unpermed

1 8.7

Hair that has not been treated with chemicals to make long-lasting curls

adjective
/ʌnˈpɜrmd/

: sin permanente

After the summer, she decided to wear her unpermed hair naturally instead of straightening it.

Examples

Her unpermed hair fell straight down her back without any curls.
So she just stayed where she was, continually wiping her eyes with a gauze handkerchief, so that they could see only her hair, whose long since unpermed locks were combed up into a chignon.

Fiction book (1999)
Many people prefer an unpermed look for a more natural style.

Synonyms

untreated

vsunpermed

4 3.4

Not changed by chemicals or by any physical process

applies specifically to hair lacking a chemical long-lasting wave

Antonyms

permed

1 4.2

Hair treated with chemicals to make long-lasting curls or waves

How Permed

permed

1 4.2

unpermed

1 8.7

Surface Forms

unpermed positive

Morphology

unpermed = permed (transparent) = un + perm + ed

Formed by adding the productive negative prefix 'un-' to the adjective 'permed', so learners who know 'permed' and 'un-' can infer the meaning.

Etymology

The word unpermed comes from un- meaning 'not' and perm, short for permanent, which means 'long-lasting'. So unpermed means hair that has not had a perm and keeps its natural look.