# What age did you start puberty?



## zomb (May 4, 2014)

What age did you start puberty ?

Did you start early or later than others around you, did it cause you to be bullied, or cause anxiety? Basically how did it affect you?

I started at ten, by the time I was 11 I was a werewolf. Voted hairiest kid on earth. Lol not really, but the other kids noticed, and sometimes made me look older, because I had facial hair.
I was the youngest of my friends by several months but they developed years later after I did, it was frustrating waiting for the older kids to mature .
at one point I was known as hobbit feet, because of my hairy feet. 
I was often able to pass for 18 when I was 14. And because of my facial hair, 3 people mistook me for Orlando bloom, when I was 14.

I'm sure I'm a freak of nature, because this never happened to my own family.


----------



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

What event marks the beginning of puberty?


----------



## zomb (May 4, 2014)

Not sure. Pubic hair, facial hair, breasts, ejaculatum?


----------



## farfegnugen (Aug 16, 2010)

I am not sure. I guess girls went from being stupid and gross to kind of cute around 10 or 11. By 15, I was singing backup on Barry White albums


----------



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Okay, then. The boobs started to sprout at age 9 1/2 or so. Armpit and pubic hair maybe a year later. 

My first period was maybe 2 or 3 months before I turned 12 but then it didn't come again till after my 12th birthday. I have a hazy memory of it only lasting a day or two.


----------



## SplendidBob (May 28, 2014)

I was fully pubic at age 9


----------



## llodell88 (May 15, 2011)

Pubarche 10
Menarche 11, probably over a year later
Breasts maybe around that same time or a little later

So pretty much completely out of order for me. From what I've read getting pubic hair before everything else only happens like 10% of time which is a risk factor for PCOS which is a risk factor for all sorts of mental health problems, diabetes, and whatever else goes along with that. I probably do have all that stuff.


----------



## Omni-slash (Feb 10, 2016)

I was a bit later than the guys around me. They'd talk about punching the chicken and I was like... "That's some alien sh!t."

2 years later I'd take extra long trips to the bathroom frequently. My mother wondered if I had bowel issues. Nah, I just learned a new trick from the aliens.


----------



## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

11-13 ish. Didn't want to go through it, wasn't thinking much about other people tbh, but I did know a couple of girls who started their periods much earlier than me in primary school (9/10~) because they were talking about it. I was 13 and a half, and then I lied about having started it for years afterwards when other kids (well teenagers at this point,) would talk about it/ask. :S


----------



## Virgo (Jun 27, 2016)

I got my period at 13, which was actually way later than other girls in my school. I only knew one other girl who didn't get it yet. I was always a late bloomer though, in everything. Following right behind everybody in everything, lol. And I didn't get boobs until I was like, 20. Looool

Around 12-13 makes sense for me though. It was around the time I felt I went from "child" to someone with an actual social consciousness.


----------



## AllTheSame (Mar 19, 2016)

For me it was around 11 or 12.

For my youngest daughter, she got her first period pretty earlier (9 yrs old), my oldest daughter at 12, my son started going through puberty at 11, maybe closer to 12. My son's voice started to change a couple of years ago, I noticed that lol. My daughters' started to get boobs....for both of them a couple of years ago.

Yeah. They're not babies anymore, there is no denying it anymore lol.


----------



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Atheism said:


> I got my period at 13, which was actually way later than other girls in my school. I only knew one other girl who didn't get it yet. I was always a late bloomer though, in everything. Following right behind everybody in everything, lol. And I didn't get boobs until I was like, 20. Looool
> 
> Around 12-13 makes sense for me though. It was around the time I felt I went from "child" to someone with an actual social consciousness.


So you didn't wear a bra till you were 20?


----------



## tea111red (Nov 8, 2005)

9, i guess.


----------



## Virgo (Jun 27, 2016)

komorikun said:


> So you didn't wear a bra till you were 20?


No, heh 

Yeah I had to wear a bra at 13. For teeny tiny little bumps I had. My boobs didn't get bigger until around 20 though. They're still not very big but I can't complain because I was flat as a PANCAKE my whole life.

I started wearing a bra because at 13 my parents let me go to school without one. I wasn't really thinking about that. I just didn't notice. Then one of my teachers had to call my mom and say I needed to wear a bra. It was humiliating. I was mad at her, lol. Not even at the teacher. I was grateful for him saying that. Because it was significant enough to see. I mean I was 13, of course I had nipples. They were poking out like little pointy triangles. She let me go to school like that. I still really question my mom to this day over many things, lol.


----------



## flyingMint (Aug 31, 2015)

I don't remember tbh I think I was in 7th grade so at the earliest signs 12/13 years old.


----------



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Atheism said:


> No, heh
> 
> Yeah I had to wear a bra at 13. For* teeny tiny little bumps* I had forever. My boobs didn't get bigger until around 20 though. They're still not very big but I can't complain because I was flat as a PANCAKE my whole life.
> 
> I started wearing a bra because at 13 my parents let me go to school without one. I wasn't really thinking about that. I just didn't notice. Then one of my teachers had to call my mom and say I needed to wear a bra. It was humiliating. I was mad at her, lol. Not even at the teacher. I was grateful for him saying that. Because it was significant enough to see. I mean I was 13, of course I had nipples. They were poking out like little pointy triangles. She let me go to school like that. I still really question my mom to this day over many things, lol.


Teeny tiny little bumps is what I meant in my first post in this thread. That started at 9 for me. Breast growth was very slow and gradual.

Why is it any of the teacher's business though? That's weird that he called your mom. I guess kids might tease you. Kids at age 11-13 are nasty pieces of work.


----------



## Rains (Jan 20, 2016)

The start was about age 10. Breasts got extremely sore, that was the first sign. I was 13, almost 14 before I got my period though. I got one very light one before I turned 14, I didn't even realise it was a period. Then on my 14th birthday I got the real deal. Most of the girls at the school I went to seemed to be getting it from ages 12 - 14 ish. Apparently stress brings on puberty and menarche earlier in girls.


----------



## Rains (Jan 20, 2016)

Atheism said:


> I started wearing a bra because at 13 my parents let me go to school without one. I wasn't really thinking about that. I just didn't notice. Then one of my teachers had to call my mom and say I needed to wear a bra. It was humiliating. I was mad at her, lol. Not even at the teacher. I was grateful for him saying that. Because it was significant enough to see. I mean I was 13, of course I had nipples. They were poking out like little pointy triangles. She let me go to school like that. I still really question my mom to this day over many things, lol.


I think this is quite common that parents don't notice, because they don't see their kids that way, if you know what I mean. I wish I had started wearing a bra or crop top earlier too, no one said anything. One day I hugged my aunt at the airport and suddenly I realised, my boobs are... right there, just hanging out. I started wearing crop tops after that. I remember friends at school also complaining about being delayed in wearing bras, because their boobs were at a stage where it's kind of obvious, but families don't always think to tell them because they don't really notice and it doesn't occur.


----------



## Virgo (Jun 27, 2016)

komorikun said:


> Teeny tiny little bumps is what I meant in my first post in this thread. That started at 9 for me. Breast growth was very slow and gradual.
> 
> Why is it any of the teacher's business though? That's weird that he called your mom. I guess kids might tease you. Kids at age 11-13 are nasty pieces of work.


Yeah I understand where you're coming from but I really was grateful. Kids at 11-13 are very, very mean and I definitely experienced that. So someone who is a full-time middle school teacher, I'm sure he gets that loud and clear. Either he didn't want me to get made fun of, or, I'm going to bet he could have even heard people gossip about me. It wouldn't shock me. Girls were SO freakin' mean to me. He managed to make the phone call before anyone said that to my face, though. I was very annoyed with my mom because she has neglected many things like that throughout me growing up, but it's really tricky because it's not severe enough to use the word, "neglect". It's just annoying things like that. Like, she doesn't pay attention. Or doesn't care. Or both.


----------



## eukz (Nov 3, 2013)

The wet dream and the hair appeared at 12 IIRC.

My first masturbation was at 14 (and I didn't know what I was doing lol)

But yeah, because of SA it took me years to be as mature as a teenager, and more years to be as mature as a young adult. I'm a late bloomer practically. I think I did more things during the period of 2014-2016 than I did during the rest of my life.


----------



## Virgo (Jun 27, 2016)

Rains said:


> I think this is quite common that parents don't notice, because they don't see their kids that way, if you know what I mean. I wish I had started wearing a bra or crop top earlier too, no one said anything. One day I hugged my aunt at the airport and suddenly I realised, my boobs are... right there, just hanging out. I started wearing crop tops after that. I remember friends at school also complaining about being delayed in wearing bras, because their boobs were at a stage where it's kind of obvious, but families don't always think to tell them because they don't really notice and it doesn't occur.


I almost want to say it's not normal, though. I would think it would be normal to go through that 'stage' with your preteen daughter, right? You know, that, "okay honey, time to go to the department store and pick out your first bra!" type of thing. Like, don't mothers do that? All the other girls had bras. I didn't even notice though - I just thought I looked like them. But I didn't, because I didn't have a bra and they did. Maybe some moms are in denial that it's time for their kid to grow up, which is kind of mental and it gets extremely toxic at a point.


----------



## Rains (Jan 20, 2016)

Atheism said:


> I almost want to say it's not normal, though. I would think it would be normal to go through that 'stage' with your preteen daughter, right? You know, that, "okay honey, time to go to the department store and pick out your first bra!" type of thing. Like, don't mothers do that? All the other girls had bras. I didn't even notice though - I just thought I looked like them. But I didn't, because I didn't have a bra and they did. Maybe some moms are in denial that it's time for their kid to grow up, which is kind of mental and it gets extremely toxic at a point.


I honestly think when you watch someone grow you don't see it as much. The same way that it's harder to notice weight loss on someone you see everyday. I'd say parents who don't address these things are mainly oblivious, inattentive and lazy, with denial thrown in in some cases.


----------



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Some parents are just out of it. I mean my parents fed me and talked to me all the time....but somehow they missed things. I remember when I was 7-8 and I only owned skirts and dresses. We were living in a place that got pretty cold. Normally it wouldn't snow but still....why did I have no pants? What made it even worse was I was at a stage where underpants were uncomfortable. So I would take them off sneakily before getting on the school bus. 

And I didn't learn how to tie my shoes until I was 9. I had to have other kids help me at school before that.


----------



## Ung201 (Jan 19, 2017)

I started in the 4th grade. Girls used to make fun of me because I had a mustache and a baritone voice. They would also talk to me just so they could hear me and laugh. Not a fun experience. It took a while for the other guys to catch up, but even late in high school I had people making comments about my voice. Nowadays I'm told it works in my favor, and at times it actually does. I suppose that's good.


----------



## zomb (May 4, 2014)

Menarche? Is that the bloodening/curse. I've never heard that term before

I had a good laugh because my sister had to tell my niece about it. She cried. Makes me laugh still.


----------



## zomb (May 4, 2014)

The worse thing for guys during puberty was erections. They are bad, worse than the bloodening each month for girls. 
Once in class I had one and the teacher called me up to the front of the class. 😶. I had to "try" and hide it.

It's difficult being a male teenager.


----------



## acidicwithpanic (May 14, 2014)

At around 9, I started wearing training bras which I think is a reasonable age. I had many friends that started before me.


----------



## zomb (May 4, 2014)

acidicwithpanic said:


> At around 9, I started wearing training bras which I think is a reasonable age. I had many friends that started before me.


Training bra? What were you training your breasts to do? Bras and breasts are a totally different world to me, so I've no idea.


----------



## Alkalinity (Mar 10, 2013)

Extreme tmi alert ahead but I got my period when I was 7, and now that I look back, it did cause me to mature mentally quicker than my classmates so I felt like I had no one to relate to. In addition, I aced everything because the material was too easy for my adult-like mind, it was so weird. 

And I relate to the hairy thing, it was so annoying having pubes and hairy pits since I was a little girl. And of course with puberty comes excess horniness, which I sadly had to deal with at a very young age when I didn't even know what sex was. But I remember I was always obsessed with touching myself , even using my stuffed animals, it was crazy and weird and gross. But maturing at an early age definitely made me much more mentally advanced than the other girls who are older than me but went through puberty later than I did. I swear I'm more mature than some women twice my age and I feel as if I can sense I developed earlier.


----------



## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

I started menstruating at age twelve. I count this as the female start of puberty.

This was around the time my SA started, but it's incidental. What actually caused the SA was the fact that this was around the time I left elementary school (where being weird and imaginative was praised), started junior high (where more mature pursuits are sought after, something I never had any desire to seek), my peers lost interest in the same things I was still interested in (they were too busy seeking more mature pursuits, while I was still busy playing make-believe), it was no longer deemed cool to be weird and imaginative (rather, it was considered a subject of ridicule), I no longer had any skills that stood out (suddenly, brainy/talented students were a dime a dozen, and they were all far more social than I was--I never participated in anything extracurricular, so I made no lasting mark for myself), and most significantly, my best friend moved away and fell out of touch with me (leaving me all on my own).

The fact that I'd started menstruating had nothing to do with it, aside from this being the age at which it's no longer acceptable to be a child. Everyone else grew up...I never did.



Atheism said:


> I started wearing a bra because at 13 my parents let me go to school without one. I wasn't really thinking about that. I just didn't notice. Then one of my teachers had to call my mom and say I needed to wear a bra. It was humiliating. I was mad at her, lol. Not even at the teacher. I was grateful for him saying that.


I had a similar experience, only it was my gym teacher telling me I had to start wearing one...I don't blame her or my parents...the truth was I just hadn't wanted to wear a bra. Still don't--undergarments are a horror for me. But yeah, very awkward. ;_;

ETA:



komorikun said:


> What made it even worse was I was at a stage where underpants were uncomfortable. So I would take them off sneakily before getting on the school bus.


O_O;; Ahm...me too. Only I...well, I faked wearing them. I'd tuck them under my pants and show my mother the waistband when she checked, then I'd put them in my bag when I got on the bus. Ugh God this thread. ;_;

EETA:



zomb said:


> The worse thing for guys during puberty was erections. They are bad, worse than the bloodening each month for girls.
> Once in class I had one and the teacher called me up to the front of the class. ��. I had to "try" and hide it.
> 
> It's difficult being a male teenager.


I had to call my mother to take me home from school once because I got blood all over my pants. So messy and humiliating, I had to try to hide myself away. A recurring nightmare I had as a teenager was of this happening in public places--blood all over me--nowhere to hide, nobody to get me out of there. Awful.

I wouldn't trade it for unpredictable erections, but it was definitely no walk in the park, either, and about as difficult to hide. :/


----------



## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Alkalinity said:


> Extreme tmi alert ahead but I got my period when I was 7, and now that I look back, it did cause me to mature mentally quicker than my classmates so I felt like I had no one to relate to. In addition, I aced everything because the material was too easy for my adult-like mind, it was so weird.
> 
> And I relate to the hairy thing, it was so annoying having pubes and hairy pits since I was a little girl. And of course with puberty comes excess horniness, which I sadly had to deal with at a very young age when I didn't even know what sex was. But I remember I was always obsessed with touching myself , even using my stuffed animals, it was crazy and weird and gross. But maturing at an early age definitely made me much more mentally advanced than the other girls who are older than me but went through puberty later than I did. I swear I'm more mature than some women twice my age and I feel as if I can sense I developed earlier.


So that would be precocious puberty. Did your parents take you to the doctor to find out the cause? Were you overweight? I've read that black girls and obese girls often mature very early.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precocious_puberty#Causes


----------



## Alkalinity (Mar 10, 2013)

> So that would be precocious puberty. Did your parents take you to the doctor to find out the cause? Were you overweight? I've read that black girls often mature very early.


I'm Indian. And yes my mom was actually crying when she find out because I was bleeding and she thought someone had done something to me. She couldn't believe I'd gotten my period that early, and was accusing me of hurting myself or thinking someone raped me or something.

Took me to the doctor, and doc explained it was normal and that it happens sometimes. However, with precocious puberty for girls we are at risk for a lot of issues which I wish doc had informed her about. I dealt with the symptoms of PCOS my entire childhood without even realizing it. It was awful (hormonal imbalance leading to mood swings and suicidal thoughts, a lot of other fun stuff). I was a mess and I feel like girls who go through it earlier tend to go through the same for some reason.

Edit: I was never overweight. But I did struggle with blood sugar swing problems as a result of PCOS. Most I've been is few pounds overweight at a few points in my life, but skinny for the most part


----------



## acidicwithpanic (May 14, 2014)

zomb said:


> Training bra? What were you training your breasts to do? Bras and breasts are a totally different world to me, so I've no idea.


I was training them not to sag. :grin2:

The first time you notice your chest developing, young girls' first bras usually end up being training bras which are smaller and thinner than your standard women's bras. Smaller breasts tend to be more sensitive, so some will use training bras to feel more comfortable.


----------



## Virgo (Jun 27, 2016)

tehuti88 said:


> I had a similar experience, only it was my gym teacher telling me I had to start wearing one...I don't blame her or my parents...the truth was I just hadn't wanted to wear a bra. Still don't--undergarments are a horror for me. But yeah, very awkward. ;_;


Yeah same he was my gym teacher.



tehuti88 said:


> I had to call my mother to take me home from school once because I got blood all over my pants. So messy and humiliating, I had to try to hide myself away. A recurring nightmare I had as a teenager was of this happening in public places--blood all over me--nowhere to hide, nobody to get me out of there. Awful.
> 
> I wouldn't trade it for unpredictable erections, but it was definitely no walk in the park, either, and about as difficult to hide. :/


Agreed. Definitely still no fun. In freshman year of high school I started getting really heavy periods. I was too terrified to use the public restroom... also too sensitive to use tampons... so, well, I tried to use one pad for one day. It didn't work and it was torment. I know that is really gross but I really struggled with this because of SA.

Well one time I just bled straight through my pad, my underwear, and through my pants. I got blood on the chair in school. Not a little, a lot. It was mortifying. Luckily it was the end of the school day. No one said anything or noticed, I think, and it got cleaned up of course whenever the janitors saw it. No way in hell I was telling anyone what I did, I ran the hell out of that room!

I always checked then if I leave blood behind on a chair even when my period is light. But now I use tampons so it's fine.


----------



## Rains (Jan 20, 2016)

Very odd about the underpants thing. I too hated wearing underwear from several years when I was a child, I'd just take them off and drop them wherever I was. I only stopped because my parents would often find my underwear and get mad because I was getting far too old to do that.


----------



## Rains (Jan 20, 2016)

Atheism said:


> Well one time I just bled straight through my pad, my underwear, and through my pants. I got blood on the chair in school. Not a little, a lot. It was mortifying. Luckily it was the end of the school day. No one said anything or noticed, I think, and it got cleaned up of course whenever the janitors saw it. No way in hell I was telling anyone what I did, I ran the hell out of that room!
> 
> I always checked then if I leave blood behind on a chair even when my period is light. But now I use tampons so it's fine.


Same thing happened to me at school, one of my friends saw it though. Also bled through light colored pants one time and my uncle's wife saw it (luckily no one else). She was driving me home and I had to sit on a laminated instruction sheet. Now I always wear black when I have my period. The worst thing is when you have to sit for many hours in a lecture or lab and when you stand up, there's a big whoosh.


----------



## Kilgore Trout (Aug 10, 2014)

I think I never did.


----------



## doe deer (Oct 9, 2016)

9


----------



## SparklingWater (Jan 16, 2013)

11!


----------



## AllieG (Feb 20, 2014)

Technically, I started puberty at 12 but not much changed appearance wise since then. I got hairier and taller but I am definitely no butterfly that came out of a cocoon. Ah well.


----------



## scrub ducky (Jan 21, 2017)

I hit tanner stage 2 at age 13....lol naw I have no clue. 


if you really wanna know though, I can call my mom and ask.


----------



## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

I would have to say 13-14. 
I had some dimwits try and ask if I shaved my legs in high school. Seriously?

I didn't shave for the first time until I was 15 1/2, though. That was interesting. Everything else was there by then :lol.


----------



## xxDark Horse (May 13, 2015)

14 when I was 9th grade.


----------



## satanlita (Jan 22, 2017)

I was 14 when I hit puberty, and it caused me to be really self-conscious up until then because I looked so much younger than all the other girls. Being under 5 ft also didnt help


----------



## zomb (May 4, 2014)

So almost half of the voters started at 11/12 and appear to be mostly women who commented. I guess it's true girls start earlier than boys.


----------



## RagnarLothbrok (Dec 16, 2016)

Hard to say. I must've been about 14 when why voice broke and started growing hair on my body. Then the acne happened and I lost a lot of confidence because of my skin; thankfully it's gone for the most part. I clean shaved for the first time at 15 to get rid of my stupid wispy moustache.

I remember around that time being conscious of my sexual attraction to the girls in the older years at my school- weirdly I never had that for girls in my own year until later. I watched a lot of pornography and masturbated way too much in my teens because I was an incredibly horny devil. I wish I hadn't watched so much porn and could have actually cultivated a more normal mindset towards sex.


----------



## Persephone The Dread (Aug 28, 2010)

geraltofrivia said:


> I think I never did.


Same


----------



## SD92 (Nov 9, 2013)

I think about 12. At 11, I was still in Primary school and I can't remember starting it then and by 13 I was wanking, so I would started it before that.


----------

