Here Come The Curls

By Robyn Hughes

Talk’s style editor sought out where to go to get full bodied and beautiful curls.

After four months in Shanghai I have a problem, a big uncontrollable problem. Specifically, my hair, never much for obeying commands, has teamed up with the Shanghai humidity and created a monster atop my head. It’s time for a change, a drastic one; and while many people have been optioning for the Brazilian Blowout and other chemical straightening treatments, I have decided to go the other route; I want curls, big Cher-esque curls, and for that I am going to need to be in the hands of experts. So, not without some trepidation, I head to Franck Provost on Hongmei Lu for a perm.

With four salons currently open in Shanghai and a fifth opening in Xintiandi in December, Franck Provost can attest to bringing a little bit of French chic to the city. Upon my arrival, I am immediately made welcome and feel at ease in the cool, but not intimidating, white and black salon. Explaining my dilemma, I am then placed into the experienced care of Top Stylist, Stanley Ni Lee, for my consultation.

Shanghai born and New Zealand raised, Stanley is part of Franck Provost's enviable international team, and his decades' worth of experience is evident as he tells what a perm can and can't achieve. While Cher's Oscar winning curls are never going to settle into my soft, fine hair, I can have real curls put into my slight waves. With a European inspired jaw length cut, I decide on tight curls for my new look, achieved with a DV2 Cold Perm. That agreed, Stanley then hands me over to stylist Talei, the man in charge of the technical side of things.

First my hair is washed and curlers are placed throughout my damp hair, which takes about half an hour. With my hair pinned up around curlers, making me look like a 50s housewife, the chemical is then applied, my hair wrapped in clingfilm and I am left to cook for 50 minutes. Talei keeps a watchful eye on the process and after 40 minutes my hair is rinsed and a little more chemical is placed on my hair for the last 10 minutes, thankfully now sans-clingfilm. In total, the actual perm has taken just under an hour and a half.

A final rinse and it is time for the moment of truth, and as the curlers are removed I can see that for the first time my hair has a real curl. While putting in my final cut Stanley gives me some after care advice: I am not to straighten my hair for the next two days and should avoid washing it for the same amount of time. I need to get myself a defuser for my hairdryer and use mousse, drying my hair upside down for the best results. The curls are permanent (hence the name) but I should head back in two months for a touch up (only a little longer than I would usually go between haircuts).

Flipping my hair back when it is dry my first words on seeing my new curls are, “Wow – they're big!” Some final cuts are made so that they settle down and I find myself already in love; my hair is now jaw length at the front, graduated at the back and, maybe for the first time, cool. I definitely feel a bit of Franck Provost's French chic has rubbed off on previously plain old English me.

Still, as Stanley explains, a perm is not for everyone. Anything which chemically treats your hair will always leave some damage, so those with colour and, particularly, highlights in their hair should leave well alone. However, if your hair is healthy, today's perms are nothing like the crimped monstrosities of the 80s and can leave an amazing new look, from simple waves to genuine curls.

And if you fancy a new change but don't want to go the curly route? Well he also adds that the Hongmei Lu branch of Franck Provost are colour specialists, which is great for you Northern Europeans with blonde hair.

DV2 Cold Perm: RMB 1,010 for short hair; RMB 1,280 for long hair. Franck Provost. 3182 Hongmei Lu, near Chengjiaoqiao Zhi Lu. Tel: 6446 6928. Web: www.franckprovost.com.cn