shannon

Big Chop Story Time!

My friend Shannon, who I have mentioned in an entry previously here, has been transitioning for some time now.
Well, on Saturday I got a text (I got it much later than she sent it, as I am forever leaving my phone elsewhere) telling me she had finally big chopped! I was so excited for her. She shared some pics via the phone with me:

After hair wash
Before cutting
Both her and I were excited for the cut. She had been struggling with the texture of her hair (her hair is wavy, not curly) and quite a few of us (her friends) thought that maybe the relaxed hair was weighing down the natural hair. So imagine my surprise, when the next image is after the stylist got finished:
LOL
I was baffled.. and confused... and runamuck! LOL. I will let Shannon take it from here and tell her story.
Ok, this is what happened.

I woke up yesterday and I was like man, I'm going to go cut these ends off my hair now. So, I got dressed with my sister and was like I'll go w/ her to the Dominican shop. I then decided against it, because I was really wanting to go to an all natural shop. I figured they wouldn't know how to properly handle what I needed them to do to my hair.

I got back on here and messaged another person who's natural and has been for like two years now and told her about me going to the Dominican shop and she told me she had actually got her b/c done at a Dominican shop, so I was like cool. I'll give it a whirl. I went in and showed them my hair. I told them that I just wanted: a wash and a cut. I told them to just even my hair out and then I'll just go like that. I didn't want them to blow dry or anything. Not that I'm against blow drying. I blow dry my hair whenever I wash it.

So, they were like alright, and told me to sit down for my wash. I got my wash and waited some more. I finally got to the stylist who was going to cut my hair. I told her the same thing, to just cut it even. I wanted all of the straight ends off. She said alright, but I have to blow dry it. I was kind of skeptical because I had just spoken to my friend who specifically said they cut her hair wet when she went natural. But for me I was transitioning for a whole year, she had just went and did her b/c right away. I had a lot of hair at the time so I told her to go ahead and blow dry it.

Her blow dry was really a blow out. Which I REALLY didn't want. I was kind of upset actually. A big chop is supposed to be when you get your little afro. You're not walk out w/ a head full of straight hair lol. So, in that sense, I feel that my big chop was not traditional. I am not even sure if all of my relaxed ends are completely gone because my hair was straight when she cut it.

I did like my cut a lot. And my hair looks really healthy, but I did not like that I had a blow out during what I was looking to be as my big chop.

Poor Shannon. Was your big chop unusual? What would you do in her situation?

Helping out a friend.

Hi everyone. This, is my friend Shannon

(I had to put a pic on here with her drinking pepsi! LOL)

Shannon is a transitioning natural. She usually wears sew-ins or braids. She has straightened her hair twice in 9 months. The other day she got bold and decided to attempt a twistout. Something didn't go according to plan. 
In Shannon's own words:
"My hair was damp, I used water and a conditioner mix with the TCB Naturals hair and scalp conditioner." 
This was the result of the twistout:
How she ended up wearing it:
And this is how her hair turned out looking by the time she made it to work:
Yeah, wow.
Shannon and I both took a good look at her hair (well, as good of a look as I can take from pics..she lives in NY, I am in Indiana) and her curl pattern when she is natural is slight. She is more wavy than anything. So, I am asking you my Naturalistas, to help a sista out! What can Shannon do to produce a better twistout? This is the TCB Product she used. I know nothing about this. Do you think it is the way she twisted? Is it the products? Do twistouts not work well on wavy hair? Let us know!