- We're here for a special prayer.
To give me strength,
because my hair will no longer be here.
[razor buzzes]
[bell chimes]
You saw a lot of things I didn't want you to see.
[laughs]
- I was like [mumbles]
[upbeat music]
- Hey, I'm Meah Denee Barrington,
I am an associate producer.
I also am a television host and a model.
So, perming my hair was the first phase of my hair journey.
Going natural was the second,
and now the big chop is the third.
They call it the big chop in the natural hair community
because you are literally chopping all of your hair off,
you are done with your permed hair.
There's two ways you can go natural.
You can do a big chop, or you could slowly transition
into basically letting your hair grow out
long enough and then just cutting off the permed ends.
So that's what I did.
I was like a hair chef.
Like I would be in the kitchen with avocados and eggs
and mayonnaise, using all these old recipes.
In the early 2000s, 2010s, you couldn't just go to
CVS or Rite Aid, Walgreens,
you couldn't just go to these stores
and find hair products for you
because they weren't in there.
Now, thankfully you'll find at least
five natural hair companies that will be on the counter.
Hair has always been a spiritual thing with black people,
African people and a lot of people believe that
like these are our tentacles,
these are some of the sensors we have
that allow us to connect to God.
So yeah, I'm scared, I'm a little nervous to shave my head.
But at the end of the day, I feel like we're in a new era
where women embrace their sexuality,
and their femininity in new and different ways.
You can't classify a woman
just because she has a shaved head anymore.
I'm getting the big chop done
by this amazing barber named, Lisa.
She is the owner of The Cut Gallery in Brooklyn.
I'm really excited because she just does
amazing design work.
She does some many, like dope colors, like bright colors,
and I'm just really excited to meet her.
Oh boy!
I can't believe this is the last day with my hair.
What am I doing?
- [Woman] It's [mumbles] last day with hair.
- [Male] Yeah, good luck.
- [Woman] Shakey, shakey for me.
[laughs]
Let's get a 360 view.
- Oh my goodness.
[Woman] Smile!
[laughs]
- I can't believe I am only a few hours away
from cutting off all my hair.
I hope I like it.
[laughs]
[upbeat music]
- So you are chopping your hair off.
- Yes, I'm doing the big chop.
- Yeah, that's awesome.
I feel like a lot of women right now
are kind of owning themselves,
saying I am more than this idea of beauty behind hair.
- Exactly.
- So, yeah I think that's awesome, I'm excited.
So these are the steps that I normally take with clients.
The first step is consultation, and then debulk the hair.
A skin fade, bleach, the color,
then we'll just throw some designs in there.
In the consultation what I'm looking for is
your hair texture, your hair density,
and if I can create the haircut that you want.
Can you just show me a reference as to
what is the styles that you're looking for?
- All right, so this was the first one I was thinking about.
- Okay, so you not only want to cut your hair,
you also wanna color it.
- Yes. - Yes, okay.
- I definitely want to color it.
I was thinking about, maybe like some type of purple.
I even brought a shade of lipstick.
- So it's like a purple-pink, like a raspberry, almost.
- Yeah, raspberry. - Okay.
- Like something that wouldn't wash me out.
But I also don't want it to be like a Barney purple,
you know? - Yeah.
You will have to go blonde first.
It's very important to show the haircut before the bleach,
because if you want a design or anything that may include
a razor, it's gonna burn if we do the razor first,
and then put the bleach on.
So I'm gonna do the haircut first,
but I'm not gonna do any line work until after,
just to not risk any sensitivities or chemical burns,
or anything like that.
- Okay.
- So the first machine is the Oster Octanes.
They cut through any texture of hair,
I call it the lawnmower,
'cause it will just go straight through.
- Yeah that's intimidating. [laughs]
Like I can see it cutting through all my hair.
- It's like point of no return.
[laughs]
I'm gonna put the cape on you,
and then we're gonna start taking off
majority of this haircut.
- [sighs] There's no turning back.
[laughs]
- Okay so the first thing I'm gonna do,
is I am going to take our Osters.
- Oh my God, the lawnmower?
[razor buzzes]
- You ready?
[laughs]
[upbeat music]
- Oh my goodness.
[laughs]
- I'm not gonna put this against your scalp,
I'm going to just free hand it.
Just to kind of debulk it,
take off the majority of what we know we don't need,
so that I can see your hair texture,
how it lays and how it grows.
So how does this feel right now?
[laughs]
- I don't know how I feel.
It's just like a lot of emotions
right now - Okay, okay.
Good, all right, so we're gonna do the other half.
[razor buzzes]
So we can start off with a longer cut,
and then, if you're still like, let's just keep going,
we'll take it shorter.
Okay, we got majority of the hair off.
[laughs]
Now we're halfway to the new you.
- I mean, this is the roughest part of it so,
- Anything from here on out. - yeah,
I know it's gonna get better.
[laughs] - Okay.
What I'm gonna do now is I'm going to take my fading machine
and I'm gonna take a larger guard.
The numbers vary, so it starts at one, two, three, four,
up to eight.
- Well, what I know about clipper guards is
lower number clipper guards leave less hair on the head,
while higher number clipper guards
leave more hair on the head.
The number one clipper guard,
leaves one eighth length of hair on the head.
The number two clipper guard,
leaves one fourth, the clipper guard number three
leaves three eighth inches of length of hair on the head.
- So, gonna take my Wahl Sterling, my number three guard.
I love this machine, it has short teeth
and that's really good for fading.
What is going through your mind as we get closer and closer?
- I don't know it's hitting me that I'm really doing this.
Like I know I said I would do it,
but the fact that I'm really doing it
I'm just like oh my [mumbles].
- Living the reality.
[laughs]
Okay. - Yeah.
- The reason why I'm choosing to use a big guard
is just because I'm still trying to see how your hair lays,
I'm still trying to not commit to any specific length
just yet.
Which, I'm gonna continue to debulk it,
just it's gonna be more sculpted to your head.
This looks awesome, yeah.
It's highlighting your jawline and your cheekbones a lot.
So even though your hair's not at a coil, right now on top,
how do you feel about the length?
Do you feel like you would want to go shorter?
You feel more comfortable?
- I don't know, like I kinda like this length,
but I kinda do want to see it maybe like a smidge shorter.
- Yeah, we can go shorter.
- Yeah. - Yeah, okay.
[razor buzzes]
[upbeat music]
- Oh my gosh!
It's cool I feel like I went a little too low,
but it's okay, like it'll grow back.
Like I'm not stressing it.
- Yeah, so this closer to the first haircut.
As far as on the sides, I feel like maybe a skin fade,
is gonna be just a little more dramatic,
a little more intense.
It's gonna look really, really good also
once we do the color, so.
- Yeah.
So this right now, what is this like a two?
Or like?
- Yeah this is gonna be like a one and a half, kind of.
- Okay, and then a skin fade is just like a point five
or something like that?
- It's like skin.
- Oh, well.
[laughs] - But we can do
in between that.
It doesn't have to be skin. - Yeah I think I want
something in between. - Okay.
- That would be good.
- Gotcha.
So, what I'm gonna do then is I'm gonna do number one.
A number one is like always a good place to kind of start.
So now I'm gonna just go down with the one.
I don't want to go in too aggressive,
and we're gonna just kinda see the shades as we go around.
I'm gonna start bringing some more of the lightness
from your temple area up,
just to create that dimension that you want,
without taking your hair all the way down to skin.
So there's different styles that women like to try.
When they want a hard line,
they will get it coming across, above the ear,
and kinda just like into the cheekbone.
Would you wanna try maybe a line?
Or is this something that maybe is too aggressive right now?
- Is there like a soft line?
Like I don't want like, I don't know if that makes sense.
- Yeah, - Okay.
- There kind of is.
So basically, the trick with putting in any hard line,
or any part of the shape up before the haircut is done,
is that it kind of gives the eye a sharpness,
and you're able to kind of see the fade a little stronger.
So now, what I'm gonna do is,
fade out the bottom half in the back.
The hair around our hairline
is the first thing we notice when our hair grows out.
So I always like to take it a little extra tight.
[razor buzzes]
So right now from cutting your hair,
I see that a lot of it grows up and to the side.
It just means that I'm gonna have to cut
at different angles,
to actually get the hair to cut through the machine.
Now I'm going to line up the edges to create definition,
and then I will go back in, blend a little more,
and then we can start the blonde.
Okay.
- It's really clean, I like it.
Like it was interesting in the beginning
I was very like, when you did that first cut,
I was like, oh my gosh.
Like it was very nerve racking.
- Was that like the hardest part?
- Yeah, that was definitely the hardest part.
And then like, the shorter you got, the more I liked it,
and then this whole time
I thought I had my mom's head shape,
and I have like my dad's head shape too.
And it's just like, oh okay.
- Getting to know yourself.
- Yeah, exactly.
Like, more and more throughout the process.
So yeah, I'm excited to see
what the color's gonna look like.
- Oh that's just gonna change everything.
[upbeat music]
We measure hair color and a lightener through ounces.
I'm gonna use one scoop, measure it,
and then I'm gonna match the same amount of ounces,
to the amount of developer I'm gonna use.
Okay so this is like a consistency that's pretty good,
kinda like cake icing.
So, bleach is a very time sensitive process.
So, moving quickly is going to give us the most even result.
- Yeah, this brings me back a little bit
to my days where I used to get perms.
The whole process, putting the chemicals in your hair.
So when I was little,
I had probably the same amount of hair as I have now.
My mom didn't even know what to do with it.
That led her to give me a perm when I was six years old.
Like this is how thick my hair was,
she would have to get the perm box
that either had two of them in one,
or she would have to buy to box perms for my head.
You're supposed to use one.
I used two.
Over time it doesn't hurt as much,
but that first perm, is like awful.
And we would do my perms at home.
She would do mine, I would do hers.
And I feel like that is the basic way of beauty at home
for a lot of black families.
[upbeat music]
- I always ask if there's any kind of chemical history
in your hair.
Our hair is made up of bonds.
One breaks with water, one breaks with chemical.
I like to compare it kind of like to glass.
Glass is moldable when its hot,
which is kind of the same thing as when your hair's wet.
Then when it's dry, it hardens.
That's when you're able to mold hair
into like really cool shapes.
Now there's chemical bonds in your hair.
Relaxer or chemical services and color services,
they attack the same bonds.
You don't wanna break all the bonds in your hair chemically
because then that's when you get jelly hair.
There's like nothing left.
They do have synthetic bonds,
which they now add into the lightener.
What these bonds do is as they're breaking,
they're replacing the bonds synthetically.
Now your hair can go further,
and you're less likely to have broken hair.
But unless you're using those specific products,
you have to tell your stylist,
okay I have relaxer, or previous color
or anything like that.
[upbeat music]
So I like to line it up with the front hairline first.
And bring it all the way around to outside the ears.
Just wanna make sure that every part
of your hairline is inside.
Which is gonna just kinda like incubate it.
The heat off of your scalp is gonna allow
the bleach to keep working and processing.
It's gonna open up the pores in your hair,
to make it easier to penetrate.
- Okay, so we'll just leave this for about 15 minutes,
and then we'll just go in and check our progress.
- What's going on under that cap, girl?
- I did the big chop.
I cut it all off, I'm about to get it bleached.
- Wait a minute, your hair cooking under there?
- Yeah.
I'm getting a raspberry color.
- Raspberry?
- Yeah.
- Oh my god, oh you ready, oh you ready for spring.
- I've been ready, what you mean?
- Congratulations, that's some bold moves right there, boo.
- How're you feeling?
- Good.
- Okay good.
Let's check and see where we are at.
You are already blonde.
- Oh, how can you tell?
- 'Cause I can see it.
[laughs]
Okay, what I'm gonna do is just check through
and make sure there's no spots,
because this is our time to catch them.
So I'm just parting the hair and opening it up
so that I can make sure its thoroughly covered
all the way through.
I think that blonde itself is gonna suit you,
and then all the other colors are just gonna be so much fun.
- I feel like [mumbles].
[laughs]
- So I'm just going to smooth over
the openings we just created with the comb,
just to make sure that the product
is pushed back down into the hair.
What we're gonna do now, I'm gonna put a cap back on,
and then we're just gonna let it sit longer
and continue to process.
[upbeat music]
We did the first half of the color.
Are you ready to see it?
- Yes. - Okay.
- Oh my gosh!
[laughs]
Wow, this looks really good!
Like I didn't think I would look good with blonde hair,
like honestly, but this like I actually like this.
- These colors are direct colors.
That means that you don't have to mix it with any developer
so it's literally like just straight out the tube.
You can just apply it.
I love it already.
[laughs]
- I feel like a rockstar,
like I've never done anything like this before.
- So to preserve the color,
I recommend cold washing in between shampoos.
Another trick that some people do
if they really like a color,
is they'll mix some of the color into their conditioner,
so then it could just give them like a fresh pigment,
when they wash their hair.
So I'm going to put this cap on you.
We're gonna let it process for
about 15, 20 minutes,
and then we will reveal your beautiful new color.
- I'm ready.
[upbeat music]
- Okay so now I'm going to give you your design,
and then we will do the big reveal of your final haircut.
- Okay.
- So I'm going to take my T outliners.
This machine is really, really good,
it cuts through everything.
Very clean, very strong.
What side would you like to do your part on?
- You could do the right side.
- Right side, okay. - Yeah.
Three [mumbles] right?
- Yeah, I mean you can kind of flow with it.
- Yeah I remember it. - I'm fine with that.
- Gotcha.
[razor buzzes]
So if you ever want to get a design
that's like more into the length of your hair,
you're gonna have to understand that
the grow back you're gonna always kinda have
this kind of like dent. - Yeah.
- So that's just to keep in mind
whenever your picking designs.
So I'm gonna go in with the razor,
which will give it the most definition.
Not everybody can use the razor on their skin
because they get razor bumps.
So this is something that you would always want to ask
the client if they have any kind of history with not being
able to use razors, or straight edge.
Are you ready to see your final look?
- I am. - Okay.
[laughs]
Oh my goodness!
Wow!
I feel like a new person.
Like who is this? - You are a whole new person.
- Who is this?
It looks really good, I like it a lot.
- Here, let me show you.
- Yeah, ooh!
I like the raspberry like, vibe.
That's dope.
Oh my gosh!
Oh thank you, I really like this a lot.
[upbeat music]
Hey I'm back and it's been about two weeks
since I did the big chop.
There's no more hair, you guys.
I have like not even half an inch of hair, it's crazy.
But I really love it.
I've been getting a lot of great feedback.
People love the color, they love the cut.
I love the color,
and it's just been a really cool experience.
I think it was a bit of a surprise for me,
when Lisa cut off all my hair,
and I saw like the texture of my hair
when it was like, this low.
And how it wasn't as like curly as I thought it would be.
It was like a lot more straight than I thought it would be.
Even though I do have some, like kinkiness to it,
but it really reminded me of my dad's hair,
which like I don't know how to explain it.
But my mom would explain it as like,
it was like velvet, like it just like stood up a little,
it was thick, it was soft.
That was a really touching experience for me
just because my dad has been gone for seven years now
and so, you know anything that makes me like remember him,
and feel like I'm connected to him a little more,
is always a plus.
Oh yeah, people definitely stare,
and give me different reactions
when I'm on the train, and buses,
kids look at me.
Its a bright color, like, it just draws your eye to it.
So I try to not get an attitude like,
what they looking at.
[laughs]
Like I try not to have that thought when I see people
like staring at me, if I have my hair out.
But, I'm so thankful I had this experience.
One because I met Lisa, I think she's so dope.
Like her haircut and her short hair,
and her confidence alone,
really like helped me to want to go through with it.
And I got to have an amazing experience
that I will definitely remember for the rest of my life
and through my confidence,
it allows me to walk in this mean old world,
a little more fearlessly.