Brownsuga, I would advise against a curly perm/body wave. There are talented people out there that can put these perm/waves in your hair and you can't even tell that it is a "curl". I wore this for about two years and my hair grew to brastrap length. She put the perm on my hair to straighten it, but did not use rods, then she would neutralize it and it was straight, but I required so many of those moisturizing products to keep my hair from drying out that I was literally afraid of open flames! I kept thinking of that darn Michael Jackson pepsi commercial. Also, if you like the look of relaxed hair, its hard to get your hair to look like a relaxer roller set for over 1-2 days w/o severe dryness. In addition, I found out that curly perms and highlights are not friends.
It is also difficult to transition back to a traditional relaxer after a curly perm because the two products are not compatible and severe breakage will result. I decided to cut my hair down to about 3 inches of new growth about 7 months ago and start over with a traditional relaxer. I miss my hair, but I always felt like my collars were dirty with the curly perm maintenance products! My hair feels much cleaner now. If you decide to try it, just know that it is really hard to transition back.
HTH
Pecan