Krianne submitted this question:

“So I have just done the BC (big chop) and I was wondering if girls that have done it could give some general advice on how to take care of the scalp and not damage the hair growing out…..cause to be honest with you I just wanna make sure I do this the right way this time!!!!!!”

Alright ladies, any advice for Krianne?

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Which did you do when you transitioned?

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Lately I’ve been getting a lot of emails from transitioners… so I’m curious to hear how our transitioners are doing! Why did you decide to take the plunge and go natural? And how is it going so far? Do you plan to transition gradually or do a big chop?

And for the ladies who are already natural, here’s a question from Erika, a member of the BGLH Facebook Fan Page…

What are your tips for long-term transitioners?

Alright transitioners and naturals, spill it

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“My name is Crystal and I have a question… With an oval shaped face should I have my hair cut short or should I wait to grow it out? I would really like to cut it in upcoming January, but I am thinking that I will look like a boy. Do you have any suggestions?”

Crystal with bantu knot-outs on transitioning hair

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Bhoranie

Shayna

Freda

Nicollette

Ivy

Romney

Shala

Adwoa

Jana

Joy

Britnee

Robin

Michelle

Dorinae

Brandiss

Latisha

Cyrelle

Nev

***
BGLH now has a forum! Check it out HERE.

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To say I love what I do is an understatement, I regularly bore people with it all and I have a passionate dislike for anything that requires reading of an instruction manual. I’m actively involved in my professional community running events and things as well as doing small projects on the side for friends. If I have one criticism of my field, its that there isn’t yet enough diversity. As an IT specialist, its unique in the sense that although male dominated, women probably make up a larger proportion than is usual (up to 40% I’d say), but we are missing the black and asian presence. I recently went to a conference in America and of about 350 attendees, I was one of only 3 black people.

When did you go natural? Why?
L: I’d had my hair in a relaxed short style for about 7 years and I didn’t plan going natural as a big life decision. It came about when I was planning to go traveling for 6 months and I was worrying about how I was going to maintain my hair. My hairdresser Michael was the only person allowed to bring relaxer anywhere near it and I knew there was no way I was going to allow a random in some far off country to do the same.

Although I’ve never been overly keen on extensions (I get really itchy scalp) I put my hair in kinky twists and braids and figured that when I came back, if I didn’t feel like relaxing my hair I wouldn’t. I didn’t put any pressure on myself though, I wanted it to feel right, not like some kind of punishment or black woman call of duty.

When I got back and took my extensions out, I had about an inch and a half of supreme kink, with another 4 inches of under-nourished relaxed hair above it. The first thing I did after washing it was go to a barber shop, I wanted all the relaxed bits off asap and then I was going to make an appointment to have some more twists put in. The barbers looked at me like I was crazy, but I told him to go ahead! When he’d finished, I realised I actually really liked it so I never got the twists and the rest is history.

Since then, I’ve enjoyed getting to know my hair texture, I had my first relaxer at age 7 so I had no idea what the character of my hair is. It’s been a fun learning experience!

What style do you love to rock?
L: I like doing the twist out, it’s dynamic and once I’ve got that I can pin my hair up, wear it in a full fro, do a fro-hawk, all sorts. I’m a low-maintenance hair person so my current ethos is that I wear my hair as it wants to be worn. When I take the twists out each morning, they naturally fall a certain way and if my hair is taking longer than 3 minutes, then I’m trying to put it in the wrong style for that day! I avoid packing it up too much or doing any styles that put too much stress on my roots, so my favourite hair accessory would have to be the good old black bobby pins.

What do you use in your hair?
L: I don’t use too many products in my hair, I really dislike build up and I subscribe to the notion that hair needs moisture and air, not product clumps. I wash it once every 7-8 days alternating with a conditioner and shampoo wash. I use Organics Olive Oil Shampoo and Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise with an extra egg. Whenever I wash, I always deep condition for about an hour. I use Parnevu t-tree Herbal Grow hair moisturiser because I find it’s not clumpy. I moisturise my scalp every other day, again to avoid too much build up and occasionally, in the mornings, I will add a bit more of it to the ends of my hair. I do want to move towards chemical free products but I have a lack of natural hair shops around me, any recommendations of places to try in London would be most welcome!

We’ve discussed before on BGLH how natural hair is not particularly embraced in Nigeria. How has your experience been as a Nigerian/English woman?
L: My experience is that Nigerians have a real problem with natural hair. When I first had my big chop, people were asking me if I did it because my hair was damaged, one uncle asked me why would I do such a thing to myself! As far as they were concerned, I had really good relaxed hair so why revert?! Even my mother had some mild issues with me wanting to keep it natural after a while, it was ok for a bit but didn’t I want some extentions? Or how about a weave?! Thankfully she has gotten over it now.

Personally, I think Nigerian women are truly in crisis with their hair issues. I would rather a woman wear her hair short and natural than continously put relaxer in it so she ends up with the thinnest, dryest pony tails a person has ever seen. I also can’t stand that many Nigerians would rather wear a horrific weave and let it get old but would never just wear their own hair out. When I was in Nigeria last year, I got some funny looks and comments but I paid little attention. I’m quite thick skinned and ultimately, because I was ‘Oyinbo’ (meaning white, due to my accent) it was obviously a symptom of living in England so I was given much sympathy.

When I’m in England, if someone looks at me odd because of my hair, I can ignore them, especially when they have half a horse tail oddly perched on their own head. I sound flippant, but I have gotten quite defensive about it. My community needs to find its own identity again, and as far as our hair identity goes, Nigerian women don’t really have a clue at the moment.

The biggest issue is not knowing what looks good, or how to handle their own hair. We should detach the hair and the hair style, rediscover your own textures and play with it to see what styles you can achieve. Don’t look at another person’s hair and say ‘I want that’, because in my experience, it doesn’t work. You have to be willing to go on a journey with your own hair. If we all took this approach now, it would make life a lot simpler and make natural hair much less of an issue for our children.

For more on Lola, check out her blog; http://afrogeekchic.wordpress.com/

UK naturals have started a thread in the BGLH forum. Check it out!

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She’s been blogging about her transition experience (here and here), and now she needs our help to figure out where to get her chop done. Read on…

My big chop countdown has started…and it got me thinking. Where did you get your big chop done? Did you grab a pair of scissors/clippers and do it yourself? Did you go to a salon? Or did you get it all shaved off at the barber shop?

I’m leaning towards the beauty shop…

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Bublnbrnsuga has been kind enough to share her amazing hair journey with us over the past several weeks — from relaxing her super long natural hair in October 2008, to not liking the relaxer, to cutting it all off in March 2009.
Some reading to get you caught up:
Part 1
Rock Solid Regimen interview
Part 2
Peep the third installment…

BGLH: why did you decide to do a big chop as opposed to a gradual transition?
BUBLNBRNSUGA: I transitioned for 16 months when I first went natural in 2002. That’s too long!!! I really believe that some of the best times being natural is when you start low and let it grow!!

BGLH: did you do the cut yourself? did you go to a salon? what were the hairdressers’ reactions?
BUBLNBRNSUGA: I did cut my hair myself- and jacked it up. After I realized I am not hair savvy yet alone I shouldn’t deal with scissors, I decided to go to the salon. The lady who shaped me up was very supportive- she had natural hair also. I do think that if my hair was still long, I would’ve had to deal with the ‘are you SURE you wanna cut if off?’ Girl, all of this long hair and you wanna cut it!’ comments from those in her shop and possibly her , too.

BGLH: was it hard to let go of all that hair?
BUBLNBRNSUGA: Honestly, nope! You only live once and when you realize that hair is just hair, it won’t have such strong hold on you. I allowed it to control me because that’s how I was identified – by my long hair.

BGLH: i had estimated that you had 24 inches… was i off? was it closer to 20? do you even know, lol?
BUBLNBRNSUGA: Nope don’t know and I am not good with estimates,lol!

BGLH: so, what are your plans now for your hair in terms of an ultimate length? do you even have a plan or are you just going to go with the flow?
BUBLNBRNSUGA: I think that I am not going to allow it to get longer than my armpit-stretched. My hair was at it’s flyest at this length when I first went natural.

BGLH: how will you style your hair now?
BUBLNBRNSUGA: Believe or not, I am able to do a curly fro now. It’s short and really cuuute!

BGLH: what products will you use now? will you switch up your products/regimen at all now that your hair is shorter?
BUBLNBRNSUGA: Products that are in current rotation for me are:
Asha’s Heavenly Hair Pudding , Smooth n Shine Curl Activator Gel (THE BOMB)!!!, Kinky Curly Knot Today, Shikakai/Amla/Arithra rinses for cleaning, jojoba oil for my scalp.

BGLH: what do you like most about your new super-short do?
BUBLNBRNSUGA: I like that all I have to do now is spritz water on my hair, dab my fingertips in the activator gel and rake my hands through my hair!

BGLH: some women look up to you as a true “it’s just hair” girl. how does that make you feel?
BUBLNBRNSUGA: I didn’t know some women looked at me in this way. I feel neutral about it to be honest.

BGLH: you’ve been natural for a really long time now, lol. and OBVIOUSLY you’ve done it all! what advice would you give to naturals…
BUBLNBRNSUGA: Wow this is such a loaded question! One thing I would say to naturals is it’s one thing to be excited about being natural, but another to impose it on others. When I first went natural, I wanted every black woman to embrace their hair. I couldn’t see myself EVER going back to the relaxer. I wondered why women even wanted to relax their hair, especially when God gave them such lush, lovely unaltered natural hair. I was pretty aggressive with the natural thing back then and really felt bruised when I saw my other natural hair idols decide that going back to the relaxer was the way for them. After all of that talk, guess what? I came to a place where I was bored with my natural hair and wanted a change, so I relaxed. All of this to say, just be careful about how you come across when you go natural. Most definitely it’s freeing, exciting, and for many of us so new and yes, you want others to feel the same way, but everyone’s not ready and that’s okay! So many women go on that ‘natural high’ in the beginning, but after about the 3rd year of being natural they get bored and start looking at that ORS jar- the same jar they abhorred 3 years prior.

For more from this enlightened chick, check out her fotki page.

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so i recently profiled her, because she was able to grow her natural hair out in excess of 24 inches…

then relax it (just cuz she wanted to)…

and subsequently hated it because, ironically, it created this weird static “fuzz”.
i just learned that she CUT ALL 24+ INCHES OF HER RELAXER OFF and now has ABOUT 2 INCHES OF HAIR!
check out the photos here.
now THAT is an “it’s just hair” attitude. if i could give her a standing invitation via internet i would!!
alot of people can be kind of condescending with the “it’s just hair” talk, but few people could actually do this!!!

i would encourage you all to storm over to her fotki page now. especially you newbies. it isn’t often that you witness a “hair idol” growing her hair out from scratch. watching bublnbrnsuga’s new look develop over the next several months will be a fabulous experience, and i look forward to it!

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Q: What’s the most effective way to transition into natural hair?

Jenteel says: How you decide to grow out your relaxer/texturizer is largely dictated by your lifestyle and/or hair texture. In regards to hair texture, if there is a significant texture difference between your new growth and processed ends, you may want to “big chop” or shorten your transition time. This includes texture differences as a result of heat damage, over-processing of chemicals including dyes, or thin relaxed ends vs. thick/coarse new growth. The reason why these are issues is because breakage may occur at the line of demarcation. This is the point where the relaxed hair and virgin hair meet.

The “Big Chop”

The “big chop” is a term used to describe the process of cutting off all of the relaxed hair to reveal a head full of natural unprocessed kinks/curls; as opposed to transitioning, which could be described as “waiting to get a significant amount of length” before cutting off relaxed ends, ultimately resulting in a less dramatic chop. Most naturals usually describe the desired transition-chop length as “enough hair to fit in a ponytail”. The big chop is simple because it is just that: either you, a stylist, or loved one cut off the relaxed ends. I highly recommend that you avoid a barber unless he/she uses scissors, because your ends will be “buzzed” and almost impossible to style. Barbers are also notorious for unflattering “boy cuts” in stark contrast to the cute slick styles that some fab naturals are seen sporting. Style options for a big chop include a “Caesar”: very low cut, a twa: teeny weeny afro, a part on the side, designs cut into the hair, curly/wavy twa / slicked down with gel.

Transitioning

If you decide to transition, I suggest you have a game plan. Will you transition alone or have a hair dresser’s assistance? What are your style options? How often will you trim?

I suggest protein treatments at least once every 6 weeks. This is to keep the hair strong at the line of demarcation to avoid breakage. An easy natural protein treatment can be made with eggs and mayonnaise. Another option is thru the use of a commercial product with light protein in the form of a reconstructor or a heavy protein. Keep in mind not everyone’s hair likes protein. You must keep a close eye on your hair and watch for breakage and maintain a proper protein-moisture balance. Also recommended is deep conditioning treatments for moisturizing to aid in detangling. A tell-tale sign of too much protein is dry, brittle hair resulting from formerly normal hair. Although rare, a sign of too much moisture is “soggy” hair. Styles that are useful in blending the two textures during transitioning include braid-outs, twist-outs, bantu knot-outs, and strawsets. At the end of your transition, when it is time for the final cut, be sure to have a clear level of communication with your stylist so that only relaxed ends are cut off. You may require an additional visit to completely remove residual relaxed ends.

Jenteel’s Journey

The first time I went natural, I transitioned because I was fearful of short hair (having had shoulder length or longer hair all of my life). When I transitioned, there were virtually no [internet] hair boards, but I still found the process very easy. I transitioned for the first six months off and on with professional braid extensions. During that time and thru the end of my transition, I styled my own hair without extensions. Those styles included slicked-back buns using gel, cornrows, flat twists, and twists with “ouchless” rubber bands at the ends. I even had my hair flat ironed (not hot-combed!) twice during the transition for a change of pace. I trimmed 1-2 inches off of my hair a month. I enjoyed my transition and was anxious for a full head of natural hair. During the process, I actually became less concerned with length and grew more curious of short hair. At the end of 10-11 months, I cut the rest of the relaxer out.

Your Journey is Unique…

Understand that whatever way you go natural this is a major change. How do you receive change in your life? Positively or negatively? Remember, this is your journey and your decision. I think how your “journey to natural” evolves is largely linked to your mindset, how you feel about your natural hair and natural hair in general. Love yourself, love your hair and best of luck!

~j~

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