Cosmetology “Highlights” – Week 3 – The Life of a Cosmetology Student

CURLS!  Some of us are born with them and some of us are not.  There is hope for us not born with them … THE PERMANENT WAVE, also known as a “perm.”

The first attempt at creating curly hair was back in 1872.  The beginning inventions involved thermal methods and no chemicals but that proved to degrade the hair. Another attempt was to wrap the hair in a spiral around rods connected to a machine with an electric heating device, then sodium hydroxide was applied and the hair was heated to 212 °F (100 °C) or more for an extended period of time.

The first attempts resulted in hair being burnt off and scalp burns.

The industry is fortunate that many pioneers and inventors continued to test many methods. Today’s perms are done by winding plastic rods of varying widths around sections of hair and then applying chemicals that allow the hair to wave.

Moraine Park Technical College cosmetology students will spend 72 hours in their first 8 weeks practicing and learning permanent wave techniques.

The next step will then be to perform perms on family and friends in Techniques Salon when they are in their Professional Practice class.  Click here to learn more about how you can join Moraine Park’s cosmetology program.