If you grew up thinking that perms were the stuff of '80s nightmares — with frizzy curls, massive heights, and teased bangs — then you're going to want to sit down for this: perms are very much back in. But don't worry, we're not all going to start requesting Dolly Parton coils or Cher's brushed-out mane. The 2018 version is decidedly more modern and natural, which is partly the reason why Olivia Munn got a perm.
She isn't the first Hollywood celeb to transform her straight locks into curly hair — in late January, Emma Stone hit up a West Hollywood salon with her friend to get natural looking beach waves. She snapped a photo of the two of them at the Mare Salon, with their hair done up in orange perm rods, and writing the caption, "Some friends get tattoos, well we get perms! We're here to tell you that they are BACK and they're not your grandma's perm."
Actress Jaime King soon followed after, booking an appointment at the same salon and sharing the experience in a time-lapse video post, giving followers a peek into what to expect if they wanted to go through with it themselves. She captioned the video "first perm since third grade!" showing just how long the trend went into hiatus. The end result was similar to Stone's, where she left with loose, textured curls.
Not one to miss out, Lola Kirke, the actress from the Emmy-winning show Mozart in the Jungle, booked an appointment with the same stylist, and left with a short, bouncy bob of curls.
Now Olivia Munn has booked her own appointment at the same salon (this is clearly the place to go to get your curl on,) giving the comeback trend a try.
Stylist Kiley Fitzgerald was the one that did her hair, giving the actress a super soft, loose curl. Rather than the springy coils that Olivia Newton-John and Sarah Jessica Parker were known for in the '80s, today's perms give straight hair more of a beachy texture or loose wave.
Munn first gave a sneak peek of the look through her Instagram stories, where she brought her followers into the salon chair with her, giving them a glimpse of the process much like King did.
The first photo showed her sitting in the chair with the foam rollers in, the perm chemical setting her hair into a ringlet-like shape. She captioned it "We're busy," sitting patiently as she waited for the process to do its thing.
Afterwards Fitzgerald took out the rollers, and we got to see how one's hair would look at that stage. Sporting tight, wet coils that kind of looked like a throwback to middle school dance up-dos, it looked dated enough to turn the casual observer into a skeptic. Anticipating the reaction, Munn captioned the photo, "It's not really done, calm down folks."
One could assume that she got a lot of messages in her inbox after the first story posted, with concerned fans asking why she would get such a seemingly outdated treatment. She didn't really put their minds to rest that day either — no more images were shared after the appointment, but on Mar. 12 the actress gave us a glimpse into the finished look with a series of Boomerang videos posted onto her Instagram. The first video was captioned, "I got a #PERM! Thanks @bykileyfitz." In it you could see the beachy, low-key texture of the hairstyle.
The second video shared, "Amateur twirling BUT professional curls by the brilliant @bykileyfitz #perm."
And the last one gave you a closer glimpse at the stylish waves, where she wrote, "Yup. These waves are permanent. Thanks to bb @bykileyfitz"
Clearly perms are back, and they're not half bad! If you want a beachy wave that doesn't consist of sea salt spray and a curling iron in the morning, this could be a great alternative.
