Perm Not Curly to the Roots?

I have been reading your post onperms not being curly enough.I'm a guy with longer hair, but not super long. It's not even to the shoulder area. It's in great condition and I have lots of hair! Which is a blessing. It's straight as well as thick. I've had perms growing up and they were super tight and I looked like Shirley Temple. Obviously I had shorter hair then probably. My sisters would get perms and body wavesand they had longer hair and it always took and they had beautiful curls.

The guy who does my perms now is great. He knows his stuff, but I never leave with what I really wanted. I want curls and not waves from the root down. I know you can only do so much with perms. My perms take, but never at the top area? From like above the ear area and down I have curls, but never on the top area. It's frustrating to me. He wraps it perfectly and uses many rods, etc.

Could it be the chemicals he's using aren't strong enough? He is using the one that activates on its own with no heat required, if that makes sense. Back in the day we always had to go under the dryer to activate, etc. I feel like I need the old school one? Is there a difference with that?

I'm going back sometime in the near future to have him redo as it's not what I want and I always leave thinking, next time it will be different. It's been about 6 weeks and my hair is healthy and not damaged. I have always asked him if we need to leave the solution on longer and he says no. I am thinking he leaves on for about 20 minutes. He knows his stuff allegedly and wraps it great, but I'm confused. I don't have super long hair. Some females have way longer hair and it seems perms can take on them with curl from root down. Hope this makes sense and thanks in advance.
Cheers!