Let’s Get Something Perfectly Straight

For 20 years my most earnest wish was for straight hair, especially during summer, when simply thinking about sea spray caused my curls to explode. Nothing could contain the prodigious frizz, not blow-drying, barrettes or baseball caps (a nice Bozo look, that).

I’d already done hard time with chemical straighteners, which reeked of sulfur and left my hair stiff as a saltine cracker. Then I heard about a nonchemical process called Straight Perm. At Antakiya, a salon in Koreatown, my hair was evaluated (Straight Perm is safe for colored and highlighted hair) and then subjected to a three-hour, $300 procedure (more for longer hair) that included the application of several non-noxious liquids and a two-woman comb-out with “ultraviolet-coated” flattening irons.

Afterward my hair was allowed to dry naturally, and it was ... straight, as in really straight. It was also soft, and it didn’t smell like egg salad.

Unlike curly perms, which falter after a few months, straight perms last until hair grows out, which means no hibernating from humidity or forgoing swims all summer.

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Antakiya, 3863 W. 6th St., Koreatown; (213) 387-3040 or www.straightperm. com.