HOT PERM VS. COLD PERM

You may be wondering, "well, what's the difference anyway?" The differences between the digital perm and the regular (cold) chemical perm is the chemical application process, and then the manner in which you achieve a curl when styling your hair. An essential step in the digital perm process is the heat application, that's why it is called a hot perm (while it's older, "normal" counterpart does not require heat application and the perm solution is applied cold directly to the hair). During the hot perm process, every curler in your hair is attached to a computer that can be programmed to heat up to very specific desired temperatures, giving the stylist a greater degree of control over the whole process. That way you can be sure to get the exact curl you want. After you're done, another big difference between the digital perm and the normal cold perm is the way your hair behaves as it dries. After a digital perm you will find that your hair takes on more and more curl as it dries, whereas with the traditional perm you'd have to apply some type of moisture in the form of gels or curling creams to achieve that curl. With a digital perm, the only styling you have to do is a bit of hair spray and a twirl of your finger and you're done! Having said that, I would like to emphasize that digital perms are inherently low maintenance so if you like to experiment with different hair styles, the digital perm may not be for you. Hot perms don't straighten very well with a blow dryer. Another set back of the digital perm is that, because heat is applied to the hair, the rollers cannot be kept too close to your scalp, which means that a digital perm won't add as much volume at the roots as a cold perm would.