What to Expect After the Big Chop

Hey Everyone! Hope you had a great Easter. For all my transitioning readers, this one is for you!

What to expect after the BC: 

Shock-

There are 3 different types of shock you may experience. Happy, Sad or Indifferent(this is where your eyes are just bulging out, but you don’t really know how you feel lol) .

It all depends on your mental state before actually chopping and your level of preparation.

This is why I say to big chop when your absolutely ready. Don’t do it out of frustration or “peer pressure”.

Because I transitioned for a little over 15 months, had a decent amount of growth and was ready to begin my natural hair journey…I experienced Happy Shock.

But don’t get me wrong, I had a moment where I was like:

Dryness-

Not only will you experience some kind of shock after BC’ing, but your hair will too.

There is an 85% chance your natural hair will be very dry.

So it’s time to amp up your moisturizing and sealing. Also throw in some MOISTURIZING deep conditioning treatments.

While you are transitioning, be sure to pay extra attention to your natural hair and experiment with products that keep it moisturized. This will really help you when you actually BC.

My hair was drier than normal for a week after the BC. Once I went back to my staple Shea-Butter mix and did a Henna treatment, my hair was back to normal.

Straight Pieces-

If you’re like me, when you start cutting, you are going to make sure NO NATURAL hair is cut in the process.

When BC’ing, while doing it in small sections of course, it’s better to cut too little than too much.

Then after washing your hair, you will notice any straight pieces missed and cut them before styling. I have been cutting straight pieces off of my twists and every weekend after washing. I think they are finally gone now, but don’t be surprised if it happens to you. Don’t get too scissor happy though and be sure to differentiate between your natural and relaxed ends. Some people naturally have straighter textures of hair, so be very careful when cutting.

Styling Rut-

You have a whole new head of hair and may not know what to do with it. It’s shorter than your transitioning hair and some styles may not come out how you like, but there are so many blogs, forums, YT videos, etc, where you can learn.

This is why it’s important that you “get to know” your natural hair while transitioning and try out some transitioning styles. Chances are that when you BC, your bantu-knot, twist and braid outs will look almost the same length as when you were transitioning. So make sure you experiment with styles while transitioning. My go to style was a high bun and that transformed into a high puff when I became fully natural.

I also still keep my hair in braids or twists during the week to decrease the amount of manipulation on my hair.

Length Obsession-

After the initial shock or excitement of the big chop, you’re most likely going to want length. As we all know, it will come with time. So focus your energy on learning new styles instead. When you perfect some cute natural styles, length won’t be much of an issue anymore.

For anyone that BC'ed, please feel free to add to my list!