Getting an air perm? Thoughts?

Hi everyone. This might be heresy asking a question like this on this board but - Are there any long haired people here with perms? Has anyone ever heard of an "air perm?"From what they tell me, an air perm is a lot gentler on your hair - there is no neutralizer solution. You leave the rods in for 24 hours and it neutralizes naturally, leaving out the amonia that it is in the neutralizer.I guess I have been having a bad hair day for the past year. I have hair that if I pull it straight it goes to my hips, but it is not an even length. It has a very slight wave so it looks like it is to my waist. It is kind of fine and I am tired of the very flat, no body look. For the past year or so I have done a very bad thing in curling the ends every day to make it look better.Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on getting a perm - is it worth it?Thanks for the advice.Rachel

I know this question was posted a couple of days ago, but I hope you'll still see this response, Rachel... I have waist length hair and just recently got a perm. I, too, was tired of flat hair, especially since I am growing out my bangs so I have layers. I put my own perm in, I believe I used Oglvive (sp?) Natural Looks for Medium or Hard-to-Wave hair. I can't tell any particular damage it did - I naturally have dry hair though. I did a perm in May and then again in August because it was prettymuch gone. I think the really important thing is to condition A LOT after you perm. I used large curlers to roll my hair, by the way. It gave a very nice wavy effect, and makes the different lengths look a lot nicer. I haven't heard of an air-perm, but I haven't had any problem with regular perms as long as they're conditioning. Oglvive Natural Looks perms (I think that's the right name) have a lot of natural ingredients and are made to give very natural-looking curl. Good luck!