Lock It Up! Support Thread (Sisterlocs, Dreads, Freeform, Etc)

[MzSwift]

LOL, you are a mess, @Evolving78

Update: retightened last night at 3 wks, 2 days. I think that's a good time for me. Maybe as they get longer and heavier I'll stretch out the retightenings a little longer.

 

[Alta Angel]

I made it to 6 weeks and completed my first retwist yesterday. I also had to henna because my silver patches are relentless. I steamed with water, vitamin e oil, and a dime size of diluted conditioner. I used Loc N Slay and the Camille Rose Naturals oil for my retwist.

 

[shortycocoa]

Almost missed my 6 year locaversary
View attachment 462423

Happy 6 years!!! Your hair looks beautiful!

 

[shortycocoa]

Hey y'all....I have been working on DS 1's hair since last Monday. I washed it, then started with our routine maintenance, but finally decided it's time to adjust his maintenance method. His hair is and has been too long to continue towel rubbing, so I basically quit doing that when I saw it was counterproductive.

So I have been moisturizing, separating and retightening his locks since last week. I feel like I'm doing surgery on these locks but it looks so good. I have the whole back half and two sides done. Right now I am trying to separate the locks in the top middle section and then I will retighten all those before moving on to the last two sections in the front.

He had a lot of locks that married, so the experience hasn't been very pleasant for him. I have also combined some that were too small. I can't wait to see how it all looks when I'm done.

I hope I can continue with retightening going forward. I know for sure it should be a lot easier to keep up with his roots and separating his locks now that I have interlocked and cleaned up his parts better.

As far as DS 2, I switched back to interlocking with him as well. I just didn't like that the retwists weren't lasting or staying, but I did like that he sit for it a lot better without much resistance and it took way less time. So I did a wash a retightened his locks a couple weeks ago and learned that he tolerates it more when his hair is damp and I spray the roots.

I did the same with DS 1.

I plan on doing a lock detox on both of them, more than likely a week or two after I finish DS 1's hair. I hope that will help get some of his lint out too. It's also time to introduce them to tying their hair up at night so all my hard work is not in vain. I already told DS 1 we need to switch out his favorite blankets he likes to have in the bed with him for ones that are lint free and made out of a different material.

 

[MzSwift]

@shortycocoa

Aww, you're such a great mom! All of that love you're pouring into your babies will be soaked up and reverberated out into the world around them!

And yes, sis, I learned that my baby needed interlocking too. I started him w/ comb coils at first and the next day it looked like I hadn't touched his hair in weeks. Between him sweating and getting his head wet in the shower and sleeping the hair cap off, it was through. Lol. So I spent that next day interlocking. My only regret is that I used too much product the first few years of his journey because I didn't know better. Wish I knew about detoxing locs then.

 

[fifi134]

I’m thinking of interlocking myself. I have to wash my hair frequently, and hate that my retwists never last. Any tips ladies?

 

[MzSwift]

I’m thinking of interlocking myself. I have to wash my hair frequently, and hate that my retwists never last. Any tips ladies?

Disclaimer: I'm no pro! LOL. Speaking only from my experience loccing my son's, my ex-husband's and now my own hair.

I've learned that using an interlocking tool like this:



Works so much better and faster than using a crochet needle like this. This one used to pull so many stray hairs making it painful for my baby.



The interlocking tool is smooth and doesn't pull lots of stray hairs.

-Be sure to clip stray hairs you don't intend to add to the lock away from the loc so that you don't accidentally interlock it into the wrong loc
-Pull the loc through a different direction each time (lots of ppl do a 4-pt rotation N-E-S-W to make a round loc, I like to do a 2 pt rotation for a flatter loc)
-Don't pull through the same direction consecutively, it will make a hole in the loc
-Don't over tighten to the scalp

Here's a good video I watched, showing the process using the tool. HTH!

 

[fifi134]

@MzSwift Thank you so, so much! Especially with explaining the different tools. I wanna tet interlocking using these 2-pt. rotation today but it’s probably unlikely that I’ll find the first tool at a BSS. I’m gonna check anyway

 

[Evolving78]

I’m thinking of interlocking myself. I have to wash my hair frequently, and hate that my retwists never last. Any tips ladies?

I don’t know. Neither method works for me as far as lasting.

 

[MzSwift]

@MzSwift Thank you so, so much! Especially with explaining the different tools. I wanna tet interlocking using these 2-pt. rotation today but it’s probably unlikely that I’ll find the first tool at a BSS. I’m gonna check anyway

I got a 4 pack like that on Amazon for like $8 or something. GL!

 

[MzSwift]

I don’t know. Neither method works for me as far as lasting.

Aww
When you retighten, do you pull up to the bottom of the loc before you pull it through? I didn't used to do that with my son's hair and I think it made the retightenings less stable. This lady does a good job of explaining it (retighten starts around the 7:00 mark, Lol)

 

[Evolving78]

Aww
When you retighten, do you pull up to the bottom of the loc before you pull it through? I didn't used to do that with my son's hair and I think it made the retightenings less stable. This lady does a good job of explaining it (retighten starts around the 7:00 mark, Lol)

My new growth and loose hair only stays at the base of the loc, so all of that hair doesn’t form around the entire loc and after awhile the hairs start to marry along the roots (hairs and fine hairs close to the scalp). When I wet my hair, all of those loose hairs curl up and shrink back to the base.

I hope this is making sense. I didn’t start out with interlocks either. I started interlocking when my locs were already formed.

 

[MzSwift]

My new growth and loose hair only stays at the base of the loc, so all of that hair doesn’t form around the entire loc and after awhile the hairs start to marry along the roots (hairs and fine hairs close to the scalp). When I wet my hair, all of those loose hairs curl up and shrink back to the base.

I hope this is making sense. I didn’t start out with interlocks either. I started interlocking when my locs were already formed.

So this lady does a good job of showing what I was talking about. This is the technique I use with the interlocking tool and the mini needles. She uses different tools but her technique is the same. Interlock the loose hair through the base a few times and then crochet (a totally different technique) the loose ends into the locs. Once those ends are crocheted thoroughly into the loc, they don't come out. I hope this makes sense. She starts around the 2:47 mark.



Because your locs are so small, maybe you should use those micro sized needles to do the crocheting part (not the interlocking part) like these:


I really hope you can find a technique that works for you. That sounds so frustrating.

Side note: I also really love her locs because they're so frizzy and natural looking. I hope mine grow to look like that

 

[fifi134]

Soooooo i interlocked my hair! I found the interlocking tool at my local BSS, but it took me forever just to do maybe 10 of them. I ended up using my fingers to pull my locs through and that was way more efficient. I just hope I did it all correctly and don’t have any holes.

I did a two point rotation and didn’t make them right. I’m excited!

 

[MzSwift]

Soooooo i interlocked my hair! I found the interlocking tool at my local BSS, but it took me forever just to do maybe 10 of them. I ended up using my fingers to pull my locs through and that was way more efficient. I just hope I did it all correctly and don’t have any holes.

I did a two point rotation and didn’t make them right. I’m excited!

Yay, that's exciting!
I'm sure you did a great job. I did a freshen up on my son's hair between retightenings like that a few times and it worked out just fine. I'm sure yours will mature just fine too with no holes.

 

[shortycocoa]

@shortycocoa

Aww, you're such a great mom! All of that love you're pouring into your babies will be soaked up and reverberated out into the world around them!

And yes, sis, I learned that my baby needed interlocking too. I started him w/ comb coils at first and the next day it looked like I hadn't touched his hair in weeks. Between him sweating and getting his head wet in the shower and sleeping the hair cap off, it was through. Lol. So I spent that next day interlocking. My only regret is that I used too much product the first few years of his journey because I didn't know better. Wish I knew about detoxing locs then.

Thank you! It's not too late...I think you should still do it! I understand now why they say you shouldn't use too much products while retwisting. DS 2 had some gel still in his hair that didn't come out all the way in a wash. I feel like I wasn't even using that much to begin with. He also has places along the length of his locks where oil, lint and dirt are trapped in too. I'm hoping the lock detox will fix all that. My biggest challenge is going to be getting him to sit for that.

 

[shortycocoa]

I got a 4 pack like that on Amazon for like $8 or something. GL!

I have been eyeing those for the longest. I may go ahead and order some. I like that they're curved and rounded on the end. Maybe the kids might tolerate those better. I hope it's not sold out.

 

[shortycocoa]

My new growth and loose hair only stays at the base of the loc, so all of that hair doesn’t form around the entire loc and after awhile the hairs start to marry along the roots (hairs and fine hairs close to the scalp). When I wet my hair, all of those loose hairs curl up and shrink back to the base.

I hope this is making sense. I didn’t start out with interlocks either. I started interlocking when my locs were already formed.

Makes sense. Some of DS 1's hair was doing this during his retightening. I would just spray the roots and pick up as many of those hairs as I could to incorporate them into the lock during his retightening. The beady beads he had along his hairline that didn't make it into the lock during retightening I would just spray them with water afterwards and wrap them around the base of the lock.

Did your hair behave like this with your other sets of locks as well? Or is this something new you've encountered?

 

[Evolving78]

Makes sense. Some of DS 1's hair was doing this during his retightening. I would just spray the roots and pick up as many of those hairs as I could to incorporate them into the lock during his retightening. The beady beads he had along his hairline that didn't make it into the lock during retightening I would just spray them with water afterwards and wrap them around the base of the lock.

Did your hair behave like this with your other sets of locks as well? Or is this something new you've encountered?

I don’t think I paid that much attention to my previous sets. These locs are much smaller in size too. I had micro braided locs before, but I still don’t recall. I think I was just doing my thing and not worrying about loose hair and thinning locs over time. Ignorance is bliss.

 

[MzSwift]

Thank you! It's not too late...I think you should still do it! I understand now why they say you shouldn't use too much products while retwisting. DS 2 had some gel still in his hair that didn't come out all the way in a wash. I feel like I wasn't even using that much to begin with. He also has places along the length of his locks where oil, lint and dirt are trapped in too. I'm hoping the lock detox will fix all that. My biggest challenge is going to be getting him to sit for that.

Thanks! I told him about it and he seems interested in doing the detox. I've been looking at tubs like these that he can lay on the floor and soak.



Has anybody used these? I just can't see my 16 year old laying across the counter to soak his hair in the kitchen sink. LOL!

 

[shortycocoa]

Soooooo i interlocked my hair! I found the interlocking tool at my local BSS, but it took me forever just to do maybe 10 of them. I ended up using my fingers to pull my locs through and that was way more efficient. I just hope I did it all correctly and don’t have any holes.

I did a two point rotation and didn’t make them right. I’m excited!

I'm sure you did a great job. It takes a while to develop speed. I'm still slow after all this time. I switched to a 2-pt rotation for DS 2 and also used that same rotation for DS 1. I used my fingers to interlock also until I got close to the scalp, then switched to the plastic yarn needle.

 

[shortycocoa]

Thanks! I told him about it and he seems interested in doing the detox. I've been looking at tubs like these that he can lay on the floor and soak.
View attachment 462829
View attachment 462831

Has anybody used these? I just can't see my 16 year old laying across the counter to soak his hair in the kitchen sink. LOL!

I have seen people using those on YouTube but didn't realize they just sit on the floor. I may have to try that because I doubt my sons will lay across the counter or keep their heads over the sink that long. Or maybe I can put that in the tub and they can lay in the tub with some shorts on or something.

 

[shortycocoa]

I finished DS 1's retightening last night. His hair looks AMAZING! I sprayed his hair with rosewater and oiled the length of his locks after his bath this morning. I wanted to oil his scalp but he was putting up too much resistance. I'll probably wash his hair next week. I'll post pics later on.

 

[Cattypus1]

Thanks! I told him about it and he seems interested in doing the detox. I've been looking at tubs like these that he can lay on the floor and soak.
View attachment 462829
View attachment 462831

Has anybody used these? I just can't see my 16 year old laying across the counter to soak his hair in the kitchen sink. LOL!

I have one exactly like this. I put it in the bathtub so that I wouldn’t get water on the floor. You can pad the empty tub with towels to make it more comfortable.

 

[fifi134]

I'm sure you did a great job. It takes a while to develop speed. I'm still slow after all this time. I switched to a 2-pt rotation for DS 2 and also used that same rotation for DS 1. I used my fingers to interlock also until I got close to the scalp, then switched to the plastic yarn needle.

I hope because I almost decided to quit . How can you tell where you ended when it’s time to retighten?

 

[shortycocoa]

I hope because I almost decided to quit . How can you tell where you ended when it’s time to retighten?

I made a post about this before, but as the hair grows out you should be able to see the place where you did your last rotation. The new growth will also stand out and be more prominent. If you're working in a well-lit area you will be able to see the locked hair in contrast to the loose hair and see where the loose hair and the locked hair meet. So when you retighten you would want to put your tool all the way down to that point and then pull your hair through. Otherwise, you will end up with a section of loose hair above the point where you did your rotation. It can look like a glaring mistake that can be impossible to correct if you keep going. Hope that helps.

 

[shortycocoa]

Here's a few pics of DS 1's freshly maintained hair:







I combined a few that would have been too small to be on their own, and I separated and recombined some that were initially 2, 3 or 4 headed dragons. He had huge sections of hair where the locks were super matted together and married. I was able to clean all those sections up and separate the locks. Some of them I left married.

This is what his hair looked like before: (days before wash day)











After his last wash, about 2 weeks ago:

 

[MzSwift]

@shortycocoa
Sooo cute!
Looks fantastic, mama! Your hard work shows.

And thanks to you and @Cattypus1 , I didn't even think to put the hair soaker in the tub!! smh

 

[shortycocoa]

I washed DS 2's hair today and oiled his locks and scalp. I didn't get to wash my hair today because I was expecting someone to stop by and I waited too late. So I will wash my hair tomorrow and do my foot soak, if I don't do it tonight.

DS 2's hair:

 

[fifi134]

I made a post about this before, but as the hair grows out you should be able to see the place where you did your last rotation. The new growth will also stand out and be more prominent. If you're working in a well-lit area you will be able to see the locked hair in contrast to the loose hair and see where the loose hair and the locked hair meet. So when you retighten you would want to put your tool all the way down to that point and then pull your hair through. Otherwise, you will end up with a section of loose hair above the point where you did your rotation. It can look like a glaring mistake that can be impossible to correct if you keep going. Hope that helps.

I should’ve clarified - I meant how do you know where you last looped through?