Permanent Waves are treatment of the hair intended to produce curls or to alter existing curls. In cosmetology, it is termed a type of curl reformation. Humans have been attempting to add curl to straight hair for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians did this by wrapping their hair around wooden sticks; slathering it with mud from hot springs; letting it bake dry in the sun and then removing the mud. Presumably the mud had an alkaline chemical makeup that helped to set the curls.