Jessa Lopez

“My favorite memory happened when I was twelve. I call this the Big Chop story. Big Chop is a very well known word in the ethnic community. In other words, its a haircut- a major haircut. So, at the age of twelve I had chemically altered my hair with a product called relaxer. It is heavily used in the ethnic health care to achieve a straight, fine hair for the naturally kinky curly heads like myself. I got the results I wanted- straight, flowing hair and really long. After a while I got bored and I wanted to get rid of the relaxer, but the downfall of this product is that its irreversible once you use it.  If you want to start over you have to cut it, and being a teenager I didn’t want to cut my hair short. I was afraid of looking like a boy. I had the courage to cut it last year. I didn’t care about what others would think. Now, I have confidence. It’s been six months since I cut my hair and my hair is proudly growing like bean sprouts! I love how happy I am. This memory is a self defining moment for me.”