My Big Chop! ( no more LYE) 2nd September 2012

I've been relaxing my hair for as long as I remember, ( early teens) and my reasons for doing so, were just because everyone else was doing it, plus, I always dreaded getting my hair done, ( I recall saying "ouch, my hair!" and then being smacked with the comb lol! ) the pain the pain, and I always used to beg my mum or sister to hot comb it, because I liked the straight look...so, I've been wearing a relaxer for about 20 years... when I used to get my relaxers, it would only be 2-3 times a year, so if I had one in January, my next relaxer would be ending of May/June...

I'm 5'5 ( OK 5'4 and a half! gosh! ) and my hair here ( this picture was taken a few months ago)  is bra strap length " relaxed" I used to get comments like " what weave is that" "is that all your hair" " you must have Indian in you" one time I was in the hair shop and this lady asked "is that all yours?, your lying! are you fully black?!" then she tried to touch my hair, and this was another black female..

" I  find it sad, that people still believe that just because your black, you can't have long hair" 


The Reason's behind my "big chop"

I have been blessed with a beautiful daughter, and I noticed that when I went to get hair products she would go straight to the wigs and weaves section? whats that about? and she would try and pull at her hair, saying " I want hair like mummy's" by the way she turned 3 this year, and that really bothered me, and I couldn't relax my hair again after that, so I said to my daughter " you want hair like mummy's OK baby, OK"..so, my daughter is the reason why I am Natural today...I want my daughter to understand that her black is beautiful no "LYE"...


The day of my "big chop"

oh my life, people, I was nervous, I'm not even going to lie to you, January of this year was my last relaxer, my goal was to transition for a year, but I couldn't cope with the two textures after 6 months,  it was to much for me, so September 2nd I big chopped!...on my way to the salon I started to get really nervous, and it didn't help when a man said " beautiful head of hair" as soon as I stepped on the bus! I was like "really, really! REALLY!!!!!  and to top it off, I was early! LOL! but as soon as I sat in the stylist chair, I remembered why I was doing this, and the nerves were gone..

The first picture is of me, getting my relaxed ends cut off, 2nd picture, is my hair before the chop, 3rd picture is my hair on the floor of the salon, and the last picture is my natural hair NO MORE LYE!

Final words

I believe that people were shocked at my choice to go natural, because of the length of my hair,  but what can I say, It's just hair, it will grow, but right now I am loving the short fro or "TWA" ( teenie weeni afro) and I am looking forward to my new healthy hair journey, and to be honest I couldn't give a flying fig about what people think, as how I choose to wear my hair, is my choice..and if you are thinking of going natural, do your research watch youtube videos like  "mynaturalsistas" "Haircrush" "nikimae2003"  http://www.youtube/UKnaturals   http://www.YouTube.com/Naptural85 or get some well known books like " the science of black hair" "Grow it long" ...

The best part of my big chop experience was when my daughter saw my hair and said " ohhh nice mummy, you got hair like mines now, cheers!" and we had to cheers afro's...LOL! 

I will keep you posted on my healthy hair journey!

S xx