Wherein Naomi shares her memories on chopping off her hair and her experiences of transitioning .
May I just say, I misspelled “transitioning” horrendously and added like an extra t, and even a z in there. I don’t know anymore man, I guess my mind has just forgotten how to spell.
Speaking of forgetting to do things, I realized that after I began my slow transition out of perms and into my curls, that I had no idea how to style it. Absolute no idea. My hair and I were no longer on speaking terms. My hair called me and I texted new phone who dis. I faintly remember my hair like an old cranky neighbor, someone that you tolerate but not particularly liked.
What the hell was I going to do with my hair after I cut it off? Leave it as just as afro? Style it like one those hair goddesses that braid intricate patterns into their hair? (I’m still mystified by those). Or should I just forget the whole thing and let it grow a little longer?
It turns out that I have no patience. As much as I found it fun seeing my curly hair after so long, I couldn’t wait another year for it to grow into my preferred length. What was my preferred length? Something that I could put into a ponytail I guess, I really hadn’t thought that far. Kinky hair has shrinkage, as any black girl is familiar with. 1 inch of growth looked like 0.000001 cm. I was getting frustrated, even with my hair growing faster than usual due to biotin supplements.
Then I took the impulsive route. One day I simply grabbed kitchen scissors and decided to cut off 5 inches of my hair. I pretty much thought fuck it, which is a red indicator that you’re about to do something stupid. I asked my mom for help, since I couldn’t see the back of my head. Her response was rather encouraging, instead of saying I refuse to partake in this catastrophic mess.
My mother was my impromptu hair dresser, and a few snips later, I was the owner of a smol afro.
My thoughts were:
very fluffy
why is it so big omg was it always like this
I look like an alpaca
Who Wore It Better?
Update: I asked my brother this question and he replied: both??? And I quote “the llama has a big nose, and you do too.” Thanks for your advice, dear brother of mine.
Anyway, that’s my little memoir of how I (impulsively) chopped off my hair and lived to tell the tale. To this day, whenever I show my relatives how I used to look, they’re like:
wut
why
why u do this
And I will admit that it’s kind of discouraging, but I’ll smile and say “I like how I look now”. As long as you feel good about your hair, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. If my hair doesn’t care about the Law of Gravity, why would I care about your opinion?
To those people that are transitioning, keep your chin up and ignore the people that give you hate for your natural hair.
Do you have any stories about the big chop? Do you think the llama wore it better than me? Tell me in the comments below!
Afro Aficionado 