What I learned about my gray hair from a failed perm rod set.

Have you ever done your hair and could tell before you were finished that the style was a fail? That was me recently when I attempted a perm rod set on my fine gray natural hair.

** Please Note: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I only link to products that I personally like or that have been recommended to me by my beautiful butterflies. **

My Mistakes

I saw some YouTube videos of women doing a perm rod set on dry hair so my first mistake is thinking I could imitate their technique and get the same result.

I washed my hair the night before, put my hair in four sections, with my favorite leave-in conditioner, Melanin leave-in and twisting butter, then let air dry. 

My expectation was to stretch my hair without heat by letting my twists dry overnight then comb out. The reality is my hair was flaky from too much product and my gray hair was not smooth enough for a perm rod set.

I even attempted to use a flexi rod instead of a perm rod since it was smoother and did not snap on my hair. That was also a fail because my gray hair was too puffy and frizzy.

I did try this mousse from Lottabody for the first time but my gray hair laughed when I tried to use it. I am going to try again with wet hair and see if this mousse is still a no for me.

My Takeaways

• Have realistic expectations of imitating a style from YouTube. Especially if those I am imitating have thick non-gray hair.

• Hairstyle fails teach me a lot about what my hair loves and hates. 

• My gray hair is not a fan of being stretched. It rebels much more than when I attempt a wash and go.

• For styles like perm rods, it may be better to do on wet hair not dry. 

• Mousse may be better on wet hair instead of dry hair.

• DON’T use SMALL tooth comb with my dry hair! (SMH)

• My hair has changed and so the results I remember before my hair was gray will be different.

• My hair teaches me how to make the best of what I have.

If you want to see this fail in action check out this video.