How to make a more uniform curl for an 11 yr. old girl

Hello all. Thanks in advance for any information.

I have an 11 yr. old daughter who wants to start doing her own hair. She`s got gorgeous wild curls all over but it takes a long time each morning to get rid of the frizzies and she doesn`t have the time or desire to spend that time - but does want to do her OWN hair by herself. She ends up putting it up in a pony tail every day, but wants to start wearing it down now that she is blossoming into a young woman.

Her hair seems to have three different curl types - super curly (teeny corkscrew - lovely!), almost straight in some areas, and medium curl in others, which means that when she wears her hair down, it usually dries in different lengths so that it will be long on the sides and short in the back.

My question: Should we do some kind of a perm in her hair to make a more even curl all over? We both want to keep the curls - but aren`t sure if a perm would make the matter worse by damaging her hair.

Thanks again,

-lulu