Knowing when I'm ready.....

I was browsing around the natural hair world and stumbled across an article at ManeandChic. She outlines some points that she felt were important to determine whether or not one is ready to big chop. I went thru each of her points and noted where I am or how I feel about each one.

Source: http://www.maneandchic.com/2010/06/transitioners-thursday-when-to-bc.html

• When you're ready. You don't want to regret doing it too soon.
What is ready? How is ‘ready’ defined? Lol…. I can be implulsive at times. Some days I’m ready, others, I’m not sure. I'm anxious to see my natural hair and get started with growing it out.

• When you're comfortable with the length you will lose. Your relaxed ends are weighing down your hair, be prepared to lose a lot of length not only due to the cut, but to shrinkage.
Am I comfortable with the length that will be left after shrinkage? No. I know I'm not. I clipped a teensy little piece in the front so I'd have a way to guage growth accounting for shrinkage. No ma'am. Not ready at all....

• When you're tired of dealing with the line of difference. It can be annoying and if you're having a lot of difficulty here or are rushing through detangling, you might consider the Big Chop.
I am indeed tired of dealing with the two textures. I just really want to comb my hair and not be all extra careful around the demarcation line when detangling. Detangling the straight ends is becoming a hassle as my hair grows out. It’s not completely unreasonable though so I could tough it out a bit longer.

• When you're tired of dealing with the different textures. If you feel like you want to simplify your hair routine, it would help to not have to deal with the drastically different textures. .......
Yes please! I would love to simplify my routine. I’d love for my knot outs to be uniform and not have straggly straight ends attached that don’t want to fall in line and curl. I’m interesting in the wash n go. I realize that it’s not really a go after you wash but I currently can not leave my house without my hair being ‘set’ and drying overnight or all day. The freedom of leaving the house with wet/damp hair that simply has product in it that I’ve finger styled is highly appealing.

• When you've figured out how you're going to do it: are you going to do it? a close friend? or are you going to a salon?
Eh…I keep flip flopping. If I wait and chop after I leave Pittsburgh, then I have two options: Do it myself with my husband helping me OR drive down to Houston, TX and go to a natural hair care salon with my best friend there to document the process and hold my hand if need be. I'm not considering walking into a salon blindly in my new city and letting someone I don't know nor have heard about do my BC. If I did a salon, I'd like it to be a major natural hair salon. I do like the idea of doing it with my husband. He's been an integral part of my journey thus far.
Prayerfully he won't jack up the back of my head, lol. I'm leaning more towards the do it myself option as I want him involved.

• When you're prepared. Have you done your research? Do you have the products and tools you will need to be natural?
I feel pretty prepared. I’ve read A LOT. Watched a lot of YouTube videos. I’ve started a routine that may need little to no tweaking once I’ve BC’d. I’ve got some products. I’ve read reaction after reaction of other’s BC to be aware of some of the emotions I may experience. The things left that I would like to purchase are along the lines of accessories: small rods, hair bands, clips, combs to smoothing back sides, a few more banging pair of earrings. But none of those are necessities for my regimen.

These were some good points. I'll revisit them every once and awhile to see how the answers might change. Right now, according to these points I am not ready. But I'm getting close!