What age did you start doing your own hair?

[Tiye]

Eleven - coz I thought I was mature and could handle it and my mother was all about encouraging independence. I did an okay job with self care and enjoyed it, but I didn't know much about conditioning so my hair did not grow out but it was very healthy and I kept it neat.

I see 6-7th grade is a common age. This thread should have been a survey.

 

[jamoca5]

Damn, I'm real late. I'm 16 and besides cowashing/DCing and doing on a ponytail, I am a disaster with doing my own hair. No, I leave that to my sister and my mom. Of course, I'ma need to get that together by the time I go to college, but I'll cross that bridge once I get to it.

 

[ms.blue]

I was about 13 when I started taking care of my own hair. I didn't know that i was protective styling my hair because i would rock a bun all the time when i was in middle school and high school until I cut my hair 10th grade. I was really low maintenance I would wash my hair every two weeks, grease my scalp, blowdry my only on wash days and bun/ponytail. My hair never grew past apl because I had a shs who lovedto cut my hair all the time.
When I cut my hair almost the end of the tenth grade to a chin length bob by the end of the 10th grade my hair grew to shoulder length. So i knew I could make my hair grow if I just take care of my hair myself.

 

[yamilee21]

Combing and washing - maybe around 9-10 years old; I know I was about 11 when I figured out washing and detangling in sections

Rollersetting with magnetic rollers - about 13

Curling irons, hot combs, trimming and cutting - between 13-14

I was relaxed starting from about age 12, but went without a touch-up for a year or longer a couple of times.

 

[Toy]

I started about 8 years old i was tired of the screaming and threats and getting pecked up with the brush.

 

[GaiasDaughter24]

4th grade and I was GREAT at it. Not with hair care but with styles. My hair was ALWAYS awesome lol

 

[drappedup]

Well, I was taken to a stylist from the age of 5 and up, and continued even after age 18 all the way up until I was 20, ALMOST 21, which was the end of 2009. But around the age of 14-15ish I slowly started to flat iron my own hair every now and then......though I had no clue what I was doing, lol. I got better as far as being able to actually USE the flat iron to, you know, FLAT IRON around the age of 17/18. From the time I was 19 I was living out of state from my stylist and so I started going even longer stretches without visits, and would obviously improperly care for my hair. I also washed my own hair for the 1st time when I was 19. Starting this past year, right before I turned 21 years old, I decided I was quitting hair salons and all that, and I was going to for the 1st time ever, 100% handle my own hair.

........and here I am. So far, so good. Albeit clueless, still, sometimes.

 

[GreenD]

I started around 14 and it was a mess!!! Man, my hair was dry, breaking off and a mess. Luckily it was ony for a little while, as I had to start hitting up the salon on the regular!!!

 

[Katherina]

I started pressing my own hair when I was 11. I would wash and press it every two weeks until I started wearing it natural at about 14.

In high school I wore twists, twistouts, and braidouts, and pressed it about once a month.

I gave myself my first layered cut when I was 16. (it took forever, but it was a cute NL style! lol). I couldn't get it in a ponytail wo a million pins so I pressed it until it grew out to near SL.

 

[lolascurls]

At 13 because I went to boarding school in England then (from Nigeria). Even then I wore braids mostly! Didn't know what I was doing!

 

[Questel]

Like around the age of 10. Thats when everything went DOWNHILL lol!!!! This was 9 years before I found my HAIR SAVIOUR LHCF Lol smdh

 

[trendsetta25]

i also started at 12 after my mom called me into the room one day and decided to BC my hair. The horror!!!! i didn't see it coming. i got teased in school because i had a TWA :covereyes REALLY BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's when i started to learn how to weave my own hair...and the rest is history!

 

[PJaye]

In 4th grade at age 9; I really enjoyed leaving the ponytails behind and trying different hair styles.

 

[prettybyrd]

i also started at 12 after my mom called me into the room one day and decided to BC my hair. The horror!!!! i didn't see it coming. i got teased in school because i had a TWA :covereyes REALLY BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's when i started to learn how to weave my own hair...and the rest is history!

What in the world?!?!?! Why did she do that to you? I couldn't imagine?! Was your hair damaged or something, and she was trying to fix it? Please say yes....

Back on topic...I started doing my hair around 11-12. We started by learning to comb and not rake our hair, and then came rolling our hair before bed. By 13 my long lush, healthy hair was ear-length, scraggly, and breaking. It took me until I was 16-17 to know what I was doing with my hair.

By 21, when I went natural, I found myself re-learning hair care. Fast forward 11 years, and I'm still learning!

 

[Distorted Barbie]

Op...You weren't that late...I was like 20 or 21 lol...I didn't even wash my own hair

 

[bimtheduck]

I wanna say 7th or 8th grade so right around 12 or 13 years old

 

[rririla]

8 years old...My mom is Caucasian, and totally lost when it came to my curly bushy hair...my dad was the primary stylist in my house (and he was darn good at it, might I add)!!!!

 

[Missigirl]

I was 6 when I started combing my own hair. Tired of the pulling and tugging......that was to get me to sit in the chair .......I learned how to care for my hair in 2008 @ 42.

 

[Curly Lee]

At about 14-15. I didn't become GOOD at it until 16!

 

[teysmith]

I've been doing my own relaxers since I was 12 or 13erplexed I remember when I purchased my first kit from the dollar store.

 

[Ms Lala]

Around 6th grade I started styling my hair. My mom handled any chemicals or heat applied to my hair and she washed it for me. I didn't start washing my own hair and pressing it until I got into HS.

 

[PGirl]

I didn't wash my own hair until I was around 14 but I started styling it myself daily when I was about 9 years old. My Mom let me loose with the curling iron and that was bad news!

 

[ladylina]

i started doing my own hair at 12 that is also when I got my first relaxer too. My mom used to french braid it when i wanted it done but i would also go to the shop for relaxers too.

 

[Barbara]

About 11 or 12 years old, then I had to start going to the salon because my mother kept complaining about how my hair was in better shape when she used to do it. From this point on, she never complained again. Lately, I've been doing it most of the time.

 

[bebee10]

I've been doing my own hair for as long as i can remember... My stepmom never liked me so she never wanted to do my hair for elementary school. and my poor daddy didn't know how to do anything besides put it in a ponytail... So I taught myself on my babydoll and then on my own hair ever since like the 2nd or 3rd grade... Now keep in mind that all I knew how to do back then were ponytails, two french braids on either side, and maybe a barret or two lol...
When i turned 11 i moved in with my real mom and she helped a little but by that time I was so used to doing it on my own that I didn't really want the help cause i knew how i liked it.. even if that ment waking up every morning before school to put the curling iron on my hair :0)
when I came up to college thats when i started focusing less on the style and more on the health of my hair... this head has been through quite a journey lol

 

[brg240]

thanks everyone for your responses

When I started I only wore my hair in buns which is how my mom always did my hair. About 17 I started straightening my hair almost everyday and I wore it out more often. Like alot of you my hair got worse. 17-19 my hair was the shortest it had ever been.

Oh yeah I didn't start washing my own hair until I was 16/17. Tbh I wish someone else still washed it.

 

[kandiekj100]

I believe I started around 11 years old. At first, I would put my hair in rollers. Then in middle school I started using the curling iron. I think once I started curling my hair every day, my hair went south. After I realized I was frying my hair, I slowed down on the curling and it began to grow again in high school. I don't recall when I started doing my own relaxers. I want to say even in high school my mom was still doing them.

 

[sylver2]

i was 13 in 8th grade. i didnt know what to do with my hair so i just wore a bushy ponytail with a bushy bang for 3 years straight until my moms finally allowed me to get a relaxer at 16..lol

 

[naturalmanenyc]

around 12/13

 

[DrC]

The minute I went to cosmetology school.