2009.
I spent most of my college years wearing weaves. I attended the University of Connecticut & during my freshman year of college I managed wearing my natural permed hair, which became such a hassle. So much an hassle that every year after that I wore weaves -- my usual Yaki 1B 14"/16" combo. Wore it faithfully, so much so that by the time I came back home to New York City, my hair was completely natural. I thought.. hey cool, but there's no way I'm going to deal with natural hair. At that time, I figured natural hair seemed like such a hassle & I didn't have the time.. So what did I do? After this picture was taken, I immediately permed & cut my hair the next day.
2010.
I spent most of this year back in New York City attending art school in the city. I was so used to wearing weaves for almost three years straight that I needed a drastic look, so when I cut my hair in the Fall of 2009 -- I figured this would be easier for me to maintain. I would attend the hair salon every two weeks, and I'd admit my hair was growing. But at the time I just wanted to keep it short, so every two weeks any new growth that came in would get touched up & the rest of my hair cut. One thing about me is I get bored real quick -- well not real quick, but once I've had enough of something I need to drastically switch it up. So once I got tired of wearing my hair short -- I faithfully went back to my 14"/16" combo weaves.
2011.
This was actually the last weave I got before my accidental Big Chop. Yes, accidental. You see, I maybe had this weave in for about two, probably going on three months & I just needed to get it off my head immediately. So one day in April while shooting a lookbook shoot for some designers, I begin frantically taking out my weave. By 9PM that day in April, I prevailed over the weave as it laid defeated in my bathroom garbage. Earlier throughout the day I was talking to my natural friend Dana who was telling me I should go natural. All day I objected. I just wasn't ready to go natural.
That night I shampooed & conditioned my hair and proceeded to have Dana help me detangle it. One thing I learned about my hair is that it grows pretty fast when left alone. So now I had about an inch or two of natural hair while my ends were still permed. I looked a hot mess. To make matters worse, when I was taking out the braids from my hair earlier that day I must have left one in right in the dead center of my hair without knowing & I ended up washing it with it in there. That one braid created the biggest knot in the dead center of my head -- think the Lady Gaga Hair Bows she once rocked. Well, that was what my happened to my permed hair.. it was now in a big knot in the middle of my head that Dana spent about two hours trying to detangle. Finally I got feed up with it & told her to cut it. "It's just hair.." were my exacts. She proceeded to cut it & I looked in the mirror & realized how ridiculous I looked with a head full of natural healthy hair and permed ends. The permed ends just hung looking as dead as ever & I was deeply disgusted. "Just cut it all off.. It's just hair.."
So, we cut my hair. The picture above was two days after my Big Chop. My friends, whom were already natural gave me some great pointers & tips leaving me on my way to my natural hair journey. By the end of the month I had a proper trim, cutting down my sides which used to stick out unevenly at the time.
My hair is starting to get noticeably longer. I'm now able to two strand twist it at night and not have to wash it daily. I'm still enroute along the path to my big afro & I invite you all to come along & witness my journey.
