Natural Hair Rants: 9 months of TWA Growth Stages and Yet Still…

What are the TWA growth stages? Somebody send me a chart. In about a week’s time, it will be 9 months since I big chopped and have been sporting my natural hair. I went for the big chop even though I had begun transitioning about 6 months prior simply because I always wanted to try out short, curly hair.

I thought it would look cute on me especially since I had gone short with relaxed hair before and loved every minute of it. I’ve never regretted my choice to go natural and I do love the short, curly do but lawwwwwd y’all coulda told me I would be stuck here for at least a year! LOL

See? Cute! I do love my wash and go, trust me…but me being bored has led to this and this and now I dunno what else to do with this TWA. You know what it is, when it was relaxed every time it grew a bit it was a new shape and a whole new style. See:

Relaxed Hair TWA Growth Stages

See? Different stages of a luscious bob. That’s my precious little niecy when she was just days old.

Here’s how it’s supposed to go on your natural hair journey.

Natural Hair TWA Growth Stages

Stage 1: Transitioning Like most people, I began my natural hair journey by transitioning from relaxed hair. During this stage, I stopped using chemical relaxers and allowed my natural texture to grow. It can take several months to years to fully transition, depending on the length of your relaxed hair and how fast your natural hair grows. You’ll notice the demarcation line, where the relaxed and natural textures meet, which can be fragile.

Stage 2: The Big Chop The big chop is a significant step in the journey to a TWA. It’s when I decided to cut off all the relaxed ends, leaving only my natural hair. This can be a bold move, as it results in a short afro, but it’s the quickest way to embrace your natural texture fully. My TWA (Teeny Weeny Afro) was just a few inches long at this stage.

Stage 3: Early TWA After the big chop, your hair will be in the early TWA stage. The hair is short, typically less than two inches in length. It might feel a bit awkward at first, but it’s essential to embrace the beauty of your natural curls and coils. During this stage, I’m focused on proper moisture and gentle care to help my hair grow healthy and strong.

Stage 4: Growing Out As your TWA grows, you’ll enter the growing-out stage. This can be a bit challenging, as your hair may not yet be long enough to style as you’d like. It’s essential to be patient and care for your hair. Regular trims help maintain its shape as it grows. Here are some TWA styles to motivate your creativity.

Stage 5: Versatility At this stage, your TWA has grown enough to experiment with different styles. You can try twist-outs, bantu knots, or even add hair accessories for a unique look. You’ll enjoy this stage because it allows you to showcase your personality and style through your hair.

Stage 6: Lengthening TWA As time goes on, your TWA will continue to grow. It might reach lengths where you can create mini afro puffs or define your curls with products like gels and creams. This stage offers more styling options while still maintaining the essence of a TWA. (See how long we’ll be here?)

Stage 7: Beyond the TWA Eventually, your hair will grow beyond the TWA length. (Update: It took me years). You’ll have the choice to continue growing it into a medium-length afro or explore other natural hairstyles like twists, braids, or locs. It’s a beautiful journey of self-discovery and embracing your unique hair texture.

My natural hair does grow pretty quickly too but thanks to shrinkage it stays pretty much the same style. That has been a blessing and yet a curse. A blessing in that when it starts to grow out and lose it’s cute TWA (teeny weeny afro) shape, with two pats and a spray of water it’s back to looking TWA cute but a curse in that….I’m now bored.

What to do what to do. I’m not huge on styling my TWA. I declared I would be a wash-and-go type of girl when I first big chopped cause I know myself. I’ve been wanting to do a cornrow style in the back for forever but… who wants to go sit in some stylist’s chair for hours on end?

This is one of the reasons I went natural!!! My boredom has already led to several self-trims, you know, to give it some shape, and I can already feel the itch to do so again which totally defeats the purpose.

I have a lot of growth now and it’s not as easy anymore to spray it, style it and be out the door. I need pins and flat twists and they don’t always come out nice. This is why I’ve fallen in love with the puff once more, something I was trying to avoid. Ugh.

I think I’m gonna straighten it for my birthday at the end of the month and trim it. The back is horribly uneven and it shows now that it’s growing out, so might as well. I can’t wait to get to a decent length!!!

I’m not able to wash and go as quickly anymore and it’s annoying! Natural hair rants lol…do you have any short hair styles you can recommend I try? This has been my go-to style for now, two flat twists, one on either side of my head:

Sometimes it works, sometimes the front doesn’t feel like shrinking and behaving and just looks a mess, and then I pull out a headband for a puff…. help a sista out…

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