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I’m thinking of cutting my locs off.
It’s been six years, and I’ve hit a rut with my hair. When it was short, I wanted my locs to be long, and now that they are, I don’t know what to do with them most of the time. I usually try and put them in a loc soc and prop them on top of my head. I’ll do half up in a ponytail and then half down. I’ll wear them with the part to the side. And occasionally, when I’m feeling fancy, I’ll let a professional put them in an ornate updo. But any attempts at creativity over the last few years, have waned. No more hair jewelry (it fall out or get rusted). No more coloring jobs (the drying effect is ridiculous). No more knots and self-made updos (the bobby pins would stab me in my scalp at night). It’s all become somewhat of an exhausting effort.
When I get my locs retwisted (and pay $100+), they tend to unravel faster than I would like (no matter who I go to, the fresh look only lasts about two weeks), and then I’m back to square one: hair hot on my neck, falling into my face, getting caught in my bag straps and shirts, and trying to figure out if it will take 10 hours or 24 for my hair to dry after I inadequately washed it. It no longer looks and feels like the powerful, fun lion’s mane it used to for me. It’s now a nuisance.
So I’m thinking of going back to a short cut. A natural TWA. Maybe a tapered cut. But it’s been years. I haven’t used a big comb or pick since 2011 and I don’t know what products my hair would need or what I would look like at this point in my life with a fro again. So much of my life and my look has changed.
But I know for sure that my hair is thick and my texture is a 4C. When I cut it, I know that my hair is not going to look like this:
or this:
I can try all the curly pudding I would like, all the heat I can get and my curls wouldn’t look this defined and shiny. Instead, they would look more like this:
And that’s absolutely fine. I have no desire to have the hair texture of another woman, and can appreciate how strong my strands are. But if I can be honest, it’s hard to get motivated for this type of big chop when the above photo is one of the few I can find of what a 4C haircut would look like. Most of the looks I see on popular pages are of big bountiful curls in short cuts. Though they look lovely, and seem to get the most likes, I would get excited for a moment and then realize, “Uh uh, my hair ain’t about to do all of that.”
I enjoy a lot of the natural hair pages, and I’m glad there are more and more spaces being created to help us feel good about our God-given strands. But many tend to focus on smoother, looser textures while pages that do show love to 4C hair, tend to show a wide variety of styles as opposed to many short options. That includes big fros, large textured wigs and ornate braids and cornrows. Maybe the belief is that if you have the kinkier, tighter hair, there is only so much you can get away with doing to it if you don’t decide to straighten or relax it (or texturize it) for a short ‘do. It can be disappointing.
But if you do some digging, there are some very beautiful short cuts that those looking to explore a dramatic hair transformation can look to for inspiration. Here are a few of our favorite short cuts for the 4C texture that after a lot of clicking and hashtag unearthing, we were able to find:
