By Erin Gignac

Mention the word “perm” and feel the room collectively shudder—mostly from intimidation. Many stylists have lost their skill because customers don’t ask for the service as much. However, with the resurgence of ‘70s style, the textured wave is back. Eufora’s new Making Waves campaign is all about bringing back the natural, tousled look with an updated spin.

“When someone thinks of a perm, they think of the ones in beauty school,” said Jeffrey Mayo, Eufora Global Team Educator. “It’s not that technique. It’s much easier than that.”

The Making Waves campaign is about working with the gravity of hair to create a bend in natural hair that’s lacking texture. Three to four different types of curl can exist on one head, since gravity is different on certain sections of the hair. This means that the technique requires three to four different types of application and one or two different sizes and types of rods.

“In nature, you don’t see perfect uniformity in curl,” Mayo said. “There’s some inconsistency but it’s pretty.”

The Eufora Flash Wave, a proprietary technique designed by Founder Don Bewley, and The Brianna, an on-trend curly cut designed by Mayo, combine in this campaign to create natural looking waves without the frizz and damage of the past.

“It’s the techniques—learning how to bump and relax curl in different areas—that make the wow factor,” Mayo said.

Mayo has worked in the hair industry since 1998 in some of the most prestigious salons in Boston and throughout New England. He joined the Eufora team in 2005 and the Global team in 2009, using his positive attitude to inspire others.

He works through the hair applying the solution to the rods in a randomly systematic way for a YouTube tutorial video he created for the campaign. You can view the tutorial here or below. One rod will get a drop in the middle, the next will get two drops on the outside and another will get all three drops.



 “The cool thing about the application is how it works with the hair,” he said. “It’s a fiber and a fabric.”

In the Flash Wave technique, the rods are saturated with small dots of solution, not soaked like traditional perms. These drops spread out and get weaker (like how a liquid would naturally spread on a fabric), creating a curl that better mimics how the hair naturally curls. The whole rod is saturated whether you soak it in solution or not.

“Eufora wants to encourage hairdressers to be creative with perming and working with curls,” he said.

For example, The Brianna, a haircut he developed for the campaign, can be used with or without curly hair. It’s all about working with each customer’s specific hair type. Mayo said he does visual cutting with wavy and curly hair to better see how the hair falls as he works.

Curly hair is a spectrum. If a client comes in with a loose wave, he’ll cut using loads of texturizing techniques to play up the curls. If someone is more on the kinky curly side, he’ll use blunt lines that allow hair to fall correctly when it’s dried.

“We do a lot for blowouts and kinky curly hair, but there’s a huge market filled with women with naturally curly hair that isn’t being reached.”

The Flash Wave technique is a great add-on service to a color and cut that can be added two or three times a year. It’s all about being creative with curls and teaching your client how to be, too.

“It’s amazing to me when I have a new client in my chair and I teach them how to do their hair curly or wavy,” he said. “It makes raving fans out of clients.”

Product—what they’re using and how they’re using it—is important. Mayo recommends a follow-up regimen that involves Eufora’s Nourish Fortifi Keratin Repair, Sculpture Styling Glaze and Illuminate Shine Mist. These products will help curls last 30 percent longer.

Many people also don’t know that they can create beautiful, wavy hair with proper blow-drying techniques, diffusers and hairnets.

“There’s a hole missing for textured hair,” he said. “Curly and wavy hair is the majority of the population, they just don’t know how to work with it properly.”

Eufora’s Making Waves campaign is here to change that.

“I think a lot of times we teach clients how to not have curly hair. That’s not what this is about. There’s something that speaks to everybody in the Making Waves campaign.”

Erin covers stories for Premier Beauty. Follow her on Twitter and view more of her work here.