How old were you when you got your first perm?

[MizAvalon]

Entirely too young, maybe 7 or 8?

 

[MizAvalon]

I was 5 and I had major breakage

Your hair is looking great DSylla!

 

[adw425]

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...

 

[Twisties]

I was 7 - Anyone remember Vigorol? Vigs and press n curls.

At 12 first full relaxer - Revlon lye (done at home by mom). I BEGGED for it.

Alergic reactions started occurring in early 20's. Had to go natural eventually.

 

[ShaniKeys]

I was 8 yrs old, my mom used Just For Me...

 

[candiel]

I was 17.

ChrissyB, that picture of you is too cute!

 

[HAIRapy]

I was 14. I didn't even know I had one LOL I had been getting Vigarol up until that point. All I knew is that the stuff (the perm) she put in my hair didn't stink like Vigarol

 

[cmw45]

I got a Jehri Curl when I was ten...I begged for like a year and my mother finally gave in.

 

[AvaSpeaks]

You know it's funny how most responses around that 10-12 year old mark.

I personally think the reason why is because usually around Junior High, the styles that you used to wear in you hair as a child makes you look like a little girl and since most of our mothers didn't know how to style our natural hair other than in that way, then they go to the perms.

I know with me when I was younger, my mother used to press my hair. But she got me the perm because she could never straighten our my sides and my edges without burning me She could never figure out why I didn't have "good hair" like her and mother and her mother's mothers

Now weirdly enough, after years of being natural, all of my relatives say (my relatives say it because my mother is deceased) that I now got that "good hair" that my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great grandmother had.

 

[sareca]

17 and in college.

 

[AKA-Tude]

I was a senior in HS, a couple of months before graduation, & I had just

turned 18 & didn't have to have permission from ANYONE (suh-weet!)!!!

Went natural @ age 30, but my hair was too bushy & I couldn't handle it,

so went back to the hair crack!

 

[UrbanHeiress]

OK who said out of the womb??
I was about 19 or 20, in college.

 

[Vshanell]

I was 15. I only stayed permed for around 5-6 yrs.

 

[tinkat]

At six, i know right...too young!

 

[Creatividual]

I was 12 years old. I had been begging my mother for one for about a year. It stayed nice and long for year b/c my mother was doing it. But when she finally said I had to start doing it was when the breakage began and "layers" began.

 

[amwcah]

I got my first relaxer when I was 17. I had graduated from high school and was unsure of how I was going to care for it at college. Therefore, I got a relaxer. I wish I never did. If I was knowledge about electric straightening comb or flat iron, I would have never gotten one.

 

[SilkyandSmooth]

18. It was the Summer after I graduated high school. My Mom didn't allow me to get one until then. I thank her for that.

 

[Kurlee]

....

 

[Aquafina]

I honestly don't know. All my younger pics look like I had a relaxer. My hair was never pass ear length growing up

 

[BEAUTIFULBLACKHAIR]

I was in the 8th grade,so I was about 13 or 14.I begged my mom for one.She really didn't want me to get one,but I guess she got tired of me asking.I should have shut my big mouth because now I'm wishing for the LONG,BEAUITFUL,HEALTHY hair I had back then.

 

[indigo378]

8th grade/13 or 14. first chemical process. i had begged for a jheri curl when i was like 8 or 9 but my grandmother wasnt havin it, after my first relaxer i probaly had long hair for 6 months! between the perm, color and curling irons my hair didnt stand a chance.

 

[cheeks87]

14. A few days before I started high school.

I get so mad at Moms who perm their daughters hair when they are just a little itty bitty thing. Some of y'all put age 1-5. Reputable stylists won't even do it that young. I think you should at least wait til middle school.

 

[Tenacious]

Yeah, man... I was like 11....

And the funny part about it, my mom wasn't the one who wanted me to have it. My sister did.

Then too, The next week, the teachers at school were like "Your Mom PERMED YOUR HAIR!?!?!? OMG WHY!!!!" And they even asked my mom why she did it....

I know her seeing my hair now, she's probably kicking herself

 

[PhoenixRose360]

I was in 9th grade. I really forgot how my natural texture looks, that's why I'm transitioning now.

 

[LaPaciencia]

Sigh...I was like in the 5th grade and a lady at Fantastic Sams did it. My hair fell out/broke off erplexed for the first of many times. I'm not bitter though (gulp_fights bick tears_)

 

[ChocalateDiva]

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.

Me too. I got a rhelaxer at 14.

 

[prospurr4]

I voted "over 20." I was going to be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding, so I went to have my virgin hair relaxed by a professional. Well, the relaxing process went well, but the stylist cut waayyy too much of my hair. It was my first time going to a salon to have my hair done.....and my last time. This was many years ago.

 

[blackbarbie]

I was 18 and about to go to college the following week. I never begged for one growing up b/c I was fine with getting my hair pressed and wearing my signature ponytail. Besides, my mom didn't even have a relaxer (she just pressed) so it was really no big deal for me.

The guy that relaxed my hair didn't even fully relax me (I guess I was texlaxed 20 years ago) and I kept wondering why whenever i washed my hair, it wasn't all the way "straight" like my roommates; it was still curly and didn't get fully "straight" until I finished rollersetting and drying under the hood dryer.

My roommate's mom did a corrective on me (and told me why my hair was still curly) when I went to get a wash and set from her about 3 months later. I remember my natural texture very well. I am almost a year into my transition and can't wait to fully see it again......

BB

 

[SimpleKomplexity]

Iw as 12 ...or 13 but my dad and snuck and took me to the shop and got a relaxer put in my head....my mom was PISSED!

 

[determined_to_grow]

I was 13 I was completely natural again by 16 permed again at 18 and now I am toying with the idea of transitioning for good when I reach WL!!!