I had two long braids down my back until I was 9 years old. According to my older sister, she was usually the one who was in charge of combing out my hair and fluffing it dry in front of the coal-burning stove; we had no hair dryers in those days. Then one day, she says, my mother ended up having to deal with my hair, and promptly cut my hair in a page-boy style with bangs! I don't recall getting my hair cut at a salon until 8th grade, when I ended up with a pixie cut. After that, I grew my hair out, and quite by accident had long hair again in the 70s when it was the fashion. But it was always very straight, and rather thin toward the ends.