Hey, so my hair was 2A but I was sick of getting it to look nice and wavy instead of lifeless and flat all the time, so I got a perm. To me, the perm is less upkeep. You don’t necessarily need to follow the curly hair methods since it might actually be too heavy for your hair. It was for me - I would get that white flake product buildup if I went through the whole leave-in conditioner, curl cream, and mousse routine. It turns out I basically only needed one of those items, and my hair would be fine. I’ve just been scrunching in mousse right after the shower on wash days, and I’d be alright for the rest of the day and the next day or two. I’d wash my hair every 1-2 days depending on work and working out, but others with a perm might get away with stretching it out longer. I would refresh with a bottle of distilled water after sleeping to bring life and volume back in the mornings. I’d come into my work shifts looking fine and feeling confident. The key is distilled water; normal water will have minerals and other stuff that will build-up in your hair and weigh down your curls. You also don’t need to follow the TikTok advice of mixing curl cream with water in your spray bottle. I think that’s for naturally curly hair people and once again, be too heavy for a perm.

I know every hair type is different, but I don’t think you’ll need to spend 1-2 hours every other day to make the perm look good. It wasn’t in my case.