Healthy Loc Support Thread 2012

[goldielocs]

Ok, so I have a confession. My locs are uneven and it's driving me crazy.


but i want them long. but i want them even. if i cut them into a shape, it will lengthen the time it takes for me to get my length goals. But if i don't cut it, I don't now how happy i will be with locs in several different lengths in random places.

i wonder if i will be more happy with it's uneveness if once i start to get closer to my length goal?

or, what if i get close to my length goal and discover that i'm still very unhappy with the uneveness, and then I'll still end up having to cut? what should i do? I do tend to overdo things.

I feel your pain... I had mine close to even and cut them last year after combining and NOW I'm trying to grow out my layers. It's a pain... I plan to even mine out as each layer reaches my goal length and run from scissors til then.

 

[Loves Harmony]

I have a consult today for sisterlock. I am so excited.

 

[CountryBumpkin]

thanks for bumping Ivonnovi.

I have several short ones at the crown area that about ear length on the top of my head. It goes from crown to ear. the rest are shoulder length. I guess those super short ones wouldn't bother me if they weren't so fat. I like fat locs, it's just that fatness accentuates how short they are, and how much hair they are taking up, because the rest of the areas under them look gappy, spacing, and missing. because all the hair is in those couple of short fat locs.

it took for EVER to get to shoulder length, and I was so excited once my locs finally rested on my shoulder, but those fat locs and spacy gaps got me thinking about a chin length bob. maybe once my fat locs reach chin length, i'll finally go for it. then again, I think that if I just let them keep growing, when they reach shoulder length, they will cover that gappy spacy look that I keep seeing around my neck area.

I dunno. (I hate the gappy spacy thin look when you can see straight through the hair that dangles at someone's neck. maybe those are my own issues and cray-cray hangups, though.)

 

[goldielocs]

thanks for bumping Ivonnovi.

I have several short ones at the crown area that about ear length on the top of my head. It goes from crown to ear. the rest are shoulder length. I guess those super short ones wouldn't bother me if they weren't so fat. I like fat locs, it's just that fatness accentuates how short they are, and how much hair they are taking up, because the rest of the areas under them look gappy, spacing, and missing. because all the hair is in those couple of short fat locs.

it took for EVER to get to shoulder length, and I was so excited once my locs finally rested on my shoulder, but those fat locs and spacy gaps got me thinking about a chin length bob. maybe once my fat locs reach chin length, i'll finally go for it. then again, I think that if I just let them keep growing, when they reach shoulder length, they will cover that gappy spacy look that I keep seeing around my neck area.

I dunno. (I hate the gappy spacy thin look when you can see straight through the hair that dangles at someone's neck. maybe those are my own issues and cray-cray hangups, though.)

If I were to redo my locs, I would go with your thickness because the older loc sget, the more they are subject to wear. My longest locs are suffering now that I'm at TBL because they were are so thin. Had I used a little forsight, I would have made them thicker and never ever ever cut them for any reason.

I would suggest you think about your end goal. What length do you want to maintain them at? If it's shorter than MBL, then cutting now is a non-issue IMO. If you plan to maintain at a longer length, just let them grow til they get there and even out your layers as they get to your goal. Your locks will be more mature and less subject to unraveling at the ends if you wait.

Just a thought.

 

[CountryBumpkin]

thanks so much for your thoughts! i'm kinda leaning towards waiting right now. my hair is very prone to unraveling, so I think you're right.

 

[runwaydream]

goldielocs, if you think your locs are too thin, you can always combine them.


i love my locs but i lost a few of them recently. it was my own fault for not filling in the holes and for taking too long to retighten a few of them. i couldnt take the loss so i sewed them back in i will now make sure i keep them tightened like im supposed to

 

[Saga]

I've officially decided to take my locs out.

I've been locked for 3 months now, and since the very first week I experienced matting at the roots. Despite my constant attempt to properly maintain my retwists, hairs from each loc kept crossings over and attaching themselves to another. I kept having to split them apart (via "popping") but by the next day they'd be matted and stuck together like velcro. I'm so tired of feeling frustrated, one of the big reasons I wanted to loc is because I wanted to avoid the daily maintenance that loose hair required. I hadn't experienced this much aggravation with my first set of starters, so I plan to remove these and start them again with a much more uniform grid pattern. If I choose not to try locing again, I'll probably just become really hair lazy because I truly loved the way my hair looked, felt, and how much less I had to do with it but if I'm going to have to keep fighting it then I see no point in further pursuing this journey. I was hoping that, as time went on, the problem would just fix itself but it hasn't and now I am simply fed up. I've already taken down 1 row of 4 locs that made up the nape, and it took me three hours.Over the course of the next few weeks I'll just keep removing them little by little. Hopefully they'll all be out before I start school, then I'll have calmed down enough to decide whether or not I want to restart my journey or call it quits. Thank you so much to everyone here who supported me and inspired me to do this. I'll never stop loving and appreciating the beauty of locs, hopefully my next set can prove much more cooperative than this one was.

 

[faithVA]

DanceOnTheSkylines[/USER];15209613]I've officially decided to take my locs out.

I've been locked for 3 months now, and since the very first week I experienced matting at the roots. Despite my constant attempt to properly maintain my retwists, hairs from each loc kept crossings over and attaching themselves to another. I kept having to split them apart (via "popping") but by the next day they'd be matted and stuck together like velcro. I'm so tired of feeling frustrated, one of the big reasons I wanted to loc is because I wanted to avoid the daily maintenance that loose hair required. I hadn't experienced this much aggravation with my first set of starters, so I plan to remove these and start them again with a much more uniform grid pattern. If I choose not to try locing again, I'll probably just become really hair lazy because I truly loved the way my hair looked, felt, and how much less I had to do with it but if I'm going to have to keep fighting it then I see no point in further pursuing this journey. I was hoping that, as time went on, the problem would just fix itself but it hasn't and now I am simply fed up. I've already taken down 1 row of 4 locs that made up the nape, and it took me three hours.Over the course of the next few weeks I'll just keep removing them little by little. Hopefully they'll all be out before I start school, then I'll have calmed down enough to decide whether or not I want to restart my journey or call it quits. Thank you so much to everyone here who supported me and inspired me to do this. I'll never stop loving and appreciating the beauty of locs, hopefully my next set can prove much more cooperative than this one was.

I don't have locs but when I read your post it sounded so familiar that I was curious. My hair does this when I wear twists, the hairs crossover. You mentioned a more uniform grid pattern, what does that mean? Do you think it will resolve the issue?

I don't wear my twist over 2 weeks because they matt at the root. No matter how neat my parts initially, after 2 weeks its really hard to tell that I once had parts in my hair.

 

[Tiye]

I've officially decided to take my locs out.

I've been locked for 3 months now, and since the very first week I experienced matting at the roots. Despite my constant attempt to properly maintain my retwists, hairs from each loc kept crossings over and attaching themselves to another. I kept having to split them apart (via "popping") but by the next day they'd be matted and stuck together like velcro. I'm so tired of feeling frustrated, one of the big reasons I wanted to loc is because I wanted to avoid the daily maintenance that loose hair required. I hadn't experienced this much aggravation with my first set of starters, so I plan to remove these and start them again with a much more uniform grid pattern. If I choose not to try locing again, I'll probably just become really hair lazy because I truly loved the way my hair looked, felt, and how much less I had to do with it but if I'm going to have to keep fighting it then I see no point in further pursuing this journey. I was hoping that, as time went on, the problem would just fix itself but it hasn't and now I am simply fed up. I've already taken down 1 row of 4 locs that made up the nape, and it took me three hours.Over the course of the next few weeks I'll just keep removing them little by little. Hopefully they'll all be out before I start school, then I'll have calmed down enough to decide whether or not I want to restart my journey or call it quits. Thank you so much to everyone here who supported me and inspired me to do this. I'll never stop loving and appreciating the beauty of locs, hopefully my next set can prove much more cooperative than this one was.

Sorry to hear about your loc frustrations. How did you start this set? Do you think trying braidlocks, or sisterlocks would help? Both of these methods start with stable starter locks and the interlocking technique form maintenance helps to keep locks separate.

The other thing is patience - it sounds like you may have soft or fine textured hair that tends to want to "creep" into other locks especially during the early stages. Three months is not a long time in a lock journey and if you were to hang in there, you'd probably have less creeping after the first year because your locks are firmer once they mature.

 

[Saga]

I don't have locs but when I read your post it sounded so familiar that I was curious. My hair does this when I wear twists, the hairs crossover. You mentioned a more uniform grid pattern, what does that mean? Do you think it will resolve the issue?

I don't wear my twist over 2 weeks because they matt at the root. No matter how neat my parts initially, after 2 weeks its really hard to tell that I once had parts in my hair.

By more uniform grid pattern, I mean I would take more care in the parting than I did the first time, or simply have a professional do it. I feel like when I started them myself I wasn't as careful with my parting which caused many of the "boxes" to be wonky and indiscriminate. I've worn twists, and individual braids for weeks at a time and never had this problem. I would have a bit of matting in my bottom row of braids but never anything to this extreme. Are you also a type 4a (just curious)?

Sorry to hear about your loc frustrations. How did you start this set? Do you think trying braidlocks, or sisterlocks would help? Both of these methods start with stable starter locks and the interlocking technique form maintenance helps to keep locks separate.

The other thing is patience - it sounds like you may have soft or fine textured hair that tends to want to "creep" into other locks especially during the early stages. Three months is not a long time in a lock journey and if you were to hang in there, you'd probably have less creeping after the first year because your locks are firmer once they mature.

I started my set with finger coils/palm rolls
I cannot afford to have sister locs ( I don't want locs that small, anyway), and I don't want to start braid locs because I kind of have a general mental image of how I want them to look (not that I can predict how they will turn out, but based on the many people I've seen who either started with twists or braids the end product is pretty consistent.)

Yes, ym hair is very fine and breaks easily when manipulated too much, which is why I hate it when I literally have to pull my locs apart from each other. I was initially planning to wait it out and hope that once they fully matured that I would have less to worry about, but my major disappointment is the matting which is taking place at the roots. Think of what it looks like when you purposely combine two locs together and then they just begin growing together as one larger loc, I don't want that to happen.

If I was attempting to freeform, this wouldn't even be an issue, but I'm not. I want traditional locs. If I have to keep pulling my locs apart just to keep them from turning into one big matted loc atop my head, then what's the difference to simply being a loose natural? I know it's a process, and I have no problem with my locs changing as far as appearance goes and looking less neat, but if the maintenance and the frustration is the same then I'd rather just start over with a set that is much less time-consuming. Maybe this is just the nature of my hair, I'm not quite sure. But if that is the case then I will try something else because I'm not gonna wait until my locs are fully set and stiff if by that time my entire head of hair has matted beyond my control.

 

[CountryBumpkin]

@ danceontheskies, i'm sorry to hear your loc experience wasn't what you had hoped for. my locs are creepy crawly at the roots too. This is my second set of locs. My first set of locs were much smaller and creepier-crawlier.

Should you ever decide to try locs again in the future, here are some things that might help
1) Listen to your hair. Locs always work the best when you listen to your hair and take hints and cues and incorporate what your hair wants to do in your routine. Your hair might have been telling you that larger locs (bigger sections at the root) are what would have worked best for you. it sounded like your locs were trying to join together into bigger clumps at the roots like mine did. I have much less issue keeping the sections seperated and my parts distinguished now that I've started my locs larger.

2) comb coils and twists tend to unravel and those loose strands of hair start trying to reach out to their neighbors to hug all up on. If you still want to have the same size as you did this time, maybe something like braids would work better for you. I tried to coil some of my hair when I started this last set of locs. the back was having none of it. it kept completely coming undone and ending up in one gigantic large back section. It was easier to keep the sections I wanted seperated when I resectioned the back and put braids there instead of coils. the braids tend to stay in their own section a lot better that coils and twists for some people.

Just a few things to think about if you still got the loc bug. I wish you well on your journey.

 

[Saga]

@ danceontheskies, i'm sorry to hear your loc experience wasn't what you had hoped for. my locs are creepy crawly at the roots too. This is my second set of locs. My first set of locs were much smaller and creepier-crawlier.

Should you ever decide to try locs again in the future, here are some things that might help
1) Listen to your hair. Locs always work the best when you listen to your hair and take hints and cues and incorporate what your hair wants to do in your routine. Your hair might have been telling you that larger locs (bigger sections at the root) are what would have worked best for you. it sounded like your locs were trying to join together into bigger clumps at the roots like mine did. I have much less issue keeping the sections seperated and my parts distinguished now that I've started my locs larger.

2) comb coils and twists tend to unravel and those loose strands of hair start trying to reach out to their neighbors to hug all up on. If you still want to have the same size as you did this time, maybe something like braids would work better for you. I tried to coil some of my hair when I started this last set of locs. the back was having none of it. it kept completely coming undone and ending up in one gigantic large back section. It was easier to keep the sections I wanted seperated when I resectioned the back and put braids there instead of coils. the braids tend to stay in their own section a lot better that coils and twists for some people.

Just a few things to think about if you still got the loc bug. I wish you well on your journey.

Yea, I honestly think it might have been best if I had made my locs thicker, they were pretty much medium thickness but in certain places (specifically the crown) the hair was matting something FIERCE. I will keep all you've said in mind if I decide to embark on this journey again. I really do want to try and grow out a beautiful set of healthy locs, and I feel like this point in my life is the perfect time to begin it. Sadly, this set didn't go as planned. Hopefully the stuff I learned I can take with me and use in the future.

 

[CountryBumpkin]

self discovery:

Nothing makes me quite as impatient as shoulder length hair. I never liked shoulder length hair on me, it didn't matter if it was relaxed, natural or now dreads. if i can EVER make it to arm pit length, i think I'll be ok. right now, i'm bout to go insane. I need to go ahead pin it up so I can stop thinking about it. I feel like it's been shoulder length ever since October. this is the whacking stage for me. whenever i get this length, i get so fed up that i end up whacking it off. last time I whacked off my dreads, they were at shoulder length. (i whacked for other reasons, but part of it was being so tired of shoulder length. I like super short or super long. I don't like the in between stages.)

i use to have waist length hair when I was younger, and i cut it off when i got to that experimental age (late teens, early 20s) and part of the reason why I can never seem to grow it back to where it was is because I hate the shoulder length stage so much and get itchy and cut it before it can get any longer.

 

[MrsMe]

I'm thinking of cutting my locs too. Sadly, I feel like they don't flatter my features, make me look older and rarely look the way I want them to (except when freshly washed). My hair has been growing but some parts just stopped growing because of the weight of my locs/styling/retwisting.
I love the "hang" and I would surely miss it, but at the same time, I don't feel satisfied with them anymore. I'll give it a few days to think about it and come back with my final decision.

ETA: and the fact that I ran my fingers through a fresh crop of healthy new growth, fluffy and soft the last time I washed my hair doesn't help...

Sent from my PG86100 using LHCF

 

[Raspberry]

@MrsS best of luck with your decision, just know that it's possible to comb out your locs instead of cutting (unless you want to of course). Myself and few other ladies on the board combed out locs with good results.

 

[jennboo]

Yay! A loc thread!!!

I started my locs in October of 2011. I started them with two-strand twists. I maintain by twisting the root (not palm rolling) with water and jojoba oil. I started off twisting once a month but most recently i've gone about 2 months (my last re-twist was mid December 2011). The twists in the back look more loc'ed than the ones at the front and crown of my head.

Is there anyone else who uses only water or water and an oil to twist?

 

[MrsMe]

@MrsS best of luck with your decision, just know that it's possible to comb out your locs instead of cutting (unless you want to of course). Myself and few other ladies on the board combed out locs with good results.

I thought about combing them out, but I know I will lose patience and start ripping them off. It's best that I start from scratch with a mini 3-4 inches afro.

 

[HanaKuroi]

You can comb them out with unlock spray and a tangle teaser.

 

[prettybyrd]

Subscribing. I think I will try locking my hair in the near future. This thread will definitely be a resource.

 

[RockCreak]

OMG-I'm so excite that I received this much response from this thread.

Hold up and let me back up. I apologize for not posting but having pneumonia is serious.

OK- now back.. Yayyyy I'm so glad to see a few of my cousins here that do have locs. I was nervous and thought that I'd be alone on this board.

Thanks for sharing!

Hello ladies!! My subscription is about to expire, but I might renew it just for that thread!
@RockCreak your locs are lovely!!
I've had my locs for about 2 1/2 years now and I'm still not satisfied with them. I'm tempted to take them out, but I can't stomach the idea of throwing away over 30 months of TLC. My main issue is that some areas barely or do not grow at all, so it is frustrating. Plus my locs are a little bit on the thin side, but that's mainly because I started them small/medium size. I like their size, not the lack of fullness if you know what I mean.
I don't have any pictures because I'm on my phone, but I'll come back to post a couple later.

Sent from my PG86100

Thanks! You may be in another phase that your hair journey is taking you through. I hope that you can bare with it for now. It's not called a "journey" for nothing!

I am 2 months into my journey, and I'm keeping it as basic as possible.

Wash 1x every wk-10 days
Retwist once a month with Taliah waajid Lock it Up
Spritz with AVG & Water
Oil scalp and locs with mixture of EVOO, Hot Six Oil, and Vatika Oil

Please keep us posted with your progress!

i'm not locked but i've always been curious about it.

OP, you mentioned that locks can be combed out. does this do damage to the cuticle or cause split ends? i'd always thought that cutting is the best option for removing locks

It can if you are not careful in the take down process. It is very time consuming but can be done with patience. I've done some research on the process and have seen many people be successful with it.

I finally purchased some peppermint oil and jojoba oil. So now I have have been using a mixture of avocado, jojoba, and peppermint oil. I really like it. It's not too greasy and my locs feel really soft.

Light oils are so key and a little goes a long way!

Hello!!!

My locs will be 10 years old on Valentines 2012. They have been cultivated in almost every way possible, but I've been freeforming for about a year. My reggie is super easy. I wash with either black soap or ayurvedic herbs and then oil with castor oil. That's it. When I do style them, I do bantu knots on Friday night and leave it in for the weekend. They are just at my booty, but that's not saying much because I'm only 4'11". I have cut them several times so they would have been longer.

I need to take some pics... I'll pop back in later to post those. I'm glad you started this thread.

Please take some pics and pop back in.. I'm dying to see your hair!

Here are a couple of pics of my two and a half years old locs. They are called mature now, but they are still very temperamental at times.
The ends are lighter than the roots because I used to henna my loose naps.

Sent from my PG86100

So nice - good job!

I was locked for 2.5 years. I loved the ease of taking care of them but as they got longer they were really full and made me look like a lion when I wore them down, lol. I ended up wearing them in a ponytail most of the time.

I combed them out last year. It took 3 months and I had to cut off a lot of damage. I also think my hair is more prone to split ends and ssks since I took them out.

Sent from my HTC Evo

Hold up - it took you 3 months to comb out your locks.. WOW!

What are you all using to curl your locs? I have soft spikes and I like how it turns out but they hurt my head at night sometimes (maybe I am just starting to get tender headed).

What type of curls are you trying to achieve? For the spiral look most use flexi rods or pipe cleaner to curl.

He started my locs with a spray in solution...no gel or anything. I don't know if he'll use that again or some rakish wahoos tight hold. I've seen him use that on others.

He has a youtube channel. Damianjw84

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Girl shut your mouth. I've been following Damianjw84 for a while time. I love him and Choppy! He is so knowledgeable and has helped me tremendously on my journey. I pretty much use the same products that he does. I learned a lot from him.

My friend just called and asked if I would be able to take my locs down for her wedding because she wants me to wear a fro... negative. I guess now I will have to show her some cute updo's and stuff so she can see how nice locs look when dolled up.

I'm really upset that she even had the nerve to ask you that. Girl buy an afro wig and call it the day!

I have another quick question. My boyfriend had comb coils done to start his locks a couple of days ago, however he only had thirty dreads in his head so later that night I splitted a few in half and re-twisted them to make 50 . I didn't wash out the old product I just wet it a little, and retwisted..

Now he feels like it will still be too sparse so he wants me to make the parts even smaller so he'll have 75-80 dreads.

Does anyone know if it'll be a problem to keep layering on the products? Or that's fine as long as its still holding in the coil?

For real - who started his loc's with 30 locs. I mean unless he wanted huge locs I don't see to many with that amount. On average, most people have at least 100 or more depending on the look that they want to achieve. What's the status now? Did you restart the locs?

Loc thread YAY!!! I'm 6 months into my loc journey, started them on July 21, 2011 when it was 105 degrees outside. I took off my full lace wig, two strand twisted my then APL hair and haven't looked back since!!

LOL- enjoy the journey!

 

[RockCreak]

I'll be posting an update on my hair. I've noticed that it is growing (yesssss) I really want to experiment with more styles. I'm tired of wearing these headbands and scarves!

 

[mstokes2008]

I started my locs via two strand twists on 22 Jan 2011 and so far I am loving them!! They're finally not unraveling like they were. I still have some rubberbands on the bottom of some that are acting crazy and I'm still searching for a good retwisting product that will hold and not cause buildup. I'm also considering latching but I haven't quite decided yet.

 

[*Happily Me*]

loc'ed and loving it.

 

[EMJazzy]

My avatar is a current pic of my locs!

 

[Tiye]

I'll be posting an update on my hair. I've noticed that it is growing (yesssss) I really want to experiment with more styles. I'm tired of wearing these headbands and scarves!

Waiting on pics.

Glad everyone is enjoying their lock journey.

 

[HoneyA]

Just this week I was talking about locs. I keep going back and forth on this. Gotta do some more research. I do know that if I were to BC, I'd install some loc extensions and go from there.

 

[RockCreak]

Just this week I was talking about locs. I keep going back and forth on this. Gotta do some more research. I do know that if I were to BC, I'd install some loc extensions and go from there.

Please do research to determine size, start method, maintenance and more. Thought about lock extensions but decided against them for me. IMO I wanted to have an appreciation and understanding of the process itself.

 

[RockCreak]

My apologies ladies, but I've been having some technical difficulties...

The photos will be added this evening!

 

[RockCreak]

Yayy.. I fixed my problem.... Ok here are my current pics:

I'm almost at my 1 year loc anniversary!!!!

 

[Tiye]

Yayy.. I fixed my problem.... Ok here are my current pics:

I'm almost at my 1 you loc anniversary!!!!

Your locks are growing in fast. I like them.