Contemplating My Curly Hair

Last night for the first time I really started contemplating cutting my hair, something called the "big chop." When ladies who previously would relax and straighten their hair but have decided to go natural, cut off all the relaxed hair, so only the natural curly hair remains. Of course, this is a pretty momentous occasion, because your hair will be significantly shorter, and it's a big change in how you look and feel about your hair and appearance. So, it's pretty scary to think about doing. Especially since I haven't had short hair in a very long time, and my young trauma still haunts me a little bit. I'm not worried about being mistaken for a boy anymore, just worried about how different it will look, if it will work for my face, how I will make it work, how it won't be a big annoying poof of a mess. I'm not really sure yet, but I would only do this after the wedding, and I'll talk to the lady who is going to do my hair for the wedding about the possibilities and styling options. Not everyone does the big chop, but having two very different textures and types of hair gets weird, and it tangles much easier with the dry, straight hair in the way. My curls underneath the top layer are really quite defined and pretty, and a good few inches long at least. The cut wouldn't be too short, but still, short enough to potentially freak out!

I found a couple blogs (here and here) and a couple tumblr pages that have inspired me to seriously consider this drastic change, and to believe that natural hair could work for me. It's still scary, though, but I feel like the time would be right for such a change, and really, what I have going on on my head isn't really doing much for me either. Yikes. What do you think?

It would certainly be a while before my hair would look nearly as good as any of these ladies, or for me to be comfortable with it being so...big...but one day, maybe...

images via here and here