My strands have always been fine, limp and pin-straight. In fourth grade, I tried to fight genetics with a perm, only to end ... brought a new indignity: thinning hair. I never quite recovered ...

Dudley says this type of perm creates various-sized tight curls at different lengths by wrapping the hair vertically around rods. "Anyone with curly or fine low-density hair can get a spiral perm ...