Everything You Need to Know About TikTok’s Boy Perm Trend

Amy Hutnak, a mom from Cumberland, Maine, thought it was funny when her 17-year-old son Ben* started stealing her John Frieda hairspray and asking her to pick up specific hair products. “He always asks for this one sea salt spray and I can’t find it at the grocery store,” Hutnak explains. “It’s supposed to make his hair curly and fluffy, apparently; all his friends have hair like that.” Unfortunately for Hutnak, the salt spray Ben is after (it turned out to be Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray), is not sold at the local grocery store but at Sephora for a cool $35. Still, investing in a bottle of fancy salt water is less expensive and less effortful than what many of Ben’s friends do to their hair every few months: They’re getting perms.

The “boy perm,” as TikTok puts it, has been rising in popularity for the past few years. Teen boys as young as 11 share videos of their hairdresser using perm rods to enhance the texture of their otherwise straight or flat hair. As the trend proliferated on social media, hairdressers report that perm requests among teen boys have been nonstop this summer. “There have been a lot of requests for it,” says NYC hairstylist and perm expert Damian Santiago. “I do perms every day, and it’s not uncommon to do several guys a week now.”

What Is a Boy Perm?

A boy perm is…just a perm, the same semi-permanent curl treatment made famous in the courtroom scene of Legally Blonde. “When you put perm solution on the hair, you’re essentially opening up the cortex and breaking down the hair bond to reform it,” explains Santiago. What’s unique to a boy perm is there’s typically less hair being curled. While a woman with long hair might require 200 perm rods for her service, a boy perm client involves a fraction of that. “I did a guy the other day and put 12 to 15 rods in,” explains Santiago. “That’s not a lot, but because the sides and back of his hair were short, we were just perming the top.” 

The rest of the technical perm process is the same for anyone of any hair length (or gender). Basically, it’s a quick wash, then the hair gets wrapped in perm rods. “We determine the curl type—small and tight, medium, or just a loose wave,” explains Santiago who then sizes the perm rods he’ll use accordingly. “Once the rods are in place, we apply the perm solution, it processes, then we neutralize the hair, condition, and rinse.” The whole thing might take an hour or two and the guy walks out with a curly flop top—and according to Santiago, “Always a big smile.”

Why Are Teens Getting Boy Perms?

Of course, boy perms are not new. Tom Gallagher, a hairdresser at Bumble and Bumble Salon in NYC’s Meatpacking neighborhood remembers his own perm from the ‘80s. “I was in high school in 1984 and had a perm in my graduation photo,” Gallagher recalls. “Now these young guys are coming into my chair with perms, and I’m like, ‘I get it—I did that, too.’”

For Gallagher, perms are synonymous with boyhood. “Boys have so much hair,” explains Gallagher. “These guys see their dads, who might not be as fortunate in the hair category, and they’re like, ‘I have this hair now, let me fluff it, enjoy it, because it might not be this way forever.’”

Cultural references play into the current boy-perm trend, too. Gallagher links boy perms to Timothée Chalamet. Many K-pop stars have perms (the chemical service is hugely popular across Japan and Korea). Moms on TikTok credit influencer Dillion Latham as their son’s hair inspo. Athletes, like Spanish and European soccer players, serve as perm-influences, too. “For example, Lamine Yamal is doing incredible things in the soccer world,” explains New Jersey-based hairstylist and educator Marc Berardi. “He has this look—without a perm, because it’s just his natural hair texture—but his curls could be achieved with a perm. Many teens are looking at this kid because he’s a global sensation. I know my son is.”

There’s also the herd mentality factor with teen boys. “Teenagers, they’re in school and they’re in a group,” says Gallagher. “One person will go to a hairdresser and then they’ll all go. I have one guy who’s a soccer player, he has this great curly haircut—now his whole team comes in. That’s how kids are at that age, your group is very follow-the-leader.”

How Much Does a Boy Perm Cost—and Who’s Paying?

One thing that most parents can agree on is that beauty products and treatments—especially those targeted to teens—have become expensive. The cost of a boy perm is $150 on the low end. “It depends on how much hair we’re talking about,” explains Santiago because the more hair, the more time a stylist requires, and most charge by the hour. “My base price for perms is generally $350 and up, but that’s usually for women with longer hair. With men, a short perm could be $150.” And that’s before the haircut.

Of course, the rationale behind getting a perm is that it’s an investment to save yourself time, energy, and effort in daily styling. “One less thing to worry about,” explains Santiago. “A good haircut, great texture, and there you go.”

Shorter hair does require frequent perming, though. “I have an assistant who has a perm,” says Berardi. “When it’s fresh, it’s tight, but weeks later it loosens up. Right now, he’s two months into his perm, the wave is more relaxed and roots are flat so he wants to get it again.” Most of Santiago’s boy-perm clients are in every few months. “It’s typically six to eight weeks or eight to 12, depending on the guy,” Santiago says.

As for the payment, Santiago finds that many parents are footing the bill for their teenage son’s boy perm. “I had a mom call me on the phone the other day,” says Santiago. “She asked if I was the ‘perm guy.’ I said yes. She said, ‘I’m going to send my sons over.’ They came in, we did perms, and she paid.”

In some cases, parents are considering an expensive beauty service or product, like a perm or a salt spray, as a gift reserved for special occasions. For example, a teen boy might get a perm before their prom, or a fancy hair product as a holiday gift. “I mean last year, I got [Ben] Chanel Bleu for Christmas,” says Hutnak, speaking to the 2023 teen perfume craze. “He loves his cologne but it’s gotten so expensive—$111!”

Is Getting a Boy Perm a Good Idea?

A perm is not for everyone—it’s why Santiago requires consultation with potential clients before agreeing to perm their hair. If a guy has bleach damage or his haircut is too short, he might not be a good candidate for a perm. In some cases, he might have to wait a few months, says Santiago, to get his hair long and healthy enough to perm.

The haircut is an important factor, too. “The cut has to be right,” says Berardi. “It has to be at a length where the hair stays voluminous.” Seeing a hairdresser who understands your vision is helpful. You need a cut that’s shaped well, texturized, with weight removed in specific areas, like the sides and back. For this reason, most hairstylists and perm experts recommend booking into a hair salon as opposed to a barbershop. “A barber works to expose your head shape, whereas a hairdresser actually cuts the hair into a shape,” explains Gallagher.

With some experimentation and the help of a hairdresser, a lot of teen boys realize that they don’t need a perm at all, they just need to be styling their hair for curl volume. “Sometimes people don’t realize that their own texture is actually quite curly and nice,” explains Santiago. “Sometimes the hair is too long to [appreciate] the natural curl. If I notice that, I might suggest holding off on the perm and getting a good haircut first and then I can show them how to style it.” For styling, Santiago recommends a cocktail of salt spray and mousse. “If you combine salt spray and mousse, you’re going to get pretty big hair,” he laughs.

How to Fake a Boy Perm

An interesting micro trend born out the boy perm movement is what Santiago calls a “mock perm,” like a blowout version of a perm. “I have a lot of young, male clients who don’t necessarily want to get a perm, so they’ll say, ‘Can I just do a set because I’m going to this thing—prom or a concert—and I want to show up with a fresh look?’” In these cases, the guy’s hair gets wrapped in rollers, but no perm solution is applied; the heat of a blowdryer sets the curls. “You can rock [the texture] for a day or two and then just wash your hair,” explains Santiago. The service is more cost-effective, too. “I might charge $100 for that,” says Santiago.

If you’re serious, it makes sense to visit a hair salon for your mock perm styling (book in with Santiago at Mizu Salon, if you’re in NYC!). “You could try to mimic a perm at home, but I don’t know that the average guy has the skill to manipulate a curling iron,” explains Santiago. “To get a curl of a small diameter, you’re going to need a tiny iron. Even for good hairdressers, that requires skill. Setting your hair on rollers? If your average lacrosse player can do that, God bless ’em.”

Hutnak says that her son entrusted his 24-year-old sister to give him mock perm for prom this past spring. She used hot rollers and a curling iron (her own) and started the process at 11am. “He wouldn’t want me to tell you this, but hours went into it,” says Hutnak, pulling up photos on Instagram. “But I thought it looked really, really good.”

What’s clear is that teen boys are investing time and money into their hair. “I love watching these guys ask questions about their hair,” says Berardi. “There’s this classic masculine thing where boys aren’t supposed to care about how they look. That’s just not the case now.” Gallagher agrees that the tone has shifted. “It’s okay to have soft curls and hoop earrings—things that may have been considered ‘not masculine’ years ago,” he explains. “It’s okay to be showy and enjoy your hair.”

*Name has been changed.