A body wave perm is the perfect solution for hair that just hangs in front of the face, limp and boring. Body wave perms aren't about "poodle curls" or even long spiral curls. A body wave perm is all about body, volume and oomph.

If you're dealing with flat, fine hare, a body wave can easily make you look like you have twice as much hair. No more flat, limp hair that looks sad. Move into volume, lift, body and movement with a body wave perm and use hair care products specially developed for use with chemically treated hair....

A body wave perm is rolled on larger perm rods than a regular perm. Its purpose is to provide loose waves and big, bouncy curls, not small tight curls. They can also be rolled on straight rods rather than concave rods. When you get a curly perm, the stylist uses a concave perm rod - one that is thinner in the center than toward the outside edges.
When the hair is rolled on a concave rod, the hair toward the outside of the rod must travel farther to make a complete turn around the rod. This makes the curl wider and more spiral shaped. With a straight rod, all the hair travels the same distance around the rod, so the result is a consistent curl throughout all the strands of hair.

Just because a body wave perm uses larger rods doesn't mean you need long hair to have a body wave perm. The stylist simply uses a larger rod than she usually would. Of course, if your hair is short, a body wave will give more curl than if you had longer hair.