#Netflix aired the movie #NappilyEverAfter this weekend.  the movie stars sanaa lathan, whom i (and everybody else) love!!

it’s a story about a woman who seems perfect on the outside but isn’t happy with herself. the movie goes a layer deeper and explores the conflict that many women of all races, but particularly black women have with our hair. doesn’t sound deep you may say.  isn’t hair just grown out protein jutting out of one’s scalp?

no my dear, hair is so much more than that.  it is a crown of sorts and how we feel about it can make or break us.  that’s why i found the big chop scene in the movie the most powerful.  it reminded me of my journey when in my early 20s, i cut all my hair.  it was not a decision i made lightly but when i did i LET IT GO.

like sanaa’s character, it wasn’t until i was left with my bald and bare self that i realized what i had done.  uh oh…now i had to find a new way of being in the world. not hiding behind my hair. not fretting over what it did or did not look like. not spending hours or dollars primping and pulling.  i was left with me and therefore needing to look at me, flaws and all.

that’s when the real journey began and it’s been glorious. i’ve since my grown my hair back, relaxed it, transitioned back to natural and many iterations in between.  but that first journey will never be forgotten because it was the beginning of a new me.

that’s why i urge all women contemplating cutting their hair to go for it.  it liberates in ways that will have a profound impact in how you see the world and how the world sees not only you but all of us.  if you’ve done the big chop; give some thought about what it did for you and share your experience with others.

Let’s start a #BigChop movement. it’s so much bigger than hair…