Originally posted by SimoneC

my hair is about 3 inches longer than this picture

1. i have medium-coarse textured hair, what brand of perm should i use? I don't think one perm is more suited to a particular type texture of hair than another. I've never heard this from the companies themselves or any curly perm wearer.

2. once you have gotten the perm, is it possible to go straight with just a
flat iron? You can go straight but personally I wouldn't currently advise using an iron as I've heard cp'd hair is too fragile for that.

Some have said they go straight by doing all the steps in the retouch except using the rods, but I'm not sure about that. I'm v wary so I'd need to look into that much more before I'd consider it for myself

However, some people have gone straight by using really large rods/rollers at their retouch... When my hair is longer, I'll probably try that.
 
3. is getting a perm less damaging than getting a relaxer? I've asked this before but this imo this is the best reply I recieved (from Avlon). My brain is a bit frazzled at the moment so I just copied the info:

My Question: In your opinion which process is the most damaging to the hair: relaxers or curly perms? 

I ask this as in the relaxing process the hair's pH level is elevated to around 13, whilst in the permanent waving process it's elevated to about 9.5. However, it's a common belief over here (at least in England) that curly perms are more damaging because they are a 'double-process'.

The Answer: Normally the permanent wave process for Caucasians is less damaging than the hair relaxing process. However, permanent waves or "Curly Perms" for African descent hair is a three step chemical process. The hair is treated twice with an ammonium thioglycolate cream or lotion - that is - once for straightening the kinky curly hair, and the second time for wrapping the straightened hair on the desired size rods with ammonium thioglycolate lotion or solution.

The Straightening Cream or Rearranging Cream contains ammonium thioglycolate at 7 - 8 (active basis) and a pH of around 9.0 to 9.5 with ammonia. The Wrapping Lotion, also known as Curl Booster, contains 4 - 5 ammonium thioglycolate at a pH of around 9.0 - 9.2. This double treatment of hair with ammonium thioglycolate does significant damage to the hair.

Conversely, the relaxers based upon sodium hydroxide or guanidine hydroxide are left on the hair for 18 to 20 minutes and cause less damage to hair and do not require the daily applications of glycerin based curl activators. The Avlon Ferm Permanent Wave process does less damage than conventional permanent waves, as it is based upon Strengthening Lotion which is applied after the permanent wave lotion and before neutralization in order to siphon off chemicals from the inside or cortex of the hair.

I hope I have answered your question.

4. over time will the curls fall flat, or are they there forever? If your hair is in good condition, you have a good maintenance regime and the perm was done well you should have curls from retouch to retouch. However, as time goes by they loosen up slightly, and washing can make them looser or tighter - I've experienced both!

5. could i touch my roots up with texturizer, once new growth appears? I doubt this very much. I think it will be too easy to overlap the texturiser on to the cp'd hair. Although, I've heard of one person who cp'd her relaxed hair imo opinion it would severely damage the hair.

ETA: looking at your avi, I can't tell if your hair is relaxed or texturised or not, but again I'd strongly advise curly perming your hair if it is.