This picture above was taken two weeks after my big chop. Here you can see the straight pieces of hair that are natural. Not permed. Yes, straight natural hair strands amongst coily strands!
When I first big chopped in October 2013, after completely cutting off all the permed ends, I noticed that there were still some straight pieces the next day. So I proceeded to cut the pieces off. I noticed again the following day after that, that the straight pieces were there again! This didn't make sense to me because I knew that I had completely cut off all the straight permed ends. I then proceeded to do some research and I came across some interesting information. Below is an excerpt from Hair Mary (http://www.hairmary.com/2013/04/natural-hair-updates-dealing-with.html)
"Natural Hair Shock
No, that's not the official term for it. But that's just what I call it. It's just that initial state your hair is in when you first become fully natural again after being relaxed for so long.
Your hair can be in somewhat of a shock.
When I first wet my hair after doing my big chop I remember thinking, "No way do I still have this much relaxed hair! I know I got it all!"
Some of my ends (a lot of my ends) were still straight/wavy.
I then thought, "Maybe this is texlaxed hair and that's what it's wavy and not all the way straight". I wasn't sure what it was but I wasn't happy. I had big chopped all that hair off my head to STILL be dealing with straight ends!
Then "NaturalHairMojo" (on Instagram) pointed out that my hair may still be going into shock and it can take a few days/weeks for my ends to realize nothing is weighing it down any more and get it's bounce back.
This made a lot of sense.
And after doing my own research on it and listening to a lot of other natural women I found out this was definitely true.
In the first couple of days every time I wet my hair I would cut more and more off my ends wondering why i couldn't get rid of those straight pieces! And I could have very well been cutting natural hair.
So if you're thinking of going natural in the future, are big chopping soon, or maybe even have already done it and are experiencing it... It could be perfectly normal."
It took a few months, but eventually my straight natural strands began to curl.
"Natural Hair Shock
No, that's not the official term for it. But that's just what I call it. It's just that initial state your hair is in when you first become fully natural again after being relaxed for so long.
Your hair can be in somewhat of a shock.
When I first wet my hair after doing my big chop I remember thinking, "No way do I still have this much relaxed hair! I know I got it all!"
Some of my ends (a lot of my ends) were still straight/wavy.
I then thought, "Maybe this is texlaxed hair and that's what it's wavy and not all the way straight". I wasn't sure what it was but I wasn't happy. I had big chopped all that hair off my head to STILL be dealing with straight ends!
Then "NaturalHairMojo" (on Instagram) pointed out that my hair may still be going into shock and it can take a few days/weeks for my ends to realize nothing is weighing it down any more and get it's bounce back.
This made a lot of sense.
And after doing my own research on it and listening to a lot of other natural women I found out this was definitely true.
In the first couple of days every time I wet my hair I would cut more and more off my ends wondering why i couldn't get rid of those straight pieces! And I could have very well been cutting natural hair.
So if you're thinking of going natural in the future, are big chopping soon, or maybe even have already done it and are experiencing it... It could be perfectly normal."
It took a few months, but eventually my straight natural strands began to curl.
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