Finally Did the Big Chop

Finally Did the Big Chop
Originally uploaded by daniinnc_2000

Those of you who live near me have already seen this, but I wanted to document the deed for myself. As you can see in my pitiful blurry photo, I cut my hair off. In the African-American natural hair community, this is known as the Big Chop or the BC. As I posted almost a month ago, I became frustrated with slowly transitioning from straight relaxed hair to my natural texture. I wanted to see how natural hair would behave when it wasn't weighed down by the straight ends and I wanted to start trying the products I've been reading about.

I've been living with the short hair for about a week and so far, I don't regret cutting it. First off, it isn't as short as it looks. Last time I posted that it was 2.5" (stretched) but I was eyeballing it. I took a measuring tape to it today and it is actually 4" (stretched). That means it is long enough for me to try a few things like flat twists or coils. I did two-strand twists right after this photo was taken, but I did them too big and didn't the look. I'm trying to remind myself that it will take more trial and error before I learn to do my hair the way I want it, especially since I didn't go through the same hair-and-makeup phase as a teenager that my sisters did.

Thanks to YouTube, I am reminded that moisture is key. For some reason, I don't like putting a lot of product in my hair but I thought I was getting over that. This week I thought I was using a heap of curl activator gel but my hair still looked dry and my curls were undefined. I thought maybe I should try a different brand. Then I watched some reviews on YouTube and saw that these women are using a LOT more gel than I am. Back to the drawing board, or in this case the bathroom mirror :-).