Structural transformation

Sofie, who is a student at Cancam school, gives you in this post a thorough introduction to structural transformation, also called permanent:

Today at school we learned how permanent is created. At first glance it seems simple, but when you get into different techniques, it becomes difficult.

For those of you who don't know what permanent is, it is a chemical treatment that causes the hair to retain curls for a certain time, regardless of whether you wash or moisturize the hair, also known as structure transformation.

The first phase in winding up is the reduction phase. Here, the hair is rolled up with coils and then moistened with the structure-transforming oil/reducing agent that contains ammonia and thioglycolic acid. These chemicals open the cuticle layer in the hair and break down the bonds in the hair (ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds and disulphide bonds). The hair now takes shape according to the coils it is rolled up on.

The second phase is called the oxidation phase. After the working time is over, we use a neutralizing agent containing hydrogen peroxide, which binds together the disulphide bonds in new places in the hair.

The equipment needed to roll permanently is:

Pointed comb: Used for combing and dividing the hair

Tip paper: Used to avoid breakage at the ends of the hair

Coils: Available in different sizes, so that it is possible to vary the texture of the hair. Thick, large coils give a slight curl, while thin coils give afro curls.

We have different ways to get volume in the hair from the scalp, it's all about which working angle you choose, i.e. the direction. On bass gives normal volume, over-conduction gives a lot of volume, under-conduction gives little volume and from bass gives no volume.

Over-conduction - on bass

From Bass - over-conduction - under-conduction - from bass

There are 5 different wrapping techniques that create different curls and looks on the hair:

Classic winding is the one that we use the most:

Brick winding:

Spiral winding (this takes twice as long):

Sable technique (this is rarely used). Here we pull out the coil further out of the hair and fasten it, the higher we go up the further we pull out. Finally, they look like steps in the hair with coils.

Twin winding:

Here we divide the passé into two parts. Often even those who hold bad curls need this winding method.

Regards, Sophie