Life after the big chop and why I did it.

The new me

My relaxed hair

I did my Big Chop on November 11, 2012. It was a lot sooner than I had intended to do it, I have been in the transition stage since late June of 2012. December 2011 was the last time I relaxed the back portion of my hair , and June 2012 being the last time I relaxed the front portion of my hair. I had a weave installed and only needed the front relaxed to blend well with the weave hair. I kept the weave installed for about a month, then switched to reusing the hair for added volume for my bun and from there creating a U-part wig that I wore on and off for about a month. After I became tired of wearing the U-part (it became too much, in the hot months) I started focusing on protective styling, so in September 2012 I stopped using heat on my hair. Before than I was only using heat about once a week, using a blow dryer and my Instyler to straighten my hair. I began wearing my hair in Bantu knot-outs, buns (my favorite hair style), flat twist up-dos, and flexi rod-outs. In the past I've tried going natural but never committed, as I look back I have always done some form of protective styling but not really for protection of my hair, just mostly because I really liked the styles. I would also use some type of natural products, and I have always taken hair care supplements (hairfinity vitamins). Whenever I did put in a relaxer I would do them every six to seven months apart. I was never a fan of putting those harsh chemicals in as often as some people would. For me, I had to have at least 3 inches of new growth. Its funny how as I look back and see that I was not as educated about my hair like I just knew I was, and thought that I was doing things to my hair that I now know were not healthy. I didn't properly prepare my hair for heat styles, my buns were always tight and not often rotated, I didn't trim my ends when it desperately needed it, I barely deep conditioned ( well I was using WEN hair care cleanser, so I guess that counts), and I didn't know a thing about high and low porosity hair. The knowledge just was not there! I just thought my hair couldn't grow past my shoulders. As I started researching the proper ways to care for my hair I realized that I have been abusing the crap out of my hair, saying to myself "no wonder it wouldn't grow, or why my edges were so thin". I began watching youtube videos, admiring so many natural gurus (Naptural85 and mahoganycurls to name a few) and their beautiful healthy hair and the steps they have taken to get their hair to all that gorgeousness. I continued to deal with my hair in it's transitioning stage, mentally saying that I would Big Chop in January to start off my journey but I couldn't take it anymore i just wanted the relaxed hair gone. I spent a few days torturing myself because my brain was telling me to cut, cut, cut but I was fighting against waiting it out or just start chopping. So after getting home from work (11:30pm) and jumping into my nightly routine, I got on youtube and started watching videos about the Big Chop. After watching so many of them and seeing how in a years time, these women hair grew so beautifully and wanting the same thing for myself I got my butt up, grabbed my hair scissors, wet my hair, started chopping (it was about 1:30am) and never looked back. So I've said goodbye to thin, damaged and broken hair, and saying Hello Dawlin'!! to beautiful healthy hair.