Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...???

[SherylsTresses]

(ETA -- Not length but time)


I'm 10 months post and was full MBL. My ends are becoming thin and when I decide cut them, my hair would be about full APL. I sure do hate to lose my length but I know my natural hair will avail. So transitioners and those that transitioned to natural, at what point did you begin cutting (not trimming) your hair?

 

[Ltown]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

(ETA -- Not length but time)


I'm 10 months post and was full MBL. My ends are becoming thin and when I decide cut them, my hair would be about full APL. I sure do hate to lose my length but I know my natural hair will avail. So transitioners and those that transitioned to natural, at what point did you begin cutting (not trimming) your hair?

I transition for 15 months and started trimming my relax ends every 6 weeks which kept me at SL.

 

[Whimsy]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

My last relaxer was August 2007, I cut my hair from BSL/MBL to just above APL in March 2008, so that's about 8 months of growth.

It was a BIG difference in length to me, but my goal was to be 100% natural and percentage-wise it got me way closer to my goal.

However, if you're nervous about losing length for now, then why not just do a deep trim to start, just to get your ends lookin right again, and then later on when you're not so worried about length you can do another deep trim, equalling up to a cut

 

[SherylsTresses]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

**SherylsTresses takes deep and whineful sigh**

Okay, I'll do the trim/cut to full APL sometime this week. Thanks Whimsy! LOL

 

[Computer Blue]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

I always trimmed regularly. Every other touchup, so I haven't suffered with ends issues like thinning, etc because they don't get a chance to get that way. I have kept up basically the same trimming schedule. About month 3, I had a tangling episode and I asked my stylist to take off 2 inches, even though she insisted I didn't need to take that much off. Since then, I get the same amount taken off that I did when I was relaxed. I am not interested in relaxed+ natural length goals, because all of the relaxed hair will eventually be gone. I just try to keep it all healthy, so it will stay on my head until I am ready to get rid of it. Regular trims are an important part of that.

 

[1QTPie]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

Chopped it off about 5 month after my last relaxer (the normal amount of time it would take me to relax again.) I never really tried to transition.

 

[MiWay]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

I'm still transitioning (48 weeks post), but I had my first major cut last month. I trimmed at least 3 inches; I went from APL to SL. I am not a trimmer and hated the thought of losing my length, but when I got in that chair, something came over me. I wanted to go shorter, but the stylist was against me cutting too much, so we agreed on SL. I miss my length, but I love the cut and it just makes me more ready to BC. I'm hoping to be back to APL by August/September, and I will either fully BC or do another mini BC.

 

[SherylsTresses]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

Thanks Brooklyn Queen...!!! I've been eyeballing Shtow's haircut in her siggy.

 

[Beverly Ann Properties]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

If you wear your hair out most of the time, you probably don't want to show your thin ends as your hair gets thicker from growing in natural. If you wear protective styles, then you could cut your ends as you gain length. 1/2 inch a month as long as your natural hair has grown 1/2 inch. I did the BC at 14 months, and cut off the remaining 4 inches of relaxed hair. 9 months later and all of my hair is natural and at shoulder length when stretched. My hair now is about 3 inches shorter of when I started my natural journey. I would just trim as my natural hair grows and wear protective styles.

 

[Whimsy]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

**SherylsTresses takes deep and whineful sigh**

Okay, I'll do the trim/cut to full APL sometime this week. Thanks Whimsy! LOL

Lookahere drama queen, do some deeeep trims if you're nervous. You don't want to regret anything and feel badly about your hair. And you dont want to walk around with scraggly ends either.

 

[Chrissmiss]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

My first time transitioning back in the 10th grade lol... I cut my hair form APL to SL/CBL as soon as I made up my mind to transition. My mom was shocked, but my hair was amazingly thick and healthy looking so I got tons of compliments. This time around I am going to wait until about 3 months... and the shortest I would cut it is about BSL or maybe between BSL and APL. Because my hair is currently MBL. But I definetly don't want to hang on to all of this hair for the next year and be in total shock when I big chop. So I will be cutting a little bit at a time until then.

 

[cch24]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

I transitioned for 17.5 months and I did maybe one 1 inch trim before I BC'd. I wore wet buns daily and didn't really have issues with my ends thinning, so I saw no need to cut them off until I wanted them all gone.

 

[Anew]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

I just cut it all off, I was past APL when I did the BC

ETA after a 9 month transition

 

[SherylsTresses]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

Lookahere drama queen, do some deeeep trims if you're nervous. You don't want to regret anything and feel badly about your hair. And you dont want to walk around with scraggly ends either.

I know. I'll get it cut like Shtow's haircut in her siggy. I'll probably get it done this weekend.

 

[Allandra]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

(ETA -- Not length but time)


I'm 10 months post and was full MBL. My ends are becoming thin and when I decide cut them, my hair would be about full APL. I sure do hate to lose my length but I know my natural hair will avail. So transitioners and those that transitioned to natural, at what point did you begin cutting (not trimming) your hair?

I started my transition in October 2007, and I got my hair cut (6 - 8 inches) in April 2008. After that, I slowly got my hair trimmed until I was relaxer free (October 2009).

 

[blackbarbie]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

My last relaxer was January 2007. I transitioned for 2 years and 10 months. Since I consistently got trims, I figured that would be the easisest way for me to manage the transition.

My hair was mid-back when I first started the transition and my goal was to go every 2-3 months and get a couple of inches cut off. Because I was used to the ease of the length, my game plan was to just to keep going to get a little cut off/trimmed as a little would grow in. I started off by going the next few months (into my transition) like I said I would do. After that, something seemed to get in they way of where I wouldn't go consistently (it was mainly me not wanting to let go of the length.)

I never really did a BC but the most I cut at one time was 4 inches. Towards the end of my transition (after the 2nd year), I wanted the relaxed ends to be gone so bad because I was looking forward to summer and wearing my hair out but I was just so afraid of having to manage my hair at a shorter length than MBL or BSL.

Also, my ends never really got thin but of course as more natural hair grew in, my relaxed hair was much more noticeable. To combat that, whenever I got my hair flat ironed, I would always let them curl it with the flat iron and then I would maintain my curls with a jumbo flexi rod at night. (like in my avatar). The relaxed ends weren't as noticeable (actually, they weren't noticeable at all) when I wore it in big curls.

Hope that helps!

BB

 

[Nonie]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

When I transitioned, I was in braids and on a regimen of trimming my hair every 6-8 weeks, so I started to do that 6 weeks into wearing my braids, undoing one at a time and snipping it as time allowed. Of course it took me a week or so to get through all of them since I'd do it only when I felt like it or was watching TV. I'd snip off about 1/4 inch and had gotten rid of all my relaxed hair in a year.

 

[fivetimestwo]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

I am currently 11 months post and did my first big trim around 9 months post. I went from grazing BSL to barely APL (took off between 2-3 inches). I am thinking of trimming a little more regularly now since I am wearing my hair out more lately.

 

[Bun Mistress]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

ST, I have only trimmed once since starting my transition. Min ends aren't thin But I PS most of the time. I'm almost BSB (I could be there but not doing a length check til the fall. I was having breakage but I added wheat germ oil to my oil mix (along with coconut oil and camelia) and I ahve noticed a big difference.

 

[EccentricRed]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

I transitioned for a lil' more than 16 months. My relaxed hair was earlength (I had my hairdresser cut off the damaged parts the last time I went in for a relaxer. I had full intentions of stretching, but after 12 weeks I decided to transition.) My hair was APL when I decided to BC in February. I should be back to APL before December...

 

[Lavendar]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

I had so much trouble with managing my hair when I stopped relaxing in Nov 09. My hair thinned out a lot so I cut from an inch or so below BSL to APL when I was between 3-4 months post. I have done a couple of dustings since then. I just noticed my hair was a few inches past APL, so I cut another 2.5 inches this last weekend. I think I will get another cut to just above APL because it's so much easier to style and maintain and my hair looks so much healthier and fuller.

 

[calibella218]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

My last relaxer was in July '09. I had been getting regular trims ever since I decided to transition. Anywhere from 1/2'' to 1'' every 8-12 weeks. So I stayed at about BSL and everything was going ok until I decided to let someone else cut my hair because I was in a rush one day. She ended up cutting about 3 inches off the back (blunt cut) and 5-6 inches off of the front giving me these long, weird looking bangs. I was upset at first but then I realized that it would have been cut either way. I won't trim again until I get back to full BSL and then I will start consistently trimming again. HTH

 

[Ms.London]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

...i was about 2 months post and them relaxed ends were wayyy too scraggly and too chewed up for me to even think about relaxing again or even transitioning for that fact!

...thats when i knew it was time lol!

 

[naturalmanenyc]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

I transitioned for 2 years, 12/30/2007 - 12/30/2009.
I cut twice, in November 2008 and April 2009.

 

[SherylsTresses]

Re: Transitioners and Naturals -- At what length did you begin cutting your hair...??

Ladies, thank you soooo much for your responses.