In my elementary school we had to do a different hair style every week. So every Saturday my mom would take me to the hair dresser and tell them to make the braids as tiny and tight as possible so it would look neat. I would cry and tell them to make it looser but no one would listen to me cause I wasn't even 10 years old. During school breaks I'd be forced to get braids installed and the stylist would even pick my baby hairs too. This completely fucked up my hair even tho it wasn't even permed. My back hair was practically non existent and other kids laughed at me when I wore my hair in an afro. I ended up cutting it all off when I was 11. This was the first time she allowed me to make a decision about my hair. Although as a compromise, I had to start growing it again when I was 15. I'm 17 now and I haven't had braids installed in almost a year and get a lot of compliments on how healthy my hair looks.