Rohan grew up with a traditional Indian mother. She held up her values and made sure he adhered to them too. When he didn’t there was strict punishment to enforce good behaviour. For the most part, Rohan was a good kid, except that he wanted to grow his hair out.

When Rohan was about thirteen years old he entered the notorious rebellious teenage phase. Rohan decided this was it and he was growing his hair out for good. It was already decently long, covering up the top of his ear. But Rohan wanted his hair to his shoulders. His mother noticed when his hair got to the bottom of his ear and told Rohan to cut it. Rohan adamantly refused and said he wanted longer hair. His mother insisted that if he wants to have longer hair, he must take care of it. She grabbed a bottle of hair oil and started giving him a head massage.

This continued for the next two months. Rohan didn’t mind because it felt relaxing. Besides, oil is good for growing long and healthy hair. One day when Rohan came home, his mother made another comment on his hair length. By this point, it was approaching his chin. She told him to sit down and said she will be back. Rohan figured that she would be grabbing hair oil and started playing on his phone. His mother returned and started giving him a hair massage. Rohan was too distracted on his phone to pay much attention to her. She warned him to get off his phone but he was in the middle of a game and didn’t want to stop.

Rohan finally put his phone down 20 minutes later and agreed to go play outside for a bit. He ran into Sally, a close friend while he was playing basketball. “Cute hair,” said Sally. Rohan was confused and pulled out his phone to check himself out in the camera. All he could see was his hair was parted in the center and appeared slicked back. He didn’t think much of it and continued playing with her. Rohan was used to having his hair fly in his face when playing basketball but noticed that it was out of his eyes today. Again, he didn’t think much of it. His mom probably tucked it behind his ears.

When Rohan came back inside, he told his mother that his hair didn’t come in his eyes today and thanked her for fixing it up earlier. When Rohan went up to change after supper, he looked in the mirror and was horrified to see that his mother had tied his hair up into short, fluffy pigtails towards the back of his head. He hadn’t even realized that his hair was long enough to tie back, not that he would ever keep it in pigtails anyway. Rohan ran downstairs to confront his mom about his embarrassing ordeal.

“I told you to keep care of it and long hair must be tied back when playing. Get used to it. Besides, you would have noticed if you weren’t always on your phone,” said his mother.

As Rohan tried to sleep that night, he kept thinking about how Sally had called his pigtails cute. The next day when Rohan came back from school, he went to play outside with sally right away. When he came in for dinner, his mother was angry that he hadn’t followed her rules.

“I said long hair must be tied back when playing,” she scolded.
She ordered Rohan to sit down and rubbed oil through his hair. She then tied in into French braided pigtails. His dark, oiled hair glimmered in the light. Rohan felt embarrassed but could not say anything. He knew he would have to be more careful.

The following day before Rohan went out to play, he tied his hair into a half ponytail. His hair wasn’t long enough for a full ponytail but at least this looked far less girly than any style his mother would force him to wear. Sally commented on his hair again and called it cute. She asked if she could play with it and Rohan agreed. She teased the front of his hair and parted it to the side. It looked like a girly bob but Sally insisted it was stylish. She then proceeded to spray it with a flowery hairspray. When Rohan came in, his mother was mad that his hair wasn’t tied back. Rohan tried to explain himself but she wasn’t having it and tied it back into pigtails. She also noticed the lilac smell on him. “I don’t like this smell. If you want to smell like nice flowers, here you go,” she said as she scrubbed a lavender scrub onto his chest. She loved the smell so much that she insisted he uses a lavender scrub every day over his entire body.

Rohan’s sneaky tactics failed over and over again for the next month. Eventually, his hair was long enough to tie back into a proper ponytail. He had won. Sally seemed to like his long hair too. She thought the ponytail looked a little disproportional to his head and commented that it would look better if his hair was longer. Rohan’s life continued seemingly as normal for the next few months. By now his hair was down to his shoulders. He would place it in a low ponytail to keep it out of his face when playing. His thick, straight hair looked a little girly but that was offset by the low ponytail. His mother frequently massaged it with oil but didn’t comment on the style at all.

By now Rohan was almost fourteen and noticed that his chest was getting soar and his voice still hadn’t deepened. He had very little body hair to begin with but most of it had fallen out in the past few months. Rohan's mother had noticed it too. “Your chest jiggles too much when you play basketball, fix it or I will,” threatened his mother. Rohan didn’t know how to fix it so he did nothing about it. The next day, when he came back from school, there was a bag on his desk. Rohan saw there was a training bra inside. He confronted his mother and asked what that was. “It will help keep your chest together when you play outside. Here let me show you how to wear it,” said his mother. As Rohan’s mother put the bra on him he felt very uncomfortable. His mom fastened the bra and undid his hair. she combed his silky long hair out and told him that he needed to trim up the ends. “I don’t care if you are growing it out, you need to maintain it.” Rohan’s mother tied his hair back up into a ponytail a little bit higher than he usually did and let him go out to play.

Sally commented on his ponytail while they were playing basketball. “I like it higher like that, it looks longer and bounces more when you run.” While Rohan went to do a lay-up, his shirt pulled a little to the side. “Wait are you wearing a bra,” asked Sally. Rohan turned red and tried to cover it up. “Come with me,” she said as she led him back to her bedroom.
Sally told Rohan that it was fine to wear a bra if his chest moved too much while playing. She took off her shirt to show him her bra too. “Come on touch it,” insisted Sally as she grabbed his hand and held it against the breasts. Sally was a year older and had decent sized boobs. “That black color training bra stands out more under a white shirt. Here I have like 10 old ones that I’m not using them anymore. You can have them,” she said as she handed him a bag of old bras. Rohan silently took them. What else was he supposed to do?

Sally then began playing with his ponytail. she sat behind him on her bed and took out his hair tie. “You have beautiful hair. How is it so silky? I’m so jealous,” she said. “I massage it with oil almost every day,” he replied. Sally grabbed a bottle of baby oil and sat down in from of him. He proceeded to massage her long blonde hair. afterward, he tied it up into a bun. “It’s best to tie it up after so the oil doesn’t get on your clothes,” he explained. Sally did the same to him and put his hair into a high bun. Only she secured it with a pink hair tie that had a bow on it.
When he came home, his mom saw his hair and adored it. “You should keep it like this from now one, even at home. It is too long to wear down... What’s in the bag” she demanded. Before he could speak, she opened it up and saw all the training bras. “Perfect, you will wear them to school from now on. It is inappropriate to have breasts that big and not wear a bra,” she stated. Rohan asked why his chest was so big, to begin with. It’s not like he was fat. And why hadn’t his voice deepened or facial hair come in? “It must be your long hair. You want long hair like a girl so your body must be wanting to become a girl too,” she said, purposely leaving out the lavender scrub she had ordered him to use every day.

The next day at school he wore a training bra and felt a little embarrassed the whole time, wanting to make sure no one knew his secret. When he came home, his mother told him that he won’t be able to play outside today because she was taking him to the hair salon. “You need to get it trimmed remember,” she said. Rohan pleaded with his mom not to force him to cut his hair. He knew what getting it trimmed mean. She wanted to give rid of it. When they arrived at the salon, the lady didn’t even bother asking Rohan what he wanted. His mother had already given instructions over the phone beforehand. Rohan couldn't bare see his mane gone. He closed his eyes and waited for it to all be over. Snip, snip. When he opened his eyes back up, he was surprised to find a straight, long, side-parted bob grazing over his shoulders. His mother, true to her word, only got the ends cleaned up.

The hairdresser noticed his training bra and assumed he must be a girl. “Sweetie, I noticed that your ears aren’t pierced. If you want we can do that for you,” she asked. Before Rohan could say no, his mother chimed in and agreed to it. Click, click. That’s two piercings for the right ear. Click, click. And that’s two for the left. The stylist put in 4 small hoops, 2 in each ear, and then turned Rohan’s head forward again. She played around with his hair, stroking her hands through it. “You know what you need, a nose piercing,” she advised. Rohan’s mother loved the idea and insisted she do it right away. Rohan couldn’t bare see this. He closed his eyes and pretended it was all a dream. When he opened them back up, there was a small gold hoop hanging from his nose. His mother paid the lady and they left the salon.

Back at home, Rohan was having a dilemma. With his hair now cut into a girly bob, and the nose and ear piercings, not to mention the training bra, how was he supposed to go back to school tomorrow as a guy? “Hey, you wanted this. You wanted to grow your hair out and that is what caused all of this. See what happens when you don’t listen to me. Now we can tie your hair up in a bun tomorrow and you can tell everyone that you wanted to get the piercings,” she said. The next morning, when Rohan came downstairs, his mom tied his hair up into a high ballet bun. There was no point in arguing.

Sally loved his earrings. She showed him her jewelry box and all the fun things he could do with his outfit now. She tried on a bunch of different earrings on him. In the end, she concluded that the hoops his mother had chosen for him looked the best. She took his hair out of the high bun so she could see what the earrings looked like partially covered. To her surprise. A beautiful bob came down. “I see you got your hair cut, it looks beautiful,” she said while combing his hair. She ended up tying it into a high ponytail before sending him back home.

The next few months proceeded the same way. Rohan continued wearing his training bras every day and left his hair in a bun. His hair had gotten much longer now, longer than he had ever wanted it to be. With his silky tresses extending down past his chest now, it was getting to be more of a hassle than anything. His chest was also growing. The training bras barely fit him anymore and he was beginning to show noticeable cleavage. High school was about to start next month and Rohan needed to figure out a solution. His mother noticed his worrying face and decided to deal with the problem.

She came back home one day with a set of B cup bras and told Rohan to take off his clothes. Rohan took off his shirt but she insisted he strip down naked. Rohan’s mother placed a bright red bra on him and then slid some matching panties on. She then took down his hair from the bun and brushed it into two low ponytails on each side of his head. His mother took the ponytails and braided them one by one to create braided pigtails. Next, she took out his small hoop earrings and put in larger hoops in two of the holes. She then walked him over to the mirror to show him his new look. “I have registered you as a girl at your new school. No need to worry, no one will question it,” she reassured. “But mom I don’t want to be a girl. I just wanted long hair,” he complained. “Look at yourself in the mirror,” she said, “those large breasts, your earrings, your long hair styled in neatly braided pigtails. Do you honestly think you look like a boy? Besides, none of this would have happened if you didn’t grow your hair out. You wanted long hair like a girl, well sweetie look in the mirror, you look like a beautiful long-haired girl.”