How old were you when you got your first perm?

[ChrissyB]

I have been wondering what my hair would look like it I went natural. Then it hit me! I didn't get my first perm until I was 14 years old, so all of my pics before that age show me exactly what it used to look like! Some people here have mentioned that they don't know what their natural hair looks like besides a couple inches of new growth.

How old were you when you starting getting your hair relaxed?

Siggy pic is me around 6 (?) years old. I love my waves, it's my inspiration for transitioning!!

 

[Songbirdb]

I was in middle school. 13 or 14

 

[JustKiya]

I was 14, and I had been begging for one for about a year and a half.

 

[cutiebe2]

I was nine....but my 11 I was natural again. My hair is too fragile for that stuff

 

[LiveLoveLife]

I got one my junior year in high school...so about age 16/17. Sad day in my life

 

[Lanea87]

erplexedMy momma says I was 6 I am saying 7..... We sitting her fussing over that 1 year.

 

[fivetimestwo]

I got my first chemical process (jherri curl ) when I was six...wow that's too young for chemicals imo, but I guess my mom just didn't want to be bothered with doing my hair. This was the beginning of a summer of hair disasters (can you say "swimming pool" ).

 

[bludacious]

I was 21. I begged and begged for a relaxer since elementary. My mom was going to let me when I was in middle school but our beautician(who was a neighbor and good friend of my mom) refused to put one in my hair. I finally got one when I was old enough to pay for it on my own. I was in college and could finally afford it.

 

[Dayjoy]

I got mine for my 6th grade graduation, so I was almost 12yo. We had to keep it a secret from my grandmother though.

 

[drasgrl]

I was 13 when I got a Kiddie Kurl (kids version of a Jheri Curl) I was 16 when I got my first relaxer.

 

[moni_kerr]

Oh I sooo remember! I was getting older and growing out of the pigtails and twisties on top of my head and I wanted to straighten my hair sooo badely! My ma was cheap so no salon nor flat irons for me lol. Picked up a $5 box of relaxer and did it myself right before the 7th grade. I relaxed my hair myself till like the 10th grade haha I'm surprised i didn't make myself go bald!

 

[amber815]

I didn't get one til I graduated HS. I was 16. I THOUGHT I needed one so I could take care of my hair better once I went away to school. ...yea right...
My hair has held up pretty good though

 

[dream13]

I was about 11 y/o. My auntie used a PCJ kiddie perm. It burned like heck, and made my hair stiff and flat...erplexed. My mother was .

 

[Cichelle]

I think I was 12 or 13. I wish someone had taught me how to take care of my natural hair instead. I just had no idea.

 

[blue_flower]

I was 6 years old when I got my first perm. I had a ton of hair at that page, but 6 years old was too young to put a perm in my hair.

 

[BioGeekChic]

I was either 4 or 5 my mom isn't sure. She says that my hair was getting to thick and long and she was having trouble pressing it and dealing with it so to make her life easier she just permed it.

 

[Cxshortie]

I was 14 years old just in high school, that was when my mom stopped doing my hair, she said once I got a perm I was on my own.

 

[DayStar]

21.....

 

[inthepink]

I was 12 years old. I remember that the relaxer "didn't take" when it was applied. So after it was rinsed out, the stylist applied again. BOY, did that burn like heck!!

 

[TrendySocialite]

At age 5 my mom took me to the hair salon and told them to put one in my hair or she was bringing me to the stylist's house every day for him to do my hair...LOL

I NEVER had a problem with my relaxers. My stylist was great and I kept every bit of my length and thickness.

I've never been natural.

 

[BlueEra]

I was around 4 or 5 from what I can remember. My youngest picture that I can remember seeing myself with relaxer in, I was around 4 and my hair wasn't even very long to be getting it relaxed. I wouldn't know my naturl hair texture even if it bit me in the face. Surprisingly, my hair flourished with relaxers, and I only had trouble with my hair growing after a very bad experience with micro braids during the summer before 7th grade.

 

[asubeauty]

I was about 7. I don't know what my natural hair looked like because my mom was always trying to make it look straight in every pic.

 

[poookie]

six

 

[SmartyPants]

I was 13. My mom made me wait. It was a right of passage thing--teenager, eighth grade graduation, confrmation. I was so good at doing rollersets (my mom drew a bright red line in the sand on blow dryers and curling irons) that I started doing hers. It's a good thing I wasn't greedy; otherwise, I would have charged her half of what she had been paying her hair dresser (half because she bought the stuff and paid for my relaxers).

 

[Starr1]

Never had one. . . my mama wouldn't let me as a child and I can't be bothered with the maintainance as an adult.

 

[locabouthair]

I was 11.....

 

[janee]

I was either 9 or 10. I begged to get one. Not because I wanted straight hair. But I saw it as an alternative to getting my hair pressed. I hated getting my hair pressed.

 

[Miss*Tress]

16 - but only because I didn't know how to style my natural hair. Now that the relaxer has grown out, I continue to use the same styling techniques I learned when relaxed and my hair looks no different. What a waste of time and money over the years, not to mention the 2-year period when stylists over processed my hair claiming the ends had reverted.

 

[*Happily Me*]

I was 5 and I had major breakage

 

[blackmaven]

I begged all through high school for relaxer. My mother flat out refused. Finally,paid for relaxer myself at 18 working part-time senior year of high school.