Flexi Rods and Perm Rods: Heatless Curls

Flexi Rods and Perm Rods

Both of these give a curl with no heat at all, and both work by holding hair in a shape while it dries. Swapping one for the other does not give the same curl. A flexi rod is a bendable foam tube you twist into itself to close, and a perm rod is a short rigid rod with a rubber band across the end. The shape each one produces is different enough that it is worth owning some of both.

What each one gives you

Flexi rods wind in a long spiral and bend closed, so the curl runs down the length of the hair as a corkscrew, and the rod length lets you set a lot of hair at once. Perm rods are short, hold less hair each, and produce a tighter, rounder curl that stacks; a full head of small perm rods is a real time commitment but the definition is hard to match. Thinner rods of either kind give tighter curls and more of them.

How damp the hair should be

Damp, not dripping. Soaking hair takes all night and half the morning to dry and often comes out limp where it never set. Towel-dried hair with a leave-in and a foam or mousse worked through is the right state. If your hair dries fast, work in small sections and keep a spray bottle nearby, because a section that dries before it is wrapped will not hold the shape at all.

Wrapping them

Take a section no wider than the rod, comb it smooth, and wrap from the ends upward in a spiral with even tension, keeping the turns side by side rather than overlapping. Overlapping is what leaves a set-in crease. Bend a flexi rod closed by folding both ends in toward the middle until it locks; do not twist it so hard that it pinches the hair. On a perm rod, roll to the root and snap the band across the top of the rod rather than across the hair itself, which dents it.

Drying time and sleeping in them

Completely dry means completely: a set taken down at ninety percent loses most of its curl inside an hour. Under a hooded dryer this is a matter of half an hour or so for most heads; air drying is usually overnight. Flexi rods are soft enough to sleep on if you tie a scarf over them, while perm rods are rigid and uncomfortable for most people. If you air dry and the nape is still damp in the morning, a short blast of a dryer on the rods beats taking them out wet.

Taking them out and separating

Unwrap each rod in the direction it was wound and let the curl drop; do not pull it straight to see how long it is. Oil your fingers lightly, then separate each curl into two or three, working from the ends and stopping while it still looks like curls rather than volume. Separating a dry set with a brush or a comb is how people end up with frizz instead of definition, and once a set is fluffed too far there is no putting it back.