THE BIG CHOP!!

I just got an unintentional BIG CHOP! (all caps cause this shit is serious!!) The BIG CHOP or BC as it's known in the natural hair community is when a black woman, or African American woman if we're being PC, cuts all of her hair off. The reason can be because it's damaged, or she may want to get all the relaxer out, or she wants a new look, or whatever. As for me the reason why it was unintentional is because I really just didn't know what to do with my hair. I was ok with relaxers. Sometimes women can be allergic or stop getting them because the chemicals can be affecting other parts of their body. In some cases it can be linked to allopecia, or breast or ovarian cancer so alot of women to alliviate the risk, stop getting relaxers. We have to go back just a bit for me. Last year (2012) in January or Febraury I got back in contact with a hairstylist that I used to go to. I liked the way she cut and style so I thought now would be a good time to change my look. Up to that point my hair was rather long and I would do it myself and just get touch ups when I needed them. I even went to the Dominicans a few times which is SO bad for your hair. I scoured Essence magazines and online for the perfect cut. I finally found something and took it to her to do it and I left with something not really what I wanted but it was cute so all was well. As the spring and summer went on, I had her cut more. She didn't really get what I wanted again, but at this point I was rocking an asymetrical and it was flattering on me. SO the final straw was late summer early fall when I wanted to get a pixie cut, which would have meant it was going to be really short but basically all I would have to do is get up tossle it a bit and GO! The night I got it cut, she was having some personal issues, her daughter was not doing well and actually she called a few times at the shop. I really thought though that she would be able to rise above her personal issues and still give me what I wanted, which is kinda odd since up to that point, she had not given me what I wanted. When she was finished and held the mirror up for me to see her handiwork, I said to her "Is this what you thought I wanted?" It may have been rude, but keep in mind I was paying ALOT to this chick and her prices seemed to vary from visit to visit! So NOW I was not happy. Her sister and brother-in-law came to pick her up and I sat in the car like WTF just happened here? I went to McDonald's they messed up my order so I was just MAD for the rest of the night.

Once my hair started growing out I went the braids route. During my first set of braids I got a text from her asking why I hadn't been back. And I told her I was not happy with the last cut and that I wanted my hair to grow out some more. Another thing to note, sometimes when you go to a stylist for a while you know things about them that you may not neccesarily want to know. So I knew this was a fresh start for her and that her clients really were not coming as regularly as she would have liked so she was struggling financially. When I first started going to her back when the daughter who is now about 20 was then about 7 or 8, i left the shop looking GREAT! She was always overbooked (not good for me but good for her). I even had co-workers come up from DC to go to her she was just that good. So over the years I don't know what happened but she just lost her love for doing hair.

Fast foward to a few weeks ago, I took out my 2nd set of braids and was left with some natural some relaxed hair. I saw a woman at Wal-Mart who had a cute style and she gave me the card to a lady near my house. I can be really picky though so I never called that lady. I think I thought I could do it myself by going on blogs like Curly Nikki, and KulChicBeauty, but I really was not prepared to go the natural route alone. And what I thought was some Carol's Daughter at the Marshalls I went to was actually some other brand of conditioner that did NOTHING for my hair. Hair care products can be expensive so you really have to be sure of what you buy. I asked one young lady what she used in her hair and she said Oh I use a product **BLANK STARE** Yes miss I'm sure you do use a PRODUCT but what's the name of the product?!?! She did eventually tell me but I was kinda pissed at that point so I forgot. I was doing my own little twist outs but it was really looking good some days, a hot mess on other, even though I carried it like I was the cutest chick in the world everyday! My BFF was trying to have me go to her hair dresser in Charlotte, but I wasn't real sure what I wanted and I was being to wishy washy. And then I was like if this woman does a good job then who in Baltimore is going to keep it up for me? I called another friend who said, oh you can get a weave! Now I don't knock anyone who rocks a weave, but that just isn't me. She then gave me the name to a woman who does natural hair. Now mind you I have a soror who does natural hair but she moved her butt to Georgia (oh she knows who she is!!). I called this lady and you know how sometimes you can tell everything about a person just from how they answer the phone? She was SUPER professional and even though I was wishy washy with her, she still assured me that she could help me. I was up in the air about everything up until the point of me sitting in her chair and she says oh yeah we are gonna cut this relaxer out and I sat there and said OK? Like yeah ok... but really, what was I holding onto. I am ready for a new look!

So it is short! I am still looking at myself like OMG my hair is SOOOOOOOOO short, but I have gotten compliments from co-workers, even got a double take from the cutie on the 4th floor who held the door for me even though I was WAY across the street, so that helped! Another co-worker who herself is natural said it looked very nice and that I looked adorable! That helped too. She also said that my hair would grow really fast and that I would be doing lots of styles which is what Tara said, who hmmm maybe I should put her link here, because even though she is all the way on the other side of the world in East Baltimore, I think it was worth it!

I need to figure out how to post pictures. WELL I need to TAKE some pictures LOL!