Faridah's Big Chop

Hello lovely ladies!

Just a quick introduction. My name is Faridah and I’ve known my dear friend Feyi since we went to the University of Leeds together (Clarence Dock, baby!). I’ve been natural for almost 3 and a half years.

My BC story is probably different to a lot of naturals out there. At the time, I knew nothing about any natural hair movement, had no idea what a big chop or TWA was. I had only one close friend who was natural, and she’s very low-key about hers. So I was completely in the dark about anything to do with natural hair.
 

My relaxed hair was wretched. Ever since I can remember, my hair has always been really fragile and it never grew past shoulder length. It broke off with the slightest manipulation and basically refused to retain any length whatsoever (will post a few pictures of my relaxed hair soon).

So when I went to the hair salon one frigid winter morning, I didn’t go with the intention of cutting all my hair off. My BC took place in January 2010 (I don’t even remember the exact date, that’s how insignificant I felt the event was at the time). All I knew was that my hair was a patchy, brittle mess and I wanted something, ANYTHING done. I got there and the lady took one look at my hair and said sympathetically, “Yeah……..it’s probably best to just cut all this off. Not sure what else can be done really.”

Ok so I’m not exactly scissor-shy, I’d already cut my hair several times prior to this day. But it was always into some sort of style (Kelis, Rihanna), so the prospect of cutting it ALL off was rather daunting. After some hesitation, I took the plunge and watched as my hair fluttered all over the salon floor.
 

Afterwards, I was very self-conscious and I mostly hid in my house for several weeks. My boyfriend at the time was really supportive, so he made me feel much better about the whole situation. A month later, I went round to several salons in Leeds, looking for anyone who was willing to go through the process of putting my hair in braids, but they all turned me away, saying the hair was “too short to pick”. Eventually, I found someone and I felt comforted with the X-pressions hair falling to my back.

My sister was actually more excited about my short hair than I was, as she had dreams of me turning into a Solange-type creature. She sent me the link to a blog “moptopmaven.blogspot.com” which was really helpful at the time. But it wasn’t until several months later when another friend of mine with natural hair introduced me to the natural hair world, filled with terms such as “pre-poo” and “sealing” that I realized the magnitude of my actions. Cutting my hair was much more than some impulsive act; I’d unknowingly been inducted into a community of fellow women who had decided to put an end to their relaxer days.

I was way too self-conscious to take pictures of myself during and immediately following my haircut. So this was taken a few weeks after the deed.

I promptly became a blog follower, a product junkie and youtube addict overnight. There was just SO much information out there, and I simply had to know everything at once. But this is a story for another post.
 

3 years later and I’m so glad I was impulsive enough to start this natural hair journey of mine. My relaxed hair days are long behind me and discounting several moments of frustration where my hair simply refused to behave the way I wanted it to, I haven’t regretted my decision. I’d do it all over again.

I'm really glad to be a part of this, and I’m reallyyy looking forward to sharing all my natural hair experiences with you. From my favorite hair products and practices, to people’s reactions to my hair. I’ll reveal all!

Knotty by Nature, ;)

Faridah