Flow perms for men: the perm flow haircut, done properly

A few years ago a men's perm meant one thing, and it was a photo from the eighties that nobody wanted to recreate. That has changed completely. The modern men's perm is loose, natural and low-maintenance, and I now do more of them in the home salon than I ever expected to, mostly for men between eighteen and forty who have seen it on a footballer or a friend and want to know whether it will work on them.

It usually will. But there are conditions, and the difference between a perm that looks like your hair on a good day and a perm that looks like a perm comes down to three things: whether your hair is right for it, whether the cut underneath is right, and what you do in the first 48 hours.

What a modern men's perm actually is

Forget tight uniform curls. The aim is soft, slightly undone texture: waves that look like you were born with them and have never quite bothered to flatten them. The perming solution is gentler than the ones that gave the technique its reputation, the rods are considerably larger, and the result is movement rather than volume for its own sake.

Chemically it is the same idea as it always was. The solution breaks the bonds that hold your hair in its natural shape, the rods hold the hair in a new shape while that happens, and a neutraliser locks the new shape in. What has changed is the strength of the products and the size of the tools, which means the finished result can be a bend rather than a spiral.

The flow haircut, and why the two go together

A perm is not a haircut. It is something we do to a haircut, and if the cut underneath is wrong the perm will make it worse rather than better.

A flow cut keeps length on top and through the fringe, with sides and back that are softer and longer than a fade, shaped so the hair pushes back and slightly out rather than sitting flat against the head. It is the cut that gives permed hair somewhere to go. Done together, you get a shape that needs about thirty seconds of attention in the morning. That is the whole appeal, and it is why most of the men who book one keep booking it.

If you like a skin fade, a perm is probably not for you. The two ideas are pulling in opposite directions.

Who it suits, honestly

Length. You need at least seven or eight centimetres on top, roughly three inches, so the wave has somewhere to sit. If your hair is shorter than that, the honest answer is to grow it for two or three months first and come back. I would rather tell you that than take your money for a perm that will not show.

Hair type. Straight or slightly wavy hair takes it best. Very fine hair takes it well and gains a lot of apparent thickness. Coarse, thick hair takes it too but needs larger rods and a lighter hand, or you end up with more volume than anyone wanted.

Condition. If your hair has been bleached recently, we wait. Perming compromised hair is how you end up with the haircut you did not want. If you have coloured it with something gentle, we can usually work around it, but I will want to look at it first.

Already curly? Then you do not need a perm, you need a better cut. Half the men who come to me asking for texture already have it and have been having it cut out of their hair for years.

What happens in the appointment

Allow around two hours, sometimes a little more for thick hair.

We start with a proper consultation about the shape you want, because the cut and the perm are one decision, not two. I will ask how you wear it now, how much time you give it in the morning, and whether there is a photo in your phone. Then I cut, because it is far easier to shape hair before it is permed than to correct it after.

Next the wrapping. The hair goes onto rods sized to the texture you are after: bigger rods for a loose bend, slightly smaller for a defined wave. This is the slow part and it is the part that decides how the finished result looks, so I do not rush it.

Then the solution goes on, with regular checks. Timing is judgement rather than a stopwatch, and it depends on how your particular hair is behaving on the day. When the bond has moved enough, everything is rinsed, the neutraliser goes on to lock the new shape in, and the rods come out.

Finally I dry it and show you how to wear it, with one product, so you can do it yourself on Monday morning. If you would rather watch than read, there is a soft perm and flow cut from start to finish on my TikTok, and my loose perm on straight hair has been watched over two million times. The photos on my gallery were taken straight after, in front of the neon sign, with nothing on the hair beyond a bit of sea salt spray.

The first 48 hours matter more than anything else

Do not wash it. Do not tie it back. Do not wear a tight cap or lie on it wet. The bonds are still settling and this is the one window where you can genuinely undo the work.

After 48 hours you can wash it normally, though I would use a hydrating shampoo rather than anything clarifying for the first few weeks.

Keeping it looking good

Wash less often than you think. Permed hair looks better on day two than day one, the same way a good blow dry does.

Use a leave-in conditioner or a light curl cream on damp hair, then either let it air dry or use a diffuser on a low heat. A diffuser is not a girls' tool and it will double how good your hair looks in the morning.

Skip heavy waxes, gels and anything that promises hold. They flatten the texture you just paid for. A sea salt spray or a light mousse does more with less.

Get a trim every six weeks. The perm itself lasts three to five months and grows out softly with no line to worry about, but the flow shape drops out of a cut long before the wave drops out of the hair.

If your hair starts to feel dry a couple of months in, an Olaplex treatment is worth adding to your next cut. Perming breaks bonds by design, and putting some of them back keeps the texture springy rather than frizzy.

If you want the stage by stage version of all of this, from the first 48 hours through to the grow out in month five, I have written it out in men's perm aftercare, week by week.

Perm, wave or a good cut: which one you actually need

Three different requests arrive under the same word, so it is worth separating them.

A perm changes the hair chemically and lasts three to five months. It is the right answer if your hair is genuinely straight and refuses to hold any shape.

A wave or a body perm uses much larger rods and a shorter processing time. You get a bend rather than a curl, and it mostly buys you volume and grip so that styling products have something to hold onto. It suits fine, flat hair that goes limp by lunchtime.

A better cut is the honest answer more often than you would think. A lot of flat, shapeless hair is flat because it has been cut with clippers to one length for years. Take the weight out properly, leave length where it lifts, and the hair moves on its own. That costs an hour rather than two, and if it is what your hair needs I will say so before we book anything chemical.

If the photo you have been saving is labelled loose perm, wavy perm or Korean perm, those are three different results too. I have explained how to tell them apart, and which hair suits each, in loose, wavy or Korean perm: which one men actually want.

Growing it out afterwards

Nobody talks about the exit, and it matters. A perm does not drop out overnight. It softens over three to five months, so there is usually a stretch where the ends still have texture and the new growth at the root does not.

The fix is a trim rather than a decision. Six-weekly cuts take a little of the permed length off each time, and by the third one the mismatch has gone without you ever having a bad month. If you decide you want it perfectly straight again sooner, we can talk about a smoothing treatment, though most men find they just book another perm instead.

What it does not do

It will not fix thinning. It can disguise it a little, because texture reads as density, but it is not a solution and I will not pretend otherwise.

It will not last forever, and it does not go back to your old hair overnight either. It fades gradually over three to five months, which most people find is the best part of it.

It will not survive a fade. If you decide halfway through that you want the sides tight, we will be cutting the perm off.

Booking it

Everything about booking one, from the hair length you need to the first 48 hours, is on the men's perm page. Men's cuts, flow shapes and perms are all on my services list, available in the home salon in Yelling near St Neots and as a home visit across Cambridgeshire. The rods, the solution and the rest of the kit all travel, so a perm at your kitchen table is exactly the same appointment as a perm in the salon. All I need at your end is a chair, a plug and a sink to rinse at.

Book a perm online. If you want to check whether your hair is long enough before you commit to two hours, send me a photo taken from the side and I will tell you straight. You can also read what other clients have said on the reviews page.