A question for naturals

iwantlongerhair

iwantlongerhair

New Member
When you got ready to part with your relaxed hair, did you cut it yourself or did you go to the salon? If you went to a salon did you look for a natural hair care salon or did you just go to your regular stylist an explain what you wanted?
I just got a relaxer in June so I don't have enough new growth to do the big chop right now, but I was thinking about cutting at least half of my relaxed hair off and then getting a sew in weave and then after I took the weave out cutting the rest and starting from there. Thanks, any advice would be helpful.
 
Cut it myself! Never had a 'regular' stylist anyway...

I waited a year (transitioned) til I had just about enough natural hair to put in a ponytail, then cut off the relaxed ends. Only because I'm not a TWA type.

Oh yeah, your plan sounds pretty good!
Personally, while I was transitioning, I made the mistake of pressing my hair like every week to blend the two textures
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A big
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for me...
 
i did it myself, but unfortunately i chopped too much in the front. go to a stylist
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, i had to get my hair evened up in April, and so far i had to trim about 2 inches. but now im definitely happy with it.


If you plan to do it yoursefl:
IMO have at least 2 inches of new growth that you can visually see
Use sharp shears (not the little crayola ones lol)
Make sure your hair is washed and dryed with absolutely no product. The slightest amount of product can change your hair texture and make it blend in with the relaxed hair,therefore casuing the line of demarcation to be less visible. I made that mistake and cut beyond my new growth. So I had these short patches of hair in the front for awhile
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HTH and Good luck!!!!
 
I transitioned a year, also. I had my friend chop my hair off last month. Your plan sounds good. Just make sure to keep your hair moisturized underneath the weave and wash it every so often.
 
I did it with good results. just to make sure i left 1/4 inch of relaxed hair on the ends. just got in the bathroom and got a 2nd mirror and went to work. i had pics but i think i erased them.
 
I cut my hair little by little maybe twice before I did the big chop so it wouldn't be so drastic at once. I did the big chop myself. Then the next day I went to a sytlist just so she just evened it out for me.I kept my hair in braids so I didn't miss my hair as much.
 
1. Went to a salon and got it cut.
2. Don't have any natural salon's around here so I went to my aunt's stylist and had he cut it into a style and had it pressed. It lasted a week, then I had a curly fro.

And I think your idea is great, just remember to keep your hair moisturized under the weave. Good luck, welcome to the natural sistahood, and God Bless ya!
 
I cut it myself. The whole reason I went natural was because my stylist was 4 hours late at my last appointment. lol. My last relaxer was in May of 2000. I didn't cut my hair until maybe July 2001. I cut it down to about 6 inches and maintained that length by cutting until last year.

My method for cutting my hair, 1. section hair (I use four sections 2 front & 2 back), 2. measure sections, 3. twist and bobby pin the sections, 4. take down twists, pull hair as taught as possible, and trim that section straight across, 5. I remeasure to make sure the cut was even. This method works pretty well for me. If you decide to cut at home, don't worry too much about a small mistake. Because of shrinkage natural hair is very forgiving. good luck.
 
I cut my hair off myself. I transitioned from a texturizer for over a year (January 2003 - May 2004). Whenever I trimmed it, I did my usual conditioner rinse, applied a leave-in moisturizer, put it in a ponytail, and went to bed. Once my hair dried, I combed it out and trimmed it accordingly.

Since I've gotten quite good with trimming my own hair, a salon visit wasn't needed IMO. I also have an all-around dislike of having any hands in my hair besides my own. That also played a major factor. I still lightly "dust" my ends about every six to eight weeks, but it'll be a long while before any inches off.
 
I cut a big chunk the front myself to be sure that I'd have the courage to go through with it at the salon. I then went the salon and had the rest cut off.
 
I went to a natural salon. Unfortunately my hair in the front picks out to almost straight, and the lady couldn't tell the difference between it and the permed hair. to this day it's still shorter in the front and I have this crazy shag thing going on.
 
I had my brother cut it off and it actually turned out fine since he does his oun cuts. However, when I tried to do it by myself, that was a whole other story
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After 1 year and 4 months of transitioning, I did the darn thing myself. I just got in the mirror and snipped away.
 
I went to my regular stylist. I set up an appointment about 3-4 months after he'd applied my last relaxer. Honestly, I'm glad that I did because I don't trust my "cutting skillz."
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went to a barber - cheaper than a stylist, and his hands were steady, and his edges were sharper.

i had a twa then after a month i put it in braids - kept them in for three months and took them out. have been rocking the fro ever since.

if you like the whole idea of length though, don't cut it just yet, and transition.
 
I had about 3 months of new growth and my hair was past brastrap at that time. I had my regular. stylist cut it into a chin length bob. Then last year in March (18 months since last relaxer) I cut the remainder relaxer off. I was able to get a small pony tail but opted to wear twists. HTH Queneesha
 
After 5 months of new growth. I cut the relaxed ends myself. If you plan on continuing to braid your hair definetly do it yourself. If you're interested in doing styles with your own tresses I would recommend you get someone to do it for you. Good luck
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Hi,

I transitioned for a year and went to my regular stylist to cut it off. Boy was she mad!!! Anyway, I pressed until the BC too, but my hair was so much drier than it should have been.

If you feel comfortable, do it yourself. If you don't think you can cut it even, see a professional.

Oh yeah, I BC'd 2x. The first was awful because even though she was a beautician, she JUST cut off the relaxer and did not cut it even. The second time I went to a woman that did natural hair and she cleaned it up.

Recently, I cut off about 2=3 inches of color damaged hair, but even with shrikage, I need to get it cleaned up.

I wish you the best.
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Thank you all for your advice, I feel like I'm really going to do it now because I've been talking about it for like 6 months. I have two friends that have recently went natural and they both love it. I think I'm going to love it too since I won't be paying $70 every two weeks for a relaxer and since my hair will be nice and full.
 
well i did my BC myself too with the help of my boyfriend for the back of my head...never got it shaped up b/c evenness didnt matter to me since i wouldnt be wearing straight styles....
 
I did mine myself after 7 months of new growth.

It was very easy to see the difference between the two textures. My husband helped me with the back.
 
Well I only relaxed my hair twice in my life, the first time my hair was so damaged that I had to cut off a large portion of it and I just "transitioned" even though at that time I had no idea I was doing that.

The second time, a few years later, I just decided to cut my whole hair off down to an inch or so.

Both times my mother cut it.
 
i went to a salon and the woman refused to do it saying i had no new growth ... so my bf and i cut it when i got home with some Queen Helen conditioner to show the curl pattern.
 
I cut it myself! I started with hair 2 1/2 inches from bra strap and while I was transitioning I kept cutting it and cutting it like every month. My last relaxer was Dec. 19th, 2003. I did the big chop April 7th and now I have 3 1/2 inches of new growth (or growth, since that's all that's on my head.) and I am sporting a nice size puff! Natural hair grows super fast so although you'll be cutting a lot of hair off, don't worry, it'll only take 1 solid year for it to get to your shoulders! (blown out). I know that it doesn't seem nearly fast enough (I'm still like.........wahhhh........I want my long hair back!! I just want it MY texture now!) but I keep thinking of it that way................that in only 2 years, I'll have all the hair I had back and more! If your hair grows .5 per month (mine is a little more than that) and you shave your head bald, you'll still have 12 inches of hair from root to ends in 2 years. If you take a tape measure and go from the back of your head down 12 inches you can see that's past your bra strap even if you're tall! Just keep it moisturized (I constantly use S-Curl!) and keep it conditioner washed every 3 days and you'll get there with no problems at all!!
 
Oh..........keep in mind........that 12 inches, you can only really see natural length when it's blown out! Otherwise it might look like about 4 to 6 inches, but really be 12 due to shrinkage! If my hair were straightened it would look like a short/medium hair length, but natural it has shrinkage that until you pull it, you wouldn't think it's that long. You can do a lot with 3 1/2 inches! You'd be surprised at how quikly you'll get through the super short stage!
 
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