My BIG Chop Story- Part 2

Most common question so far... Why I cut my hair

The simplest answer is that I was fed up.  Back in September I went through similar frustrations (i.e. difficulty with detangling) with my hair as I did the day before I cut it. I relaxed it then to make it more manageable and immediately regretted doing it. I intended to do a long term transition to natural hair and discovering that my hair did not like sulfates helped a lot but washing was still an hour long or more process. Not to mention drying. I air dried exclusively and my hair wouldn't dry completely overnight. I am sure that with some patience I could have found some solutions but with working out six days a week, being really busy, and having an irritated scalp and dry hair because I probably needed to wash it more often than once a week, I was at my limit. This particular week I washed my hair on Sunday (I put it off for a few days because I knew I wanted to go to Bikram), ended up going to Bikram and getting drenched in sweat on Tuesday and needed at least another rinse or co-wash (conditioner wash). As I pondered my options and the hour long detangling fiasco I might encounter, having little to no hair was waaaay more appealing.


Why I Big Chopped vs. cutting a little at a time

To me if I was gonna cut any, I might as well cut it all off. I think other people were way more attached to my hair than I was plus I was curious about what I would look like with short hair (I've never had a short cut). As I told one of my friends, "It's just hair!"

Why I cut it myself

I realized two things during the contemplation stage: 1) I am more likely to cry if a big deal was made out of the process eg. going to the hairdresser and having to answer to why I would cut off all my long non-damaged hair. 2) I might cry after the first cut but I was ready to deal with whatever the results were. So to save myself the drama I did the major cut myself and let someone else do the fine tuning. I also trimmed some more relaxed ends off after the barber cut and then a week later I went to a natural hair salon and cut it again.

Reactions

On my birthday, I changed my Facebook profile pic to a picture I took the night before when I went out. There were a lot of compliments from friends and acquaintances. At school they also loved it. The only people who really didn't were some of my family members and one ex (his opinion don't count no mo', lol) but I kinda expected it. My cousin and sister-in-law both probably had minor heart attacks when they saw it. My sister-in-law promptly began searching for earrings to help me work the look and told me I should have provided warning before I came over, lol. One cousin was not amused... at all, another threatened to take me out of her wedding then informed me I would have to get a weave. Me ---> *blank stare*. Everyone else pretty much rolled with it. The chain of reactions is usually shock and mourning ("You cut your hair off! It was so long.") then questions ("Why?") then acceptance ("It looks good on you."). I am also pleasantly surprised at how many of my friends told me they were considering or were currently on their natural hair journey as well.

My BIG Chop Story- Part 1

Reflections from the day post big chop...

It's amazing how much of our value we place in what our hair looks like. We spend hours taking care of it. It makes our day right and adds a little pep to our step when its on point. We are even defined by it... "Do you know so and so?" "Yeah, the one with the long/short/or other adjective hair right?"

Well, last night after a haunting six or so hours of contemplation, I took the scissors to my bra strap length head of hair. Before getting to that point, I texted and called a few of my friends to ask their opinions on my plan to cut my hair off. Some thought I wasn't ready, most concluded that it was a major decision and I should probably take it step by step with a series of smaller cuts, and others just weren't sure if the cut would "fit" me. Well, neither was I. I was however grateful for the person that reminded me that cutting my hair would not take away from who I am. I spent hours on sites such as CurlyNikki and Naturally Curly looking at TWAs (teeny weeny afros) and hoping that I would see myself in one. As I prepared to make the first cut, I remembered that one of my friends had also done the big chop a while ago so I went back to the computer to look at her Facebook pics. It looked great on her... a little more encouragement... back to the bathroom mirror. The deal I made with myself was that I would start in the middle because if I changed my mind I could hide that section in my pony tail. And then I began cutting.

I fully expected tears after the first snip but the only thing that came to my mind was the time when I took a pair of scissors to the back of my head when I was a little girl out of frustration with it not "acting right" aka not staying in my ponytail (hide the scissors from your children people!). After the first cut I felt committed so I continued. The feeling of exhilaration was creeping up on me. A few minutes later it was time it was time for the final cut. Freedom! I stared at myself in the mirror, spiky hair everywhere, and saw.... me. I hurried to trim down my relaxed ends then jumped in the shower for the first wash. As soon as the water hit my strands, curls began to form underneath my fingers and I couldn't have been happier.

This morning I woke up, combed out my hair (which now reminded me of Coneheads) and began to figure out where I would go for a shape up and what products I would buy for styling. The salon I intended to go to was closed but a nearby barbershop was open. After assuring the barber that there was no oil in my hair, he agreed to do my cut and so began my first barber cut. After he was done, I was still in love with my TWA. I rushed off to Target and Sally's to buy hair gel and conditioner with a new pep in my step and a huge smile on my face. When I got home I washed again with Hair One, deep conditioned with Giovanni Deep Moisture and olive oil, added some Giovanni direct leave in, Olive Oil hair pudding and my hair oil mix (coconut oil, almond oil, Castor oil and Jojoba oil) and let it air dry. I had to go to class shortly after so I did my makeup for the debut. How did I feel? AMAZING! I love it! I felt free! And best of all, I no longer had to be a slave to my hair.

Stay tuned for part two.

Working Out and Hair - Part 1

Hey y'all! I know it has been a while but things got a little busy around here. Well, I did complete most of my workouts from the last post, (with the exception of WL Yoga) and I did not get a chance to workout during my trip (but I did dance my butt off one night :-)) Anyhoo, when I returned home I was mucho bloated from all the extra salt and extra food consumed during the weekend's festivities. I quickly grabbed that water bottle (I drank lots and lots and lots) and got back to working out. I am very happy to say that I was back to my pre-trip weight before the end of the week. Since then Couch-to-5K has been in full effect and I am currently finishing up the Week Two regimen. I am also adding on cardio and weight sessions on alternating days after running/walking. I am however taking a day off after each of those workout days to try to nurse my terrible shin splints ( I will do a post about that).

So, on to the subject of this post.... MY HAIR.

One of my challenges this week was having to take two consecutive days off from working out so that I could relax my hair. While this doesn't seem so bad in retrospect, it was a huge bother since I was getting into the groove of working out every other day, and I have a really itchy scalp that I had to keep in check. What I did was, I worked out on Wednesday (my hair was soaked when I was done), let it dry overnight, then detangled and oiled my scalp Thursday morning and then left it alone until today- relaxer day. Detangling was a very painful process, I lost lottttss of hair but the oiling did curb my itchyness and help me to make it to today without digging in. This morning I went through the relaxer process (a very, very long one) and guess what? NO BURNS!!! This is a miracle for me. I almost always burn during my relaxers. I will post the results once I'm done deep conditioning and drying.

My other option was to co-wash (conditioner wash) my hair on Wednesday after working out and detangling and then just leaving it alone until today but I wasn't up to it, especially given my bad experience detangling after last Sunday's wash. I would still have to oil my scalp on Thursday anyway -I guess you can call it pre-basing, but it works for me.

What are your experiences with working out regularly and maintaining your hair?