Ooooh. I've also had a couple of unfortunate perms. Yes, not one, but two. I was mostly forced into them by my mother (I was pretty young at the time), since I also have very straight hair. She thought it was getting ratty, so I was offered the option of cutting it or perming it.

After the second perm, I quickly switched to the cutting option. *grin* It stayed in some form of bob or layered shaggy thing until I grew it out, long and parted in the middle. Oh, hair... so much fun. There are some photos that I would love to burn.