I was 14 and a half. I had wonderful hair, too, and did not need it. However, I did not appreciate my beautiful waves. I wanted straight hair and I begged and begged my mom for about three years and she finally gave in and let me get one. Over the years, after years of thinning, increasing shorter hair, I would jokingly say to her: "I blame you for this. You should have just kept telling me no to the relaxer..." Her comeback would be that I begged her into exhaustion and I did...