Trimming my Natural Hair (Second Trim)

Tonight I decided that it was time for a much needed trim.

For months now I've been plagued with single strand knots and tangles at the ends of my hair, which I felt indicated that those ends needed to go. My last trim was in seven months ago in February, when I went to a barber shop. Since then I put off trimming my hair myself because I thought it would be waay too time consuming and complicated...

...but you know what? It wasn't.

Well, it wasn't complicated. But it did take me about an hour to thoroughly go through my hair section by section!

I previously had my hair in seven cornrows, so as I undid each one, I separated my hair into three to four sections, twisted each section, then cut off the end of the twists from where it was significantly thinner than the body of the twist.


I followed the technique from youtuber jemy1415. You can watch her video below for a visual of what I did.

My twists with fresh, blunt ends after the trim:

And here is a random picture of what my shrinkage looks like. This photo was actually taken on damp hair, before my trim:

I waited seven long months between my first and second trims. Lets see how long I'll last before the next one! 

Love,

~Hatter

Snip snip! Short Hair!

Last Saturday 10th August my mom mini-chopped my hair!

I've been thinking about doing the big chop for weeks, but my mom thought it better to keep some inches of relaxed hair- i.e. to transition rather than be 'drastic' and chop all my length off. Now I'm glad that I listened to her...I don't know if I would have been happy with only 2-3 inches of hair!

Note: I still have 2-3 inches of relaxed ends, so I would not consider my haircut a big chop. The cut is one phase closer to being fully natural. 

After the chop, I washed and conditioned my hair and honestly...I was at quite a loss about what to do next. After an easily detangling session, I proceeded to twist it, gave up, and settled for large cornrows. However, my mother took pity on my desperate efforts and kindly fixed me up with smaller, neater cornrows. Then she twisted the ends up like bantu knots and pinned them down.

Girrlfrieeend! I felt so much better when she was finished with my hair. I'm an impatient person, and I can lose hope easily when faced with a difficult challenge. So to see a light in the tunnel and be encouraged by my mama to have patience with my hair really helped me to get more enthusiastic about my new look. 

The night before...

I then slept with my hair in the braids and on Sunday my mom and I loosed them and styled. Viola! After some picking out with an afrocomb, I was left with very curly, cute hair. I pinned back both sides and the front piece, leaving the rest out.

...the morning after!

When my hair was first cut, I felt like I was thrown in a boat on rough, rough waters. Did I make the right decision? Oh my gaawd what did I do to my hair?? lol I think I've gotten over that now and I look forward to relearning how to care for my hair. Since Sunday I've been re-braiding or re-flat twisting at night, and in the day wearing curly styles. Yo it's not easy!! But I know I'll become more patient and adept with time. 

So I'm still transitioning to natural hair. When will I cut off the rest of my straight ends? I would like to say I'll do the big chop at 1 year post relaxer (February 2014) but I know that depending on my mood and how my hair grows out, that date may change. 

I'm on my way!

Love,

~Hatter