Choppity Chop!

Last October my sister-in-law decided that she was going natural. No more relaxers (perms) on her hair. She, another friend, and I started discussing it and she began transitioning at that point. Fast forward to May and she underwent the Big Chop (general term for cutting off of the relaxed hair)! During those intervening months, from October to May, I considered making the transition, but really waffled with the idea. I wasn't sure if it was something that I could maintain.

You see, I've always gone to the beauty salon from the time I was a really young girl. That's me over there ---> probably age 3. See the hair? Pre-relaxer and it would never sta in a plait. I don't know at what point I got a relaxer, but I'm sure it was in elementary school, and I've had one ever since.

Every other week throughout my formative years found me in

the hair salon. It was a love-hate relationship. I knew it had to be done as I was not equipped to do hair, but I dreaded sitting on the dryer and getting a relaxer. I would stretch out getting a relaxer for 3-4 months because I just despised it, yet I did it. Let's have a look back over the years.

I was probably 11-12 years old in in this image (that's when I had braces). Look at the length and yes, it was (still is) quite thick. I didn't do much with it but wear it like that or in a single ponytail.

Here's one of my senior portraits from high school:

This image was taken in 2000:

2005, the first time I put color in my hair. I had it like that for about a year:

2009:

As you can see, I've always had length and thickness! My previous post has an image of me earlier this month when I was in London. Well, at some point in May I gave serious consideration to going natural. I had a long conversation with my stylist about it, knowing that I wanted to amp up my workouts this summer, and do something different. I began to read natural hair care blogs and follow some on folks on twitter. The more I read, the more I was ready to do it.

My plan was to transition over a period of time. To keep cutting my ends every 1-2 months. Well, that didn't happen. A month after deciding to go natural, I chopped off the relaxed ends. I did that this past Friday! I feel So.Very.Free! Here's a montage of my new cut:

I'm luvin' it!