That awkward moment when you forgot you wrote an article nearly two months ago, and it's been chilling in "drafts" waiting to be published......Yeah, this is one of those.
The second my stylist took a hack at my heat damage and I saw 4+ inches hit the floor, I panicked. I had second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth thoughts about what I was doing. I knew going in that when I emerged from the chair, my hair would be considerably shorter than it had ever been. I was terribly self-conscious because I had only chopped all my hair off once, and it was straight, blonde, and fly. This, this chop thing was totally different. Even though I had 21 months of growth, my hair was extremely curly and shrunken thanks to the multiple textures of my mane. But nearly 3 months later, I look back and wonder why I was so worried. Big chopping, although nearly 2 years into my transtition, was the best decision I had ever made for my hair.
In the world of natural hair, there are two ways to go about taking your mane from a damaged, and sometimes unhealthy mess to a head full of gorgeous kinks, coils, curls, and waves. One method is transitioning for a given amount of time, and then chopping your ends whenever you feel comfortable. The other, more gutsy method is to big chop. Big chopping involves straight up cutting all your hair off and starting from scratch. It can be exhilarating, fun, edgy....and a total nightmare.
In a culture where beautiful hair is the currency, it can be absolutely difficult to feel attractive after getting rid of something you've had your whole life -- long hair. And even if prior to chopping your hair didn't go past your chin, you still had more then than you have post chop. I won't pretend to know the feeling of waking up the morning after BC-ing, and realizing that there is no more than an inch of hair atop my head. I transitioned for 21 months to avoid that very feeling. But because I chopped before my goal length, I know exactly what it feels like to have less hair than you've ever had, and to have to actively work at loving your hair and feeling beautiful.
Check the rest of this article at NaturallyCurly.com!
