Do I look my age now?

I kind of made an impulse decision to get a perm or something that would give my flat and straight hair some volume and body. So after a couple of hours of research online, I decided that I would get a digital perm. (This blog post pretty much helped me make up my mind.) Basically, a digital perm, which started in Japan, is a hot perm applied to the ends of the hair so you get big curls and/or loose waves. A cold perm is close to the head and produces small tight curls.

This is what my hair looked like before my appointment.

When I got to the salon, they applied creams and such to my hair to protect it, then they hooked me up to this contraption where the heat is kept at a certain temperature based on what kind of hair you have, i.e. thin, coarse, thick, fine, etc.

The whole process took five hours (partly because the salon was really busy that day), and it cost $4500NT ($140USD), but I got a 50% discount cause I had a coupon. After the stylist dried and styled it, it looked like this.

Now, I can just wash it, put some curl-enhancing product in it while it’s damp, and then let it air-dry. The waves appear when it dries. Then if I want it a bit more curlier, I can take a curling iron to the locks in front for a few seconds, and voilá!