To Chop or not to Chop...

THAT is the question!

When you're ready to transition, the question always arises. Should you chop? Should you just let the permed hair break off? Hmmm...

Depends.

I'm soooo not a fan of just letting the permed hair break off, but some folks swear by it. I chopped...I couldn't deal with the 2 textures...It was about to drive me to drankin'...I don't know how some people do it. Well yes I do. If you're straightening your hair while transitioning, I guess you really wouldn't know the pain that those of us who didn't straighten while transitioning went through.

If you're transitioning, you have to answer that question. Are you scurred to chop? Don't want to see your hair "really short"? That's understandable. I had fears myself until my hair got unbelieveably tangled one day, and I literally broke down crying...I had been doing "mini-chops" for awhile, but I hadn't gotten the guts to chop it all off until I had my break down. I stood in front of the mirror and went for it...CHOPPED IT ALL OFF. By the time I did it, my hair was brushing my shoulders. I hacked it up too...I definitely looked a HOT mess...I went to my mother's house the following day to have her clean it up for me. She was so shocked I had the guts to do it, but when she was cutting, she was so very supportive. She kept saying she loved it and it was so pretty. That's what you call support!

So know the pros and cons of chopping versus not chopping.

Pros of Chopping:

You get to get the relaxer out, pronto.

You get to learn your hair and texture sooner.

You can stop fighting with the two textures.

No more transitioning

Cons of Chopping

You're hair is going to be shorter than you may want it to be.

Pros of letting it break off...

You get to hold on to the length
Dat bout it, homie...

Cons of letting it break off...

Umm...the breaking??!!!!

Unnecessary stress on your hair

Styling limitations (takes a lot longer to achieve the style you want...for real)

Again, I'm not a fan of letting it break off. In my opinion, it's not a good start to learning good hair care. When my hair was breaking off before I chopped, it was very, very discouraging. "Doing" my hair took sooooo very long! Trust me, you don't need that stress.

So what do you do if you don't want to wear your hair short? Well there is the option of wearing your hair in braids among other things....Be careful however as continued use of braids can weaken your tresses causing all kinds of problems...So it's best to give your hair some rest from them from time to time while transitioning...

If you're brave enough to chop, go for it! I was the cutest with my TWA (teeny weeny afro). Although I transitioned for a complete year, I had a nice sized fro when I finally chopped. My mother took an andditional inch and a half or so off to make sure all of the relaxer was out...

There's so much you can do with your hair short like this...As you can see, I had scarves on lock...Every color...Every style...

Check these out...

From Khamit Kinks (http://www.khamitkinks.com/) Gorgeous "starter" locs, or single strand twists...

From http://www.iblacksoloutions.com/