minimum.
Even though the more modern "perms" are considered less
damaging than the earlier versions, hairdressers still
must take care to avoid contact with the scalp.
A badly applied permanent wave may result in hair
that loses it normal elasticity and thus becomes
brittle, fragile and very prone to excessive breakage.
This can happen when the breakage of the disulfide
bonds that occurs when the harsh chemicals are applied
to break the hair's natural bonds are not properly
reformed. The actual hair shaft can experience
severe fractures right where they leave the scalp.
In some cases, when this happens, simple touching or
combing of the hair can cause the initiation of new
breakage. In most cases hair will re-grow,
although not in all cases.
Summary Of How Chemical Perm Works
A perm encompasses two key components:
1. How the hair is sectioned, rolled and the
type of rollers or rolling devices used.
2. The chemicals applied.
A Perm By Any Other Name Is A Perm
To try and alleviate the concerns of consumers to
sell the perming process, which is often expensive,
hairdressers may claim that they have a softer, gentler
waving solution. Or they might advise that they
use a completely different wrapping system that will
create a softer and less damaged curl and/or wave
pattern.
The reality is that if chemicals are used, whether
cold or hot, to break the hair's disulfide bonds, it is
still a perm. This is true regardless of what type
of rollers are used, whether the perm solution is mixed
with essential or other oils or if special rollers are
used instead of the traditional perm rods.
Summary
Even though chemical perms have come a long way
since they were first invented, the chemicals used are
still harsh and can be damaging. A perm that has
gone bad may result in scalp burns or hair breakage that
can range from severe to extremely severe. Many
consumers have learned that there are so many other ways
to safely and easily create waves and curls in their
hair that they have abandoned the chemical perm in waves
- pun intended.
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