The subject of hair and how you wear it has made headlines in South Africa. Back in August, a group of students at Pretoria Girls High School staged a protest against a school policy they say banned their natural hair, requiring them to chemically straighten or braid it to conform to the school's strict code of conduct. The girls' protest sparked a national debate about racism in schools.

This week on Pulse: the politics of hair in South Africa, meet the director of the ‘first-ever African teen film’, and how sisters in Canada are doin’ it for themselves.

This summer, India-administered Kashmir has seen repeated clashes between security forces and protesters. The conflict has been going on for decades, so why are young people at the forefront of this latest round of violence?

Join Pulse on an uncomfortable, but hopefully educational journey across the globe to meet young people affected by conflict. Youth in the Kashmir Valley risk their lives in violent protests, activists in Italy help refugees avoid smugglers and communities in Nigeria are outraged over increasing rapes. Plus, how do displaced Iraqi Christians feel about returning to their homes?

This year alone, more than 3000 people seeking asylum have been reported killed or missing on the sea journey to Greece or Italy. Appalled by the situation, several Italian Christian groups have worked to give refugees an alternative to smugglers.

On Pulse this week we're all about breaking taboos. From the South African girls who break the period taboo; to the Indian students who are trying to break the curfews placed upon them. In Italy an annual burpfest tests the boundaries of taste and decency and creates a lot of loud sounds in the process. And we talk to the campaigners trying to end the tyranny of skinny in the fashion industry.

This week on Pulse it's all about festivals. From a new pilot scheme in the UK to test party goers drugs, to why Ghanaians love festivals so much. Then we travel to Lake Balaton where two rival festivals are attracting revellers with a mix of environmental issues, music and fun.

On Pulse today, we're looking to break free. We start in India where there's a battle going on over whether to end the centuries old practice of cutting girls in a small Muslim sect…DW's Rachel Baig explains how to make your own free choices within the tenets of Islam as a woman. And, to celebrate World Jollof rice day, we discuss whether Nigeria or Ghana should win the annual "rice off".

On Pulse today, we're asking: does Europe really represent the lands of milk and honey to Africans? We hear from Northern Nigeria about their concept of Europe, talk to a Tanzanian living in Germany and get an update from the latest European campaign asking migrants not to board the boats in Libya.. Also Italy fears heroin use is on the rise and Norway introduces military conscription for women.

In this week’s Pulse we hear from students in Kenya who feel overworked at school and find out what their relationship to their teachers is like in the country. A young man in South Africa is supporting scholars in rural areas using bicycles. And university students in the UK get to pat animals to combat test anxiety.