When does dust my ends equal to cut off half of my hair?

I have been digging my new hair, but know there were some stray ends that still had pieces of relaxed hair. I wanted to make sure I got rid of all of them so that they wouldn't start splitting and damage my natural hair.

I needed my eyebrows done, so I thought I'd get them done at the hair salon as well as let her get rid of any of those ends and get my eyebrows done too.

Now we had a long discussion about the fact that I didn't want to lose any length and that I didn't want my hair shaped in any way. They hair was healthy and she could basically just dust off the ends no more than 1/4".

So, because I trusted her, I turned my head over to her with no qualms...well only one, she said she needed to blow-dry my hair to cut it. I wasn't too happy with this, but if it made it easier on her to cut, then fine. She cuts a little in the back and shows me and I'm like "cool". So I'm reading and we're lightly chatting the whole time.

She does my brows and then shows them to me in a mirror. My eyes go straight to my head. OMG...she has cut off over half my length. The length that I struggled through rod and straw sets while transitioning. Hell, if I'd wanted my hair this short, I would have cut it 3 or 3 months ago and saved myself a lot of time and hassle.

She'd decided to shape me up. Hello, not what I wanted, not what we'd discussed.
My 3 inch coils have been reduced to about an inch long. And it's not that long on the sides where it was "shaped". WTF!!!!!!! And I've discovered that despite all of her hacking, it is in no way even. If she was gonna take it upon herself to shap me up, shouldn't the hair be even...especially since she blow-dried it?

I have been totally pissed about this. Before the "haircut from Hell", I had the option of rocking my TWA as just a wash-n-go or doing finger coils or two strand twists. Now I can barely grasp enough to do twists and I think the only coils I can wear will be comb coils and I certainly don't know how to do those.

While everyone says it looks good on me...that's not the point. I was trying to retain some length. I went in asked for one thing, had a discussion around it and ended up getting something different.

It's been 5 days since the cut and I'm slowly learning to adjust to it.

Before the hacking away the hair.



After the hacking. Grrrrr! My head has so many thin places...I don't need hair this short.

Curls for Women Products Test

So now that I am totally natural, I am starting to experiment with products. I was strolling through Hunneee B'z considering whether I wanted to spend a whole lotta money on Ms. Jessie's products or try Carol's Daughter's products again. Neither one of the these worked well when I was transitioning.

I noticed that they had gotten some new products. One being the Curls line . I've read a few good reviews of it was relatively inexpensive, I decided to give them a try. I used the Whipped Cream and the Quenched Curls Moisturizer. I loved the way they added definition to my tiny coils. I'm not to fond of the buildup that seems to happen after a couple of days. I don't want to start spending a lot of money on products and co-wash them out every night. But again, I'm just starting to play around, so we'll see. I've heard that the Curly Q's (kids line) is the same thing, just a little cheaper. I'll probably buy that next time.

Don't worry, I'm still making my own concoctions on the side. I just don't see me ever deep conditioning with out using my "Good From Head To To Shea Butter Mix."

2nd day of Curls Products test.

I did it, I did it, I did it....I BC'ed!

Yup, ya heard me...I did the big chop. I am au naturale now...well there may still be one or two straggly relaxed ends that I missed. But for the most part, I am chemical free and totally NAPPY!

I wish I could say I woke up and decided...."Hmmmm, I think I'll BC today." Uh-uh not me, I always gotta walk backwards dramatically into doing something. While I was home for Christmas, I caught the cooties from my cousin's daughter. Let's call her Typhoid Trinity....why is it that the little cutest things carry the worst germs. So between fevers up to 105, dehydration, ear infections and totally upper respiratory congestion, I can easily say I was not totally lucid on the day that the chop happened.

I'd been in the bed, sweating due to the fever and for some reason decided to get in the shower too cool off. If I'd been in my right mind, there would have been no way that would have washed my hair, but since I was in a fever induced alter reality, I guess anything was game and I seem to have washed my hair. Ok, mistake 1....no that's probably mistake number 3 since I can't stand it to be hot, so I keep my heat around 65-68 degrees and usually have on shorts and no socks. Hot feet are the worse for me. Oh yeah, I sleep with the fan on too.

Here's where my mind gets fuzzy. I can remember getting in the shower, but I have no recollection of getting out of the shower, but I woke up several hours later teeth chattering curled up in the bed with wet hair. I stumbled to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and was like WTF....I still had a head full of conditioner. That's normal for me since I like to deep condition overnight. But the thing that stood out was this big ass shower comb in my hair and the hair was tangled all around it. I really wish I'd had a picture cause that crap was too funny now that I think back on it. The relaxed hair was in ugly clumps all over my head. After spending sometime trying to get the comb out and the other parts of the relaxed hair un-clumped, I was like forget it and reached for the scissors.


Clip, clip, clip, clip...FREEDOM!

I ran my hands of my completly chemically free hair and fell more in love with my kinky napps. I am loving my TWA (Teeny Weeny Afro). Man, I can't wait until I am sporting an Angel Davis BAA (you don't need me to define that do ya?

But now I really am on a re-education plan trying to learn more about caring for my all natural hair. I'm still sick, so I can't wash and go, like I really want to. But I plan to try do some twists or coils this weekend to see how they turn out.

Stay tuned for more updates. Love ya.

Me an my new nappies. Ain't they beautiful?

You letting your perm grow out....girl I didn't know you had good hair and stuff.

{Sigh} This was a comment made by a sista to me today. When are we going to get over this concept of what textures make hair good vs bad?

For the record I think good hair is any hair that is on your head that is healthy, properly moisturized (and that is moisturized not greased like you are planning to fry chicken later), not split from end to root...or even worse on the floor not because you cut it but because it is shedding or breaking off.

Now we all know where this self hatred of our coily, kinky and yes "nappy" hair began. However we have to take responsibility for continuing to feed the monster. I admit I've done no differently than most and viewed different textures as good and bad. But years ago, I learned that good hair is not a texture...it is healthy hair in any form.

Hey I sound really deep now don't I? LOL. But those of you who know me, know I have my own opinions and to hell with anyone who doesn't like them because it doesn't follow the masses into the easy way of thinking. Simply put, if you don't want to hear what I have to say...ya don't have to read my blog. 'nuf said bout that.

Ok, getting off my soapbox now. Again I am not anti-relaxer....it's just for me at this point in my life, my hair and scalp are anti-relaxer and since I want them both to be happy and stay together for a long time to come, that's what I'm going with. Wish I had not been stubborn and really listened to them before. I got the impression that this sista was saying that unless you have what is considered "good hair" among the masses then you need a relaxer. We have got to get out of this way of thinking. How, I don't know. But somehow we have got to come to terms with this self-hatred of our hair.

Good hair in our community has always meant straight or nearly straight or with a slight wave...but not too wavy, anything else could to easily bump up against being that nasty nappy hair we seem to hate. Oh yeah, if it ain't long, then some folks might also take you out of the good hair category if you are a female. But we also have all these hair type categories, 3b, 4a, xyz or whatever. And this can further complicate the fight. And whoooweee....they're have been some heated ones over hair typing.


Oh, let's talk about that baby hair thing too. How is it that a woman in her 40's has baby hair????? Uh, sorry sista, you ain't been a baby in....30-something years....you don't have baby hair. Simple as that.

Ooops {slides soapbox with foot under the desk} Got distracted with some more ranting...but that baby hair thing is a pet peeve with me.

So I'm gonna get out off here before I find something else to rant about.