A Broken comb from tangled coils is my most vivid memory growing up with natural hair #afro. My mother decided at a very early stage that she was not about that life Lol. At the age of about 8, she decided to make both our lives easier and processed my hair with Jerry Curls ….yes I had Jerry Curls. It was great for me until I got to high school when that hairstyle was surely now considered archaic. In second form I remember begging my mom to relax and bob cut my hair. She decided to allow the transition and save me from any further ridicule. Yaaaaaaasssss, Boy was I excited! However, little did I know I would enter a very serious love hate relationship with relaxers!
Relaxers can surely make your life easier; my hair was light, silky and very easy to manage! That cloud nine feeling surely didn’t last long, before I knew it I was back on earth and I could not understand why the simplest thing would cause my hair to break! This was a common cry for most women I know; a little stress can cause breakage, change of climate can cause breakage, prolonged dryness can cause breakage, over exposure to water can cause breakage, sleeping freely at nights can cause breakage…OMG!!!! I started to believe if I even eat or breathe it could cause my hair to break, what made matters even worse I’ve always struggled with thin edges, and even though I wore my hair out majority of the time the chemicals made it worse! This was a clear indication that the ingredient used in these relaxers was simply not healthy for my hair and it’s sad that it took me years to figure this out. (I discovered the active ingredient in many relaxers is “lye” which is the active ingredient in drain cleaners! It has the power to break down organic matter and this now explains the spurs of hair breakage. I then understood what “no lye” relaxers meant after I stopped relaxing my hair smh) https://www.huffingtonpost.com/antonia-opiah/relaxers-wont-be-around-f_b_5069159.htmlb #lye #relaxers
After my first sew in in fifth form I was surely convinced I was about that weave life, now fast forward to when I starting wearing my own lace wigs but I was still foolishly relaxing my hair even though I had no real intentions of wearing it.
This was the last time I fully relaxed my hair when it decided to be ungrateful again after all the treatment, love and care and started to break from the ROOT! I was now feeling an empty patch at the back of my head not knowing what the hell caused this severe breakage. Even though I was rocking my wigs, I was super annoyed with the breakage that I didn’t even have the patience to allow it to grow back! Sooooo my crazy ass took the scissors and chopped it so low I looked no better than a mad woman in clean clothes, how smart lol now I definitely had to invest in some nice lace wigs! #lacewigs
May 2015
P.S this was couple months after I chopped it to a boy cut….hell no I wasn’t taking any pictures in that state…you never see me say me fava mad woman? #bigchop
Whew! So now that I don’t have the trouble about worrying what I need to eat, breathe or sleep on to avoid hair breakage, I would keep my corn rows for weeks like I had a sew in but now I was able to easily nurture my scalp with oils such as the Wild Growth Oil, Jamaica Castor Oil, ORS Temple Balm, Doo Gro Oil and any other product that had cute packaging with the right words such a rapid growth that caught my eye in the hair store.
January 2016
August 2016
In a short span my little fro was thriving! Every time I decided to pull out my cornrows there was a HUGE difference in the length. It made me want to hold out a little longer each time to experience that joy of new growth! Thank God that I’m not troubled with dandruff, itchy scalp or sweat because I really could not manage having to wash my hair as often as some ladies require.
March 2017
Dang!!!! When did that get there?!! I must say wigs were truly my saviour and prevented me from struggling through the awkward stages when growing back my hair which I know can be extremely frustrating! It can be really hard growing out your hair when its exposed daily because you might not have discovered the products that best suit it, you probably don’t have the slightest clue how to style it and it can be so unruly that you leave the house perfectly and within a hour or two your curls are now looking like tornado twist outs! I survived my four year journey by using wigs as a protective style, other options include Crochet Braids, Faux Locs and ‘Easy on the Edges’ Braids #protectivestyles. I prefer the wigs because it gives me the versatility to change my look anytime I want!
I know many of you reading this might be going through the same love hate relationship with your relaxed hair and you’re afraid to make that bold step because it will leave you feeling insecure for a while. If you’re truly afraid of the transition, my best advice is to choose protective styles that will make the journey easier. My motto is “Leave the fro…let it grow” I didn’t bombard my hair with excessive weekly treatments or give an overdose of products.
Did anyone find products, styles or remedies that made their Big Chop experience easy? Feel free to leave a comment and share your views! Times have surely changed, don’t be afraid to take the challenge and get the best of all worlds in hair styles. Companies have welcomed the natural hair movement and there is a plethora of products that make our hair texture easier to manage. Isn't that great??? Now broken combs are only a faint memory of the past, lol!
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