First, I should preface this by saying that I have ultra fine hair, but a lot of it (as every hairstylist ever has told me), and it dries pretty much stick straight and flat. Check out the photo for proof. It also refuses to hold a curl for more than an hour, no matter what products or techniques I try. Despite this, I never wear it straight because I hate how limp it looks. So every morning I heat up my curling iron and add texture to it. If I'm being honest, it gets tedious.

So I turned to Nicole Hartmann, co-founder of Harper Salon in Los Angeles to give me the messy, wavy, low-maintenance hair of my dreams. She has tons of clients who come in specifically for her perms.

I have naturally blonde hair that I get balayaged or baby-lighted, which presented a problem for Hartmann. If your hair has been recently bleached, you should not get a perm. It will completely fry your hair. That's because the process literally breaks down the protein bonds in your hair like they're Taylor Swift and the perm solution is Kim K.

I hadn't had my hair colored in a few months, so she decided to do a trial on a few pieces underneath my hair. If it didn't cause too much damage and I liked the way that it looked, she'd do the rest. It took about an hour; there are two different solutions, plus she used extra Olaplex on my hair to help minimize the damage. After it was rinsed out, we noticed a bit of damage to the ends of my hair, but overall it looked okay. She sent me on my way and told me to let my hair air dry, then send her a picture and we'd decide on what to do next.

Oh to the em to the gee. As soon as I saw my stick straight hair drying into actual textured waves, I knew I was hooked. Once all of my hair (finally) dried, I sent her a snap and hoped that she would agree. I believe the accompanying text was a series of emojis to describe exactly how much I loved it.

Two days later, I was back in Hartmann's chair. I rationalized that yes, I was damaging my hair a bit now, but since I could let it air dry most days and pretty much forgo all hot tools, it seemed like a fair trade. It took a couple of hours to finish the rest of my hair. Hartmann used a combination of large rollers and bendy purple rods to create different waves; ultimately, this keeps the pattern from being too uniform and helps add that beachy vibe to hair. Also, it's important to note that despite the name, the results aren't actually permanent. Generally, perms last about three to four months.

A word of caution: The process will stink. Seriously, it is not a pleasant smell. Actually, the slight odor will linger for a few days (TotalBeauty's EIC caught a whiff of my hair and instantly recognized the smell from her junior high days).

Once the process was over, Hartmann trimmed off the damaged edges and added in a few more layers to my hair to make the waves really pop. Then I anxiously waited for my hair to air dry. (Because the point of this perm was to ensure I could have amazing hair without touching a blow dryer or hot tool.)

The problem, of course, with altering your hair texture is that you have to completely relearn how to deal with your hair. Because my hair was now slightly damaged and wavy, I had to alter my routine.

For starters, I no longer use a towel to dry my hair. I gently squeeze my hair dry using a t-shirt, which causes less friction. Then I run a comb through my hair (it's best to only comb permed hair while it's wet, otherwise hello frizz). Then I apply either Oribe Curl Gloss, $37, if I want looser waves, or R+Co Aircraft Pomade Mousse, $29, if I want it to dry a little messier and Rock 'n' Roll-esque.

I use the t-shirt on my hair again to get rid of more moisture, mess up my hair at the roots and ... that's it. Once it's dry, I spray it will some dry shampoo or Oribe Apres Beach Wave and Shine Spray, $39.