5 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Big Chopped

1.  Your Curl Pattern Doesn't Mean as Much as You Think

I first Big Chopped to Brush Cut because I really have very little patience for any transition process.  At first, the plan was to grow my cut out immediately but then I fell in love with having no hair.  So I would grow my hair out 2-3 inches then chop it all off again.  Well, one thing I quickly realized was that my Curl Pattern would literally grow back differently each time!  When I first Big Chopped, the hair grew in very coarse and very frizzy.  The second time, the hair had a looser and smoother curl pattern.  This definitely wasn't something anyone had ever discussed in all the research I did prior to Big Chopped so I was all kinds of confused.  I just learned to rock with it and appreciate whatever Curl Pattern grew in!

2.  The Initial Confidence You Gain May Waiver Throughout Your Journey

Everyone talks about how freeing it is to Big Chop.  Truthfully, it is the most liberating thing I've ever done in my life.  You couldn't tell me a damn thing when I Big Chopped.  Little did I know that I would struggle with my Confidence months later.  The phase is commonly known as the 'Awkward Grow Out Stage' and I knew it would come but I thought it only had to do with Styling.  Your hair gets to a length where it's not a TWA but it's sometimes not long enough to do hardly any other styles.  No one really shared how during this stage you may also regret Big Chopping or not feel as Confident about your cut as you once did.  I ended up shaping my rounded fro into a Tapered Cut which eventually came with it's own battles!

3.  Your Favorite Blogger May Not be Giving YOU The Best Advice

When I first became addicted to YouTube I was following all the Bloggers that had the "pretty" and "perfect" curls... especially the ones with super long hair! LOL.  I swore once I Big Chopped that I would have some 3A-3B Curls. Nope.  I was all sorts of lost once I Big Chopped because I had taken advice from the wrong Bloggers.  It became my mission to find Bloggers and Naturalistas who had Curls that looked more like my own.  Finding kinks that resemble your own truly do help when you first Big Chop because it can save you quite a bit of time trying to figure out what products work best for you!!

4.  Hair Grows at a Different Rate for Each Person

Everyone talks up the 'retention' aspect of hair growth A LOT.  Not too many really share that some women just have hair that grows MUCH faster than others.  I found it's much easier to measure and see this when a woman dyes her hair or else people will always argue that it's more about retention.  While the average is 1/2 inch per month... Some women can grow an inch or much more!  Many Naturalistas think their hair is breaking off or not flourishing in comparison to others while the bottom line could just be that your hair is growing slower than those you're comparing yourself to!

5. The Tapered Cut is CUTE but There Are Drawbacks

When I reached my 'Awkward Growth Stage', immediately I thought doing a Tapered Cut would be the perfect solution.  There were so many pictures on Instagram of Tapered Cuts and I was sucked right on in.  Well, what I didn't know was that the grow out phase of the Tapered Cut would be worse than the grow out phase of your initial Big Chop.  For some reason the top of my head grew soooo much faster than the sides and back so I had to keep cutting the top in order to look normal.  I also felt like I had even less styling options with the Tapered Cut due to the different lengths on my head.  I may Big Chop again in the future but I will NEVER do a Tapered Cut on a TWA ever again.