"A deep artificial wave in the hair", Late 19th century: named after Marcel Grateau (1852–1936), the Parisian hairdresser who invented it. More permanent from Late Middle English:Permanent is from Latin permanent- ‘remaining to the end’ from per- ‘through’ and manere ‘remain’. The abbreviation perm in hairdressing dates from the 1920s, a shortening of ‘permanent wave’, a process that had been introduced only a few years earlier. Before that people had to curl their hair with hot tongs, or use the late 19th century marcel wave, named after François Marcel Grateau (1852–1936), the French hairdresser who invented the method.[marcel etymology, marcel origin, 英语词源]