I remember my mum being quite strict around what I could do with my hair. My cousin, Miquita [Oliver], was like everything to me growing up; she was doing Popworld at the time and I just thought she was so cool. We lived together and one day when my parents were out, she was like, “I’m going to straighten your hair”.

She would do my hair and we would talk about life and watch TV. I remember being amazed that having long, chic, shiny, straight hair felt so glamorous. I felt like Beyoncé in Crazy in Love. It would take hours because I had so much hair but also because she would do it perfectly, meticulously straightening each strand. She was the hairdresser and it was always her vision; she’d be like, “Let’s do it poker straight today” and I’d be like, “OK.” She used to do it for me every now and again – I guess it was a real bonding experience.

I remember feeling so grown up but also quite cheeky because I knew I wasn’t meant to do that. My mum would come home and say, “Oh Miquita, she’s a child. Why have you styled her hair like she’s in a music video?”

“Hair is my armour”: from teenage rituals to stage-worthy experiments, Mabel charts her evolving hair journey