Transitioning from Relaxed to Natural Hair w/o Big Chop

Dear Transies and potential Transies,

Time for a quick question and answer session:

Question: How do you go from relaxed hair to natural hair without the big chop?

Answer: This is a question that I’ve seen asked a lot. People are apprehensive and scared about going natural and can get especially nervous about doing the so called “Big Chop”. The big chop is when let your natural hair grow out, for weeks, months, or maybe a year, and then cut off the relaxed part of your hair and so you can become completely natural. The period while you are waiting for your hair natural hair to grow out is called transitioning. Once you have done the big chop, you have fully transitioned into natural hair.

However, this can be scary. For many black women, you may not even know what your true hair texture looks like. Now, in an ideal world, your hair texture would not matter. However, we live in a world that highly prizes “good” hair and as a result, if we are scared that we don’t have this “good” hair, we can be scared that people will ridicule us or be negative toward us because of our hair.

However, we live in a world that highly prizes “good” hair

What can you do if you don’t want to do the big chop? Well, you can do what I call little chops, while you are transitioning until you get to the point where you are more comfortable with your natural hair. This is what I did for my hair. I just kept trimming off little pieces of my relaxed hair until I didn’t have any left.

So, for women who want to do little chops, they can use different hairstyles to make their transition easier and blend the two textures of their hair better. Here are some videos to teach you how to transition your hair without the big chop.

Braid Outs

Twist Out

Some commonly used braid out and twist out products

Miss Jessie’s Curly Pudding

Miss Jessie’s Curly Meringue

Cantu Repairing Cream and Conditioner

I hope these videos will get your started and help ease you into your natural hair as painlessly as possible. Download my free hair regimen guide and that will also help you transition as easily as possible.

Happy Braiding!

Love,