September 20, 2011

Snip...Snip....OH SNAP!!!!

I BIG CHOPPED!!!!!!!!!

My initial intentions were to wait another month to do it and I just could not continue to fight with my hair any longer.  I transitioned for about 15 months and during that transition I took some time to really learn my hair and what I learned was this: I was having too much breakage the longer I transitioned. The first 12 to 13 months were pretty good, but the last two months, I could hear my processed ends breaking.  Even with me taking care to make sure I was handling my hair gently (I am very heavy handed and quite impatient) I was having more and more breakage. So after a few a weeks of mental preparation, I decided I needed to go ahead and make the jump from "transitioner" to "natural girl." So I called on my friend and natural stylist Kenyada via her business, http://www.alltressedup.net/ and told her I was ready to chop.

She was so excited for me. More excited than I was at the time. True, I had been treating my hair like it was natural for months, but those processed ends gave me length in spite of shrinkage. Remember, I was always the girl with short hair who wanted the long, thick beautiful hair that all my friends had.  But, the closer I got to the day of my appointment, the more I talked about doing my BC. I stopped saying it with uncertainty and trepidation that I really felt ("I might do my big chop" or "I'm supposed to do my BC soon") and began to say it with an assurance that made people, including myself, think I was ready to do the 'do.

My appointment was filled with a lot of exhaling. A lot of deep breathing. A lot of reflecting. A lot of healing conversation with my friend and stylist.  In the end, I walked out of there feeling emotionally lighter, like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and 100% natural with a big smile on my face. I don't think I've ever smiled that much in my life over my own happiness. Being happy for others, sure, but not for me. I was so happy and smiling so hard that my cheeks were sore by the time I made it home.

I had so many congrats and well wishes from friends who were excited for me about my big chop! I definitely felt the love from my community of natural sisters. Now I'm excited to see what this change that feel in me is going to mean for my life.  I remember watching a Lenny Kravitz interview years ago (LOVE HIM!!) and in it, he recalled the day he decided to cut off his locs.  I don't remember all of the interview very well now, but what stuck with me is how he spoke of when his ex-wife (Lisa Bonet) cut his locs for him and he felt and saw them fall, he felt like he had an emotional and spiritual cleanse.  Like a weight had been lifted from his soul and I think he said he shed a tear or two, but don't quote me on that.  I remember thinking that it sounded like such a powerful experience and found it interesting that he got all of that from a hair cut.  But now, I kind of understand. Its the letting go of something that you had been holding on to for so long, in spite of how cumbersome or damaging it may have been. I had been hanging on to the desire for long, straight, pretty hair for so long (over 20 years) that, even after transitioning, I had such a hard time thinking about letting go of the processed hair that allowed me to hang on to that little bit of length that I had. Each time I saw "all that hair" fall away from my head, and every time I caught a glimpse of my developing 'fro in the mirror, I had these huge, audible, loaded exhales. But after letting it go I felt a little lighter and a little more free. I felt that I was ready to release a lot of things that had been laying on me for so long...along with some of my hair. I walked out of the shop feeling lighter, wide awake, free and ready to party for a few hours with my sore cheeks and happy squeals!


So, big chop...DONE!!!!








Now, its all natural!

September 2, 2011

Making It Work

This week has been a big ball of stress. Well manages stress, but stress nonetheless.

It started with that heifer Hurricane Irene that knocked out my power as I was prepping appetizers for a birthday dinner for a friend. Irene also knocked out my cable and internet and, 7 days later, I am still without it. So for the past week, I have had to drive in to work as opposed to being working at home as normal.  While I have power and finally have my phones back, the lack of internet and TV is bugging the mess out of me!!!  I’m not one of those people who is unaware of how much I depend on my TV. I am aware of how much TV I watch and I know why I do it, so I am exceptionally peeved that I have not been able to relax after work and watch TV for a couple of hours for the last 7 days. Add to that having to drive into work for the past 5 days. Gas-traffic-pedestrians-oh my! And while I miss the people I worked with in the office, I do not miss the office environment at all.

Anyway, I could continue to vent about that situation but that is not the focus of this post for today. Today’s post is about making it work. “It” being my hair this week. So, on to that: The benefit of working at home is that I have not had to put my hands in my hair daily & had plenty of time for trials and plenty of time to correct any errors I've made in execution of styles. Thank goodness because I needed those experiences to lean on for this week. I have also come to the conclusion that I have been doing a lot of protective styling on my hair and, hello, its summer! This is the time of year I can wear my ends out without risking much damage to them. So, my choice of style for this week has been a variation of a flat twist-out.

What I did was an off center part and had 3 somewhat chunky flat twists going to the left on the left side of my head, two going to the back on the right front side of my head and four flat twists going down across the back of my head, leaving the crown out. At the crown of my head I had from 8-10 two strand twists. This was the result:

Here’s the view from the back.  Okay, can I take a minute and marvel at the difference in color between my processed ends and my natural hair!!! That’s going to be just a memory in a little while. Excuse the fuzzitude of the hair. This pic was taken today...day 6 of this style.

So, my goal for this week was to make my hair work, no matter what happened. The first few days were okay because the products in my hair were new/fresh, it had been freshly washed and hadn't been messed with too much. Days 4 and 5 were a little bit of a challenge because some of the ends were fuzzy (see the pic from the back taken at the end of the workday on day 6). To maintain it from day to day I put a little water in my hair from my trusty spray bottle, then retwisted the hair each night and rolled the twists on cold wave/perm rods. In the middle of the week I added a little more foam wrap to help the processed ends continue to follow the directions of the rods. Making the hair work was a success! I'm happy with the results and I received so many compliments from coworkers and friends about how healthy and nice my hair looked.

Products used for this style: Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie, Jane Carter Wrap and Roll, African Pride (I think) Nature's Shine Oil (used daily on hands while untwisting), Water and light EVOO (for retwisting at night).

I made sure after applying the Shea Moisture that it was fully distributed into the hair and showing no white residue before applying the Wrap and Roll. If you don't do that, the white color of the product will not fade and will be held in your hair by the Wrap and Roll. The result was the best flat twist out I have ever had, with both moisture and hold in the hair and I was able to separate the sections for the two strand twists without losing the crinkle of the natural hair and without frizzing the processed ends. Definitely will be used again...especially if I still don't have internet next week and have to venture back into the main office. *gag me*

I will try to post a pic of the pre-bed hair so you can see what I did at night.

Peace!