How do I loosen a tight curl perm?

It's been my experience that new perms and crying often go hand-in-hand.  

Rule #1: Never use a hairbrush on your hair, whether wet or dry. 

Rule #2: Use your fingers and twist your locks into spirals. 

Rule #3: Don't use a blow dryer without a diffuser, and only where the spirals are ready. 

I hope you get your best look and learn to love your hair, permed or not.

A fresh perm is going to relax a bit all by itself. Give it a week or more before you decide it's too tight. 

It would be a lot easier to get your hair relaxed, this can take out some of the curl. The stylist you went to may even do it for free or at a discounted cost, since you're not happy with your hair. 

It should loosen up in the next week or two. Mine always did. You may end up quite pleased with it.

I found my first perm didn't really take and I ended up with a slight wave (less so than if I'd done tiny tight plaits) and I then had my perm re-done every 6 months as my hair is so thick it just pulled the curls out (never did get my ringlets I wanted)

I'd say if you are unhappy, call your stylist and ask - it may depend a lot on your hair texture and weight anyway.

Not worth crying about. A perm loses strength pretty fast anyway.