Author: Jules Chan

Question by Bonnie:

I’d desperately love your advice on something. I have really really thin hair, and really really less hair. My hair is constantly flat and limp, so basically it just looks like a thin layer of black on top of my head. I’ve done everything I could to give my poor locks a little bit of oomph, and nothing seems to work. I was wondering if you thought a body wave could maybe give some volume to my hair. I’m a little weary of chemical treatments though because I’m afraid it may cause me to lose more hair, and really, every strand is precious to me. My hair right now just about skims my shoulders because I’ve been growing it out. I usually go with short cuts to give my hair some volume, but i thought maybe this time I’d try a body wave. Are those usually successful on Asian hair? how long do the last? Is this a good idea at all?

Answer by Jules:

After taking a look at your photo to help determine the thinness of your hair, One of the first things I would try for your hair is to have a good layered haircut,( if you haven’t already) medium length layers so that it gives it as much body as possible, it would help even more if you had the front part of your hair cut into some kind of longer sweepy look, this would help to define the hairstyle so it doesn’t feel like its just hanging. Next I would try 2 very good products for fine hair, both are made by Prive – (you may have already done this step but I have to add it) Weightless Amplifier being one, applied to wet hair and blow dried in to give body, and secondly their Texture Spray, fantastic for giving body to fine hair and most of our clients cannot live without this one. Not sticky like a hairspray, just enough to make it stand away from your roots. If these step have already been tried and your still thinking about a perm then here are some considerations for you:

• Do you mind changing the texture of your hair? From straight to slight movement?
• Do you mind losing some shine in your hair? Not becos of the perm but becos once hair has movement in it, the light diffuses it in a different way, I wrote about this in one of my blog posts
• Do you want a slightly messier look for a change? Becos it will automatically look messier because of movement.
• Are you ready to treat the hair in a different way? As in no combing or brushing it while it is dry as it will make it fluff or frizz, you must leave the hair to dry naturally or use a diffuser. Unless your really good with your blowdrys then the hair can be left abit fluffy and frizzy looking if your trying to blow dry it straight.

If you think you can handle all of the above changes then yes, a perm (soft one) can work well especially if you want a different look. Perms can look great if done well. Asian hair takes fast and well despite people thinking the opposite. My advice if you want to try one is to find a good trendy Asian stylist who does perms all the time, obviously if you went to Asia they would be easier to find but I would definitely stick to someone who has done lots of perms before, then they will know what rollers to use and how long to leave it to achieve the look you want. You could even get them to leave the top straighter and get the body from half way down or take large sections with large rollers. Look for pictures of movements and wave that you like and take them with you. Just remember the looser the wave the less time it will last. If you normally have short hair anyway I know your not too attached to long hair, I think its a nice change, but try to do it when your hair is a little longer due to shrinkage and don’t forget perms drop after the first week, so the first week should be abit firmer.

And last but not least, Perms don’t normally cause hair loss, but they can cause hair breakage if left on too long or if the solution is too strong.

Here’s an example I came across that I think is sweet: