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does any one remember these. my mom used to have one.

I had one or two that were very similar. Had long hair then and set it in curlers and had to dry it with cap on this hairdryer. Hated it so eventually cut my hair.

Mine might still be out in garage somewhere! Worked great.
Velda

Carol. I use to have one too. I searched and found a picture of a 1942 permanent wave machine that I tried to post but couldn’t. I was maybe 7 yrs old and spent hours hooked to one of those machines. I’m surprised I have any hair at all. That was child abuse. Lol

I had one like that and putting it on over those brush rollers was torture! I also had really long hair. Shirl I remember those machines you mentioned! It was on a big pole and all these rollers dangled down with rollers on the end or maybe they were clamps that hooked over the rollers they put in your hair, to heat them up. I remember throwing a tantrum in the same shop and leaving with one side of my hair cut and the other not. I kept telling them i didn't want my hair cut. I was maybe seven or eight at the time.

I remember those horrid permanent machine. like you were going to be electrocuted I remember crying that I didnt want my hair curly
the dryer is a decoration in a restaurant.

There was one at my house, too.

I had one like that at one time and then got one with a hard hood. It went with the hurricane. When I was a teen they use to fuss with me all the time about washing my hair at night. They said I was going to get pneumonia. I would have to sit in front of a space heater to dry my hair. I was so glad when I learned to use a round brush and a hand held hair dryer.

Shirl, you are right that perms are child abuse. I only had two and cut up so much they gave up on me. I hated to have anyone comb or brush my hair.

Martha

I think there was one of those at our house as well...
never had the "pleasure" of using the perm machine although my mom gave me perms all the time... then it stopped not sure when perhaps in high school differently in college then one day I decided to get a Afro when they were popular perhaps even twice... then second time it was so tight that I couldn't even pull a pick through it... that was the last perm I ever got... I remember thinking my hair was so straight it may have been but age fixed that not curly but wavy
those were the days... the kids today don't know how good they have it
sheila

Acadianmom wrote:Shirl, you are right that perms are child abuse. I only had two and cut up so much they gave up on me. I hated to have anyone comb or brush my hair.

Martha

OMG, Shirl and Martha, definitely child abuse!! And I am not kidding, although you both may be.

I can remember one of those torture devices shown in the photo at my house growing up. At one time, we even had one of those giant metal hair dryers like you could find in a salon in those days.

My mother was a beautician, and I remember that she was always fussing and fooling with my hair (hair cuts, perms, etc., the works. I think she liked to try things out on me before she tried them out on a customer). From the time I was a very young child, maybe as young as six or seven. I hated it, and, of course, I had no say in the matter. I think this went on until I was in my early teens, and even though I was a pretty agreeable child most of the time, I tossed a majorly ugly screaming tantrum one time when Mom told me that I (again. . . ugh) needed a perm.

It was at about then that the constant fussing with my hair finally stopped. I think she finally got the message.

To this day, I absolutely and totally hate and despise anyone touching my head and doing anything with my hair. To the extent that I have not even had a hair cut in at least twenty years - I can't really remember the last time I had one, it might have been longer ago than that.

My hair has gotten quite thin as I have gotten older, and seems to stay at about waist length. I just braid it and pin it to the top of my head in a bun, then off I go. Quick, easy-peasy, no muss no fuss.

I have always washed my hair at night - every night in the shower - towel it, and go to bed with it still wet. It is dry by morning.

I have never suffered any ill effects from washing my hair at bedtime.

Anne

We are totally a generation with memories all the following generations don't get! That permanent machine at the salon: It took two ladies to hold my head up because the darn machine was so heavy! First time I was probably 5 or 6 and like so many of you, my Mom insisted I keep getting perms! Pure torture! Do you remember the smell of scorching hair?

I have a hand held hair dryer along with a curling iron under my bathroom sink. Haven't used either of them since I moved here - - -12 years ago!

Evie

Oh yes, I had one of those. Put it on and lay on the bed. Went to sleep. Still have a scar on back of my neck where it burned me! Glad those days are gone! Lyn

Talk about mothers!!! Mine had dark brown, thick hair all of her life. It only started to turn gray when she was 90, and even then was still thick, and looked more frosted than gray.

Anyway, she had this strong belief that the reason she (and me of course, and anyone else) had thick, healthy hair was because they brushed it hard and yanked it with the brush to stimulate the blood flow to their scalp!! I had long blond hair and HATED getting my hair brushed, for obvious reasons. I was very happy to start brushing my own hair when I grew up, and then after I got married, I cut it short and have kept it short ever since.

My aunt is in the hospital with Influenza A, so I have been getting constant calls from every dept you can think of in the hospital. Very busy late night and morning today. I was going to do some sightseeing today, but it is windy, and with all the phone calls, I am postponing that until tomorrow.

I also got regular perms by my aunt or grandma when I was little. Hated it! However, when I was a teenager, I continued the perm thing myself and well into adulthood. I didn't like my straight hair.
Well, menopause took care of that and turned my hair wavy and curly. It is almost shoulder-length now and the bottom is very curly. Not sure how long I will keep it longer like this tho.

I have seen photos of the old perm machines. I can't even imagine going thru that! My cosmetology instructor told us that a lot of women's hair just burned right off during the process!

My sister and I always had pageboy hair cuts. As I got older my hair got curlier but it never curled the way I wanted. I would roll it on two inch rollers to try to straighten it. In college my roommate and I were always doing something to our hair. She was blond. We would put something on our hair and lay out in the sun. Of course, our hair just turned orange. Then I decided to put a champagne color on it and I had pink hair. I had to go to class one day with pink hair until we could go to a drug store. Then I put an ash blond toner and my hair was darker than the natural color and had a sheen to it like a beetle. I even tried putting a straightener several times. Now my hair just gets frizzy. After all of that I'm probably lucky I still have hair.

Martha