Hello and welcome back to another week of Locs Talk, where I talk about all things Locs and Loose-Natural hair. This week's blog is for my Loose-Natural family, some of which can be beneficial to my Loc family in your starter phase of your Loc journey. This week we are going to discuss going natural, the methods of going natural, how to mentally prepare for the transition to natural, questions you need to ask yourself in the process of mulling things over, different reasons for the big chop, and finally, the affects that loss of hair can have on your mental health if you are not prepared for it.
I would like to begin by being transparent and telling you my hair story. When I was a little girl, I remember being jealous of my sister's hair, because her fine soft wavy 2C/3A textured hair was long and soft. We all know the tales of colorism that were passed down from past generations about what good hair is and what it isn't. I remember my own hair too, having length as well, but my curlier texture of 3B/3C hair drew my hair up more, making it appear much shorter than I liked. Back then, I didn't know any better (what I now know today), but my natural virgin hair was so beautiful and widely admired by so many, including the sister I was so jealous of.
There are so many layers to embracing your natural crown, most of which requires some self-realization, soul searching and a spiritual journey to help you to unlearn a lot of what's been passed down to us from the generations before. Growing up, I lived at home with my parents and 2 of my sisters. All three of us had different hair types; the oldest had the tightest curl pattern a 4B/4C, middle girl had the finest hair with a 2C/3A curl pattern, and then there was me, baby girl with a 3B/3C curl pattern. We were very fortunate, because mommy was a Cosmetologist, and she knew hair! She taught us everything she knew about hair (and young too, I'm talking 5 years old). She taught us how to wash and condition, detangle, section properly for drying, how to blow dry using a comb and brush (no attachable combs on the dryer), how to braid, roller set, and press & curl with the hot comb and snap curling iron.
As we grew older, my sisters and I would do each other's hair. But on those really special occasions, mommy would hook us up. Then came 1984, I am 9 years old in the 4th grade. It was Spring Break, back then we just called it Easter Break. You already know, we were stepping out in style. But that year was different for my sisters. They both got this hair treatment called a Relaxer (a chemically based hair straightener). Back then, the go to Relaxer was made by Dark n Lovely. I didn't get my hair relaxed. I got the same wash, press and curl I got every year for Easter. Boy was I in my feelings about that one (lol). Talk about jealousy, I was green with envy. I cried and whined and everything, trying to get my mother to relax my hair too. This went on for months, well into and through the summer, until finally my mom must have gotten tired of my whining, because she gave me a Relaxer for my 10th birthday, just in time to show off my permanently straightened and relaxed hair when school started a few short weeks later. I got my hair relaxed every 10 weeks like clockwork from the age of 10 through 29 years old, almost 20 years of relaxing my hair. Fortunately for me, growing up, mommy did our relaxers for the first few years and taught us how to do it. Once I reached 13, my sister's and I could do each other's hair again. Mommy taught us well, she taught us how to mix and apply the relaxer without burning our scalp or frying our hair off.
Let me retract back and explain why my mother did not relax my hair at the time she did my sisters; she told me why years later when I asked. It wasn't my age that played a factor in whether or not I got a relaxer, my mother knew how to mix it and lessen the strength of the relaxer so it wouldn't fry my hair or burn my scalp. So, my age wasn't the reason. I was a sickly child and at some point, when I was almost 8 years old, my immune system was so weak, I developed a rare form of alopecia and my hair started to fall out in huge circular chunks, right from the roots. That was a horrible, horrible, ordeal for me to deal with as a little girl. What saved me was, I was a tomboy growing up (in many ways I still am), and I loved wearing baseball caps. That saved me because it covered all the spots where I had lost hair. My mom drilled me to not let ANYBODY wear my cap. Back then she was convinced I had let some other kids wear my cap and I developed some sort of ringworms or something, but that was until the doctor told her it wasn't ringworm, it was alopecia and that it was treatable.
So, I wore my caps while my mother treated my scalp with the medicine the doctor gave her and some of her own personal remedies to help my hair grow back fast. A year after that, my mother worked diligently and had grown my hair back completely and then some. She didn't relax my hair because she was afraid and didn't want me to lose my hair again. But when I was about to turn 10, I had my yearly physical, and my immune system had improved drastically, and that's when the doctor gave my mom the okay to relax my hair. So, it wasn't my tantrums, I got away with nothing, she had my health in mind before she made her decision to relax my hair. Come to think of it, I get that from her as a Loctician, I put the health of your hair first.
Fastforward to the age of 29, I had not long given birth to my middle child. I felt this urge to go back to my natural roots because I was on this path of doing things naturally, from the birth of my child, to nursing until whenever and so on. By then, I had forgotten what my virgin hair felt and looked like. At the time, my hair had grown to about a foot long (half the length it is now) and I just did it THE BIG CHOP!!! I did it myself. I started in an awkward spot that would not allow me the opportunity to change my mind. My mind was made up, I told no one what I was planning to do, I simply executed my plan and showed everyone what I had done, after it was done.
That is when all the unsolicited opinions started flowing in with suggestions to wear a wig and weave until it grew back. "What did you do to your beautiful hair?" "Why would you cut off your hair like that, it was so beautiful." There were little to no compliments, just, " I guess it will have to grow on me" it felt like shade and judgement to me. But no matter what everyone said about my hair, I did not regret cutting it off.
With all the comments I received for cutting MY hair, I knew then I had made the right choice for myself, choosing to move in silence and do what I had planned to do without saying anything. With that being said, you will need one of two things before you take that step to go natural.
1. You will need the mental capacity to not give a "F***" what anyone thinks, move in silence and execute your plan.
2. Make sure you have a strong supporter or support system that will have your back throughout your transition into & through your natural journey.
Some will need both. The preparation for a big chop transition occurs when you ask yourself the following questions and you answer them truthfully with transparency; just be honest with yourself.
WHY?
HOW?
WHEN?
WHAT?
1. Why do I want to do this, what is my why?
2. How do I plan this transition, do I do the big chop, can I handle that, how do I maintain it once it's done? This question requires quite a bit of research. (Note: Don't go natural until you have knowledge of how to take care of it).
3. When will be an ideal time for me to make this transition? (I chose late winter.)
4. What will I benefit from making this transition? What will I think of myself when I make this transition?
These questions may seem very basic, but each of these questions will lead to a different response from each individual who answers them. Your journey is your own, it is what you make it.
There are more reasons why a big chop is done, other than transitioning back to your natural hair.
Spiritual growth and wanting to begin again with virgin hair. Embracing your naturalness, your true authentic self. A big chop is symbolic of cleansing and starting anew.
In addition to #1, to prepare yourself for a transition into your Loc Journey.
To free yourself of chemically straightening your hair. This is the most common for those who choose to maintain their straight styles, but by using the silk press method instead of chemicals.
Involuntary big chop due to chronic illness such as Alopecia, Cancer, Lupus and other auto-immune illnesses that causes severe hair loss.
To remove damaged hair, caused by chemicals, heat damage or bleach damage, such as severe split ends, overly processed and fried hair, or breakage. This is also involuntary and happens as a result of negligence or lack of education for self or from your stylist.
There are two ways to transition to your natural virgin hair texture. One is the big chop; the other is a gradual trim. But first and foremost, let me put a myth to sleep; you cannot reverse and strip away a relaxer or texturizer. If someone say they can, they are fibbing, it is impossible. A relaxer and texturizer change's your hair texture by stripping and removing texture from your hair. Therefore, you cannot replace the texture that was stripped away with relaxers and texturizers. Once it is stripped, the texture is gone for good. The ONLY way to remove relaxed or texturized hair, is to cut off the processed hair.
BIG CHOP VS GROW N CHOP
(Phase 1 of my niece's big chop & natural journey before the Locs [phase 2] began)
The process of transitioning to natural hair involves several components, but the two most important ones are, the physical (cutting your hair), and the mental transitions. The big chop is the act of cutting off all of your hair, or all of your processed hair, leaving you with your natural virgin hair to take care of. Cutting off the relaxed or texturized hair, is generally why most would choose the grow n chop method to transition into their natural hair. This is the easiest way to transition. Often times they will continue to straighten their hair with the use of heat until their hair has grown out more, or they will wear protective styles until their hair grows out. This is typically done over a period of 6 months to one year, trimming the ends as they go. Once their new growth has grown out to a desired length, then they will cut off the remaining processed hair.
Unfortunately, this is not recommended for damaged hair, because eventually, the damaged hair can begin to damage the healthy hair as well. It is definitely a better choice (as hard as it is), to cut off all of the damaged hair in one sitting. Some cannot handle that, and that's okay, give yourself grace, if it has to be done in phases, it can be. The process will be longer, and the risk of further damage is there, but it can be done. It's hard to just cut it all off, because there isn't much time given to think it over and decide. The big chop is the only way to go 100% natural, instantaneously in one sitting. In making the decision to go with a big chop, the average person takes several months to mentally prepare themselves for this transition. Even with all that prepping, tears are shed when the big chop happens. Going o'natural isn't an easy transition.
If the next step is transitioning to Locs, there is another break that must be taken after the big chop. This break is very beneficial, because you are beginning to train your brain to adjust to the physical changes of your hair. Adjusting to the big chop, takes a mental tune-up; it is a good way to prepare for the adjustments you will be making through each phase of your Loc journey, if you plan to go through it authentically. The physical part (big chop) is the lighter part of your transition, which is why most will get this far, before they proceed forward into a Loc journey. More preparations are now needed during this break, which involve extensive research on having Locs, to prepare yourself mentally for the different phases of your Loc journey. Many people see the results one others after they are well into their journey. Things like length, styles, mature Locs, low frizz etc. gets them excited and inspired, and they want to get Locs. But they often aren't aware of what it took for them to get there, not physically, I'm talking about how mentally challenging it may have been for them, especially if their self-imagery is intertwined with their hair. This is why you will need to take the extra time to transition into the Loc phase of your natural journey; also, an opportunity to get a great support system as you go through your Loc journey.
Involuntarily chopping the hair off, due to illness or damage is the hardest transition. There isn't much time or space to mentally prepare for this decision. Chronic illness that causes hair loss, has a tremendous effect on a person's psyche. The hair loss is the physical affect, but it is the psychosocial aspects that are more severe in these cases. Hair is a key part of our self-image and self-expression, aspects that can be destroyed instantly with hair loss, Bio Shock (5 July 2021). That is just scratching the surface.
Here's what's clear, losing your hair, whether it be volunteered by choice or involuntarily due to illness, it affects your psyche. It takes time and patience to adjust to the changes. If it is a choice, be as certain as you can with your choice, it takes time for hair to re-grow. If it is involuntary, the mental impact is much more difficult, seek out the help and support you will need to help you through, I speak from personal experience. I was 7, almost 8 when it happened to me, and that is one memory I chose not to suppress because my mom was my ROCK through that, and she helped me to get my hair back. Because of that love and support she gave me; I know how to be there to support and treat others that need that support if and when ever I am needed. In some cases, the hair comes back with time and patience, in others it may not, but the love and support you surround yourself with will help you to make it through.
Next week I am going to delve deep and discuss causes and effects of hair loss from physical reasons and the mental affects it has, how to treat hair loss to help your hair grow back (if possible), and tips to help you cope through it. If you are on the path to begin your natural journey, I send you love and light. If you are transitioning through difficult times due to illness and hair loss, I send you love and light. Until next week, sending you many blessings.
Be Blissful in you Natural Journey
Pammie
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