In an E! red carpet interview with Bradley Cooper at BAFTA’s weekend tea reception, the actor announces he had his ear-length flowing mane permed for a screen test. “I got a perm today!” Cooper enthusiastically said on-camera. “Like rollers! Oh, yeah bro, like rollers in the hair!”
Let’s backtrack: “Perm” is short for “permanent wave,” a hair treatment where nose-burning chemicals are squirted into sections of hair and then left to set in rollers under a giant lamp for what feels like hours on end. Examples of the aftermath include looks made famous by orphan Annie, anyone who lived through the eighties, and this girl.
So, though we applaud Cooper’s adorable foray into trying to talk about girl stuff, we must note that he does not appear to have the kind of perm we’re used to. That is, the permanent kind. An analysis of photos taken at the BAFTA event and two days before show his follicles more or less unchanged. Chances are, the hair stylist on set threw his hair up in a quick roll-set. You know, the kind your granny used to do. We’re sure it was a rather dramatic change for Cooper, but it’s also a look he showered out of rather nicely.
