getting a perm

Perms are quite damaging to hair. In my experience, it is worse for your hair than dying it (providing you only dye it once and don't repeatedly bleach or whatever). If you really want yours to stay healthy, I wouldn't perm it.

You can buy spray on-leave in conditioner to use after you wash your hair, then set your hair in braids or on rollers. Once it is all dry, you should have curls that stay...the leave in should help hold them. You can also try using a little mouse or other setting lotion on your wet hair before rolling it to help the curls stay. These would be less damaging options. Gel and mousse may eventually cause some damage, but a leave in conditioner shouldn't (and you can buy mousse with less alcohol in it to avoid some of the mousse damage).