My big chop…what went down & my current length

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To be honest, I planned my big chop. As I was counting my weeks post relaxer, I realised that on my birthday I will be exactly 30 weeks post relaxer and it was my 30th birthday – that felt like the right time to do it. I went on my birthday weekend away armed with my hair scissors  and a few hair products for post big chop maintenance that would tide me over till I got back home.

Big Chop

My hair was still had some curls from the bantu knot out that I  had done. I decided to section off the hair into 6 sections and twist those up. The cutting began with getting rid of those twists and then working to get rid of all the chemically treated ends and even out the natural hair. As you can see from this picture, my edges are in need of a rescue.When I  saw myself the first time with the short hair I didn’t  have any strong feelings. It was like: okay – I have short  hair now. As I said in the I’m  transitioning  to natural blog post 3 months ago, I’ve  big chopped before about 10 years ago. The ‘short hair look’ is something that I know and that I can confidently rock with 🙂

Hair Colour
One thing I have noticed is that my hair is not jet black as I thought. My relaxed hair turned brown as it got older to the point that my ends looked visible brown even when I wasn’t  in direct sunlight. I attributed this to the chemicals and my thought was always that that my hair grew black. Now that doesn’t  seem the case – I will monitor it over time and see what happens.

Cheat wash days
I co-washed my hair twice after my big chop, I didn’t  deep condition and went straight to leave in and sealing. Here are the products that I used:
Cowash products for natural 4c hair after big chopI didn’t  do any combing, I just let my hair be. What I did notice though is that it felt dry to the touch.

Proper wash day
When I got back to my full arsenal of products, I went through a full wash day complete with a protein treatment and a moisturising  deep conditioner. Here is how that went down:

Prepoo Coconut oil for 1 hour without heat
Shampoo ORS Creamy Aloe – I was long overdue for a clarifying session
Protein treatment Afrobotanics Strengthening and Repairing Treatment with heat for 30 minutes
Deep conditioner Dark and Lovely Amla Legend Rejuvenating Ritual Replenishing Hair Mask  mixed with JBCO – I steamed this into my hair
Leave Ins ElastaQP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Leave In Conditioner
Sealing Shea Butter (I totally forgot to moisturise my hair using the Afrobotanics Conditioning Moisturiser
Styling I did large sections of 2 strand twists just to keep my hair stretched so that it wouldn’t matte and flatten while I was sleeping. I ended up with 20 twists. I carried on trimming some left over relaxed ends after twisting each section. I think that will be the last trimming/dusting that I do for now.

After my wash day process, my hair felt moisturised, supple and just overall yummy. I am still getting tons of small pieces of hair that look like breakage everytime my hands find their way into my hair. For now I am attributing it to the cut piceces that haven’t made their way out of my hair yet. I will monitor the situation very closely and see what happens, while focusing on keeping my protein and moisture levels balanced.

In the morning, this was my final look.4c natural hair twa twist outI didn’t get a lot of definition, my hair was stretched though and that was ultimately what I was going for. It also felt soft.

Length check
I did a mini length check and my hair is:

Front 6.5 cm
Left nape 7.5 cm
Right nape 7.5 cm

On average, my hair grows at 1cm per month – so this is about right for my 7 month transition.

30 days growth challenge
As you guys know I’m  on  the #one_inch_December challenge hosted by Joie over at Long Nigerian Hair. So I will be really focused on growth this month. I will update weekly and a final length update at the end of December.

This Post Has 10 Comments

  1. Joie

    Tweeny Weeny Afro looks good on you. You can try adding Jamaican Black Castor Oil to your regimen for your edges.

    1. Lungi

      Thanks Joie – I am already using JBCO in my oil mixes. I hope to see some improvement with the one inch December challenge

  2. Becca

    WOW! I like how your new growth looks soft! How are you finding the shea butter?

    1. Lungi

      Thanks Becca, I like the shea butter, it really seals in the moisture. The only down side is the unmelted bits which stay in my hair and can look like dandruff. So I am working on really rubbing it on my hands to make sure it is all melted.

  3. Lebo

    Well done on you BC Miss Lungs!
    Hey… your edges are really looking good already!
    All the best with your challenge I can’t wait to see your results!!

    1. Lungi

      Thanks Lebo! I am hoping for goof results

  4. Bonolo

    Yay to big chopping! Your hair looks so soft and fluffy 🙂
    Can definitely say that I have the same issues with my relaxed hair turning browner as it grew older but I’ve never had jet black hair. It’s the one thing that actually bothers me about my hair- it’s brown and I don’t want to colour. I’m still transitioning so pray for me still lol.

    1. Lungi

      whoop whoop!
      You can look into using henna to colour your hair if you’re not keen on chemicals. I might use it too in the future.
      All the best with your transition.

  5. Simpzet

    I love it…. It really does look soft and yummy, I bet that shea butter smells like baked biscuits *drooling*

    1. Lungi

      Thanks sisto, it does smell quite good!

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