Big Chop or Transition?

[Chimma]

Calling all long hair women, especially transitioners and naturals!

I'm a 4b natural who has little money and as far as I know, little curl definition. I've been growing my hair out for a year, and I think that I look a mess. I've got healthy hair that is long for a black women because I practice good hair practices - little heat, few relaxers, lots of buns, conditioner washes, and deep conditioning, but not cute hair because I don't have many hair skills. I decided to grow my hair out about a year ago, and it has just made it all harder to look semi-cute and made my hair very very poofy.

My long term goal is to have waist length hair when straightened, at least shoulder length when natural. I currently have 4-6 inches of natural hair and probably around 8-10 of relaxed hair depending on the section total is somewhere between shoulder and bra-strap.

What is your opinion on how I should grow out my hair and still have it looking cute every once in a while? Is it really that damaging to blow-dry and press my hair once a week because I for sure don't know how to get my natural hair straight with a roller set? Does anyone know any cute styles for the inbetween stage of nappy hair? I like the short afros, I like the long natural hair but the inbetween I'm not feeling especially since I can't braid or do twists. Just any comments in general from long-haired transitioners especially of a type 4?

I'll be eternally grateful for any advice!

 

[itismehmmkay]

hey girl,

i have done the natural thing before where i sported the TWA. well, i'm going natural again, but i really don't feel like having that in-between stage again either. so, i plan to transition until i have about 6-10 inches of natural hair...who knows.

i think the best thing in the world would be for you to just learn how to do some flat-twists (think cornrolls where u use just two sections of hair instead of three). i find them to:

#1 be easier to do on wet hair than cornrolls,

#2 give better "curly" definition than cornrolls, and

#3 give better consistent texture than individual twists.

i think wearing a texturized style where you can do alot of air-drying will eliminate alot of stress from detangling the natural hair from the relaxed hair; the two textures tangle so much more as compared to just one texture alone.

let me know how things go...you can even PM me

krys

 

[inthepink]

I agree, try airdry styles like twistouts or braidouts. Maybe even doing a smoothed ponytail with perm rods to make lots of curls. Lots of styling options for transitioning hair!

 

[Ayeshia]

well it depends on if you are in a so called rush to acheive waistlength hair. if you do the big chop now it sound like your goal might be setback about a year and a half. just give it some thought. i personally did the bigchop i dont know why i just did...but its only been two weeks and its already growing out.