Freedom After The BC

Big Chop

Big Chop or BC means to cut or shave your hair off to get rid of the relaxed ends. It's kind like an eraser. It's to start all over from scratch so that all you see that grows is your natural hair. It's kinda hard for some people to take care of two hair textures-the relaxed and natural. So BCing is kind of the only option. Some people transition and wait for their new growth to get just long enough to have a manageable TWA (teenie weenie afro). Then they proceed to cut off the relaxed ends.

My Big Chop

So I cut my hair down to the new growth. I have about 2 to 2.5 inches of hair on the sides and about 4 to 5 inches on top. I didn't cut too much off the top because when it has retained it curl pattern and was not damaged like the other parts of my head due to my enemy, the "Dominican Blowout." LOL! I just had to do, I wanted to erase those pesky relaxed ends. They just looked like weird outliers in the equation and I didn't want to deal with it. When I deep conditioned my hair the other day, it looked a mess because of pesky relaxed ends that don't want to curl up because I've chemically altered it's curly pattern. Ahhhhh!

It made me so mad to see those things, I just started cutting, cutting some more, cutting, cutting and cutting. I was like in a trance until I awoke and I saw that my hair was shoooooort. It was quite shocking and I couldn't believe I'd do something like that. The old me would have ran out to go buy some weave to cover it up.

Freedom After the Big Chip

Don't get me wrong, I'm nervous about this whole thing, this whole hair journey. I do feel a slight urge to go buy a wig or get some weave to cover this up. I just won't do it because going natural is an incredibly important commitment that I made. I plan to stick to it whole heartedly. I've read in many natural hair forums that many felt a sense of freedom after BCing. They felt they've exposed their inner soul to the world. I do feel very vulnerable and somewhat unsure at this. I, too, feel exposed, as if people are seeing the real me. I can't say that I feel entirely free, though. I feel liberated from the confinement of sew in weaves, crochet braids and water. Yeah, water, water, water! Water and my relaxed hair did not go together. Now, I can wash my hair everyday if I wanted. I could play in the rain if I wanted. My hair would love it because natural hair loves moisture. I definitely feel free because of that aspect. I do feel like I've done something very brave because I know a lot girls out there especially where I live don't have natural hair. I'm pretty nervous because of possible reactions to the fro and other styles I will don as it grows.

They've issued a dress code at my hospital and out of the normal hairstyles and coloring are prohibited. Would they count things like bantu knots or comb twists or a twist out 'fro or other unique but beautiful styles that go along with having natural hair? I'm not sure because I have never seen these styles or girl wearing natural hair at my hospital before so I guess we'll cross that bridge when it comes. It's sad to have to worry about those things, but maybe I shouldn't be so worried. Maybe people will embrace my new and future hairstyles. Maybe I would inspire others out there to go natural. That's the plan anyways. My goal is work my TWA out, try out more hairstyles and be more self-confident in my endeavors of going natural.