The Differences Between a Root Perm and a Body Perm

When hair falls limper than last night's linguine, perming might wake up your style and save you the trouble of hours of hair preparation every day. Ladies who want lift and volume instead of curl from a perm often have good results with root and body perms. These two perms are very different in terms of how they look, are applied, the hair length you need to rock the treatment and the damage that results, so its important to know the differences before you let your stylist get to work.

Curl and Wave Effect

Both a root perm and a body perm can give your tresses a much-needed boost by creating extra volume. If you go for a root perm, however, you don't get any actual curl or noticeable wave. Root perms just shift the angle at which the top of your strands want to sit, keeping them from going flat. Because the strands can't go flat, your hair looks like it's fuller and more lively. A body perm does give you noticeable but loose waves. The waves give you volume by keeping the entire length of the strands from sitting right next to each other.

Area of Perming

As the name implies, a root perm only concentrates on the roots of your hair. It leaves the rest of your locks untouched by the perming chemicals. Generally, root perms only impact two to four inches of length. With a body wave, you perm all of your hair, so you have to work with the entire length you have. The root area thus can get some wave, but it isn't necessarily as full as the rest of the hair.

Length

Root perms work with only the first few inches of hair near the scalp. They tend to be better for gals with shorter manes as a result. Body wave perms are just the opposite. They need quite a bit of length -- at least shoulder to collarbone length -- to work. Otherwise, there isn't enough hair to create a clear loose wave impact, as the hair has to go around fairly large rollers for you to get the look.

Damage

Because root perms work only with the upper part of your hair and don't put the perming chemicals on the rest of your strands, root perms generally result in less overall damage although the area to which you apply the chemicals still suffers. With this type of perm, you preserve the health of your hair initially but sacrifice it little by little as you keep touching up. This is why ladies who already have had chemical treatments opt for a root perm -- they give the treated part of the hair a chance to grow out without being "double processed." Body perms force the entire length of your hair to take a chemical hit. You don't preserve your hair health much at all, accepting the widespread damage as desirable to get the look you want. However, there isn't much difference between a body perm and root perm in terms of going back to a natural state. Because both perms put chemicals on the roots, you have to wait a few months before you finally can snip the last of the permed hair off and start over.