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

It’s been 8 years almost? But my body chemistry has changed and I have developed some allergies. The oil was a mixture, but all light oils, but it might have had something in the tree nut family? I used an applicator bottle and made sure not to go overboard. I just added a couple of drops to the front, back, and sides. I got all of the oil put now. I’ll just stick to that rose water spray I have been using. That seems safe and hasn’t caused me any issues. That what I get for getting to caught up in loc YouTube videos! Lol
Some oils make me itch too. I don’t oil my scalp at all. Maybe some overspray from my spray mixture with vitamin e oil gets on there but I mostly spray it on my hair and it’s mixed with AVJ and rosewater.
 
Almond oil is a major no no for me. That stuff will make me scratch my scalp like crazy.
I can only do jojoba oil close to my scalp. I don’t put any oil directly to my scalp. I’ve had success with jojoba oil to my fingers and running through to my ends.
And I do a mix of vitamin e oil and rose water spray. That does touch the scalp but I haven’t had any issues.
Today is 7 month loc anniversary!! I did twist my roots instead of interlocking them and I do like how twisting helped de frizz my babies. I may continue on this path instead of interlocking. It went lots faster (3hours instead of 9).
 
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Today is 7 month loc anniversary!! I did twist my roots instead of interlocking them and I do like how twisting helped de frizz my babies. I may continue on this path instead of interlocking. It went lots faster (3hours instead of 9).

Congratulations on making it to 7 months! Time is flying by....you'll be closing in on one year in no time. What made you decide to retwist this time instead of interlock? I'm just curious. Can we see pics?

I considered to retwist DS 2 instead of retighten at his last maintenance session but he was hollering even when I tried to do that. So I said let me just continue interlocking. Plus, I think with him interlocking helps it stay neat longer.

I'm still in the middle of my retightening. I didn't get as far as I wanted to yesterday. This time I sectioned my hair into 4 ponytails. I hope to get most of it done today and then finish by Friday. The front always takes a long time.
 
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I'm strongly considering getting locs. Did anyone start from a longer length? My loose natural hair is a little past waist length now. Also if anyone started from a longer length, how much shrinkage did you get in the beginning?

Do it!!!!! We'll be right here for you when you decide to pull up a chair and join us. Your locks are going to be fire!!!

I think both times I started with about 14 inches of hair but if you're at waist length, your hair is way longer than that.

I posted a couple videos of people who have started with longer hair throughout the thread. Kinkystyles1980 is one. The other was someone on IG.

Kinkystyles1980 seemed to have a lot of shrinkage, IMO. But it's just something that comes with the territory with longer hair and the lock journey.

DXLYN did a video discussing that, I may have posted it also but I'm not sure.

I think with me, I had a lot of shrinkage in the beginning with my starters and I used to love wash days and rinses because it was so cool to look at my hair shrinking in the early stages.

With my SLs I feel like there wasn't much shrinkage at times, but I definitely had bunching due to my hair texture.

It's important to take lots of pics and video because I know for me, a lot of times it looks like my hair is the same day to day, but when I look at certain pics I can definitely see the progress and evolution. Especially with this set.

Same for DS 2 and DS 1, especially on the days I towel rub his hair.
 
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Ok I’m editing my initial post.
So I decided to just go for it and retouch my color.
Since I clarified my hair the other day, I just listed my hair with some water and applied the color with my fingers, instead of the brush. My hair is processing now. Decided to turn up the heat and go more red! I will rinse my hair with cool water and lightly shampoo with a moisturizing shampoo. I will just finger twist the frizz and separate my roots and keep it moving.
 
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Do it!!!!! We'll be right here for you when you decide to pull up a chair and join us. Your locks are going to be fire!!!

I think both times I started with about 14 inches of hair but if you're at waist length, your hair is way longer than that.

I posted a couple videos of people who have started with longer hair throughout the thread. Kinkystyles1980 is one. The other was someone on IG.

Kinkystyles1980 seemed to have a lot of shrinkage, IMO. But it's just something that comes with the territory with longer hair and the lock journey.

DXLYN did a video discussing that, I may have posted it also but I'm not sure.

I think with me, I had a lot of shrinkage in the beginning with my starters and I used to love wash days and rinses because it was so cool to look at my hair shrinking in the early stages.

With my SLs I feel like there wasn't much shrinkage at times, but I definitely had bunching due to my hair texture.

It's important to take lots of pics and video because I know for me, a lot of times it looks like my hair is the same day to day, but when I look at certain pics I can definitely see the progress and evolution. Especially with this set.

Same for DS 2 and DS 1, especially on the days I towel rub his hair.

Thanks! I just checked out Kinkystyles1980 and saw her video about her 7 year natural hair journey. She did seem to have a lot of shrinkage and I'm thinking my hair might shrink up to a similar length. I'm also thinking it might be better to start from braids instead of a two-strand twist because my hair unravels easily.
 
Thanks! I just checked out Kinkystyles1980 and saw her video about her 7 year natural hair journey. She did seem to have a lot of shrinkage and I'm thinking my hair might shrink up to a similar length. I'm also thinking it might be better to start from braids instead of a two-strand twist because my hair unravels easily.
I’m totally excited to see your hair. Please share pics when you decide how and when to cross over to the loced side.
 
Congratulations on making it to 7 months! Time is flying by....you'll be closing in one one year in no time. What made you decide to retwist this time instead of interlock? I'm just curious. Can we see pics?

I considered to retwist DS 2 instead of retighten at his last maintenance session but he was hollering even when I tried to do that. So I said let me just continue interlocking. Plus, I think with him interlocking helps it stay neat longer.

I'm still in the middle of my retightening. I didn't get as far as I wanted to yesterday. This time I sectioned my hair into 4 ponytails. I hope to get most of it done today and then finish by Friday. The front always takes a long time.
It’s been a bee in my bonnet to try a retwist. I had some bunching around month 5 to where my babies wouldn’t fit thru the interlock root. I read a tip online where I could take a metal rat tail comb to stretch where the bunching occurred.
I did that and it worked overall. I still have a few locs where I have an interlocked root and a bump where the twist used to be.
So I had the idea that retwisting could smooth out my lumps and de frizz it a bit. That worked really well! They already feel smoother. This time I used aloe Vera gel from Target. Next time I think I will use pure aloe Vera gel so I don’t have build up.
Let me see if I can post a pic. I struggle with that lol.
 
It’s been a bee in my bonnet to try a retwist. I had some bunching around month 5 to where my babies wouldn’t fit thru the interlock root. I read a tip online where I could take a metal rat tail comb to stretch where the bunching occurred.
I did that and it worked overall. I still have a few locs where I have an interlocked root and a bump where the twist used to be.
So I had the idea that retwisting could smooth out my lumps and de frizz it a bit. That worked really well! They already feel smoother. This time I used aloe Vera gel from Target. Next time I think I will use pure aloe Vera gel so I don’t have build up.
Let me see if I can post a pic. I struggle with that lol.
Let me know how the pure aloe works. I may have to do a patch test.
 
I'm still not finished.... just hit a dinner break like a drive-by so I could power up and get back to it. I REFUSE to be still retightening my locks tomorrow. :lachen:....Ya'll know I ain't about that 4 day retightening life unless I gotta be. :look:

I hope the rest goes fast but the way my hairline is set up.... I gotta take my time.
I already had one lock break off earlier (I save all of them so I can reattach later) and I accidentally interlocked two locks together when I got sidetracked on a phone call. I tried to fix it and it was taking too long, so I just pinned those 2 locks together so I can do that last.

I'm still considering if I should combine some along the front sides.... I think it might be time. I don't know why I'm so indecisive about this. :lachen:
 
Retwisted my SOs locs last week for the first time. It was pretty fun and it was amazing how fast retwisting is compared to retightening. I plan on watching some more videos on palm rolling so I can get the technique down pat.
What product did you use for retwisting?
 
Has anyone tried bondi bands? It's workout headbands that help absorb sweat. I've seen really good reviews on youtube from people w/ locs-that workout.

I'm ordering these colors.




Ghana_compact.jpg


I am not a happy camper with these headbands. The 1st one is great but the other two are VERY cheaply made and have a weird fabric. I'm very disappointed.

I am scheduled for my retwist in 3wks but I need/want to retwist sometime this weekend b/c I have to get my driver's licensed renewed. I dont want to put too much tension on my hair by retwisting too much. I had retwusted my hair about 2wks ago but b/c of sweat my hair is super frizzy and my locs in the back are starting to marrying. I've been popping them. Is it safe to "pop" marrying locs on dry hair?
 
I am not a happy camper with these headbands. The 1st one is great but the other two are VERY cheaply made and have a weird fabric. I'm very disappointed.

I am scheduled for my retwist in 3wks but I need/want to retwist sometime this weekend b/c I have to get my driver's licensed renewed. I dont want to put too much tension on my hair by retwisting too much. I had retwusted my hair about 2wks ago but b/c of sweat my hair is super frizzy and my locs in the back are starting to marrying. I've been popping them. Is it safe to "pop" marrying locs on dry hair?
No dry hair. Just mist them with some water.
Just wrap the frizz around the locs in the front for your picture so it can give a neater appearance. You don’t have to twist, but just wrap. Can you pin them in a little style in the front? Or pull the front into a ponytail?
 
Did you finish?

I did....I finished around 3:30 this morning. Of course my son woke up in the middle of it so he was awake while I was trying to finish up. I went to bed around 4:30. Today I went ahead and combined all the locks I wanted to combine on the left side around my hairline, which was only 4 locks. I attempted to try wrapping some of the shed hairs I have been collecting around them so they can match the rest of my hair and not look like twists.

That led me to try reattaching some of the ones that broke off, but I need to watch more YouTube videos about that because I don't quite have the hang of it yet.
I put some beads in my hair. Most of them were old but one of them is new.

I'm actually surprised that those beads even fit on some of my locks, but they are smaller beads so I wear them on the smaller locks that don't have fat ends.
I'll come back and post some pics later. I'm definitely feeling more sleepy as the evening goes on. I suspect that as soon as my kids go to sleep tonight I'm gonna crash.

On a side note, I spoke to my sister this morning. She sent me a couple pics because she was trying to decide on a cut and some color. I gave her my recs. Then she sent me a pic of herself after she was fresh out the shop. I was joking with her and said, "I guess you just said *** them locks right now." :lachen: :lachen: :lachen: She said "*** hair....it's too hot." :lachen:

She had just cut and colored her hair shortly after her birthday and now she has gone even shorter. I love it. After that, I asked her opinion on the color I wanted for my hair and she said she loved it....She said I should definitely leave the color to a professional and not try to do it on my own. So I may be going with her the next time she goes to her stylist. She said she goes every two weeks and can book both appointments for us and take me with her if I let her know soon. I told her I could get a sitter and we could do a fun sister outing and hit the barber shop and then do lunch or something else. I'm excited!
 
I did....I finished around 3:30 this morning. Of course my son woke up in the middle of it so he was awake while I was trying to finish up. I went to bed around 4:30. Today I went ahead and combined all the locks I wanted to combine on the left side around my hairline, which was only 4 locks. I attempted to try wrapping some of the shed hairs I have been collecting around them so they can match the rest of my hair and not look like twists.

That led me to try reattaching some of the ones that broke off, but I need to watch more YouTube videos about that because I don't quite have the hang of it yet.
I put some beads in my hair. Most of them were old but one of them is new.

I'm actually surprised that those beads even fit on some of my locks, but they are smaller beads so I wear them on the smaller locks that don't have fat ends.
I'll come back and post some pics later. I'm definitely feeling more sleepy as the evening goes on. I suspect that as soon as my kids go to sleep tonight I'm gonna crash.

On a side note, I spoke to my sister this morning. She sent me a couple pics because she was trying to decide on a cut and some color. I gave her my recs. Then she sent me a pic of herself after she was fresh out the shop. I was joking with her and said, "I guess you just said *** them locks right now." :lachen: :lachen: :lachen: She said "*** hair....it's too hot." :lachen:

She had just cut and colored her hair shortly after her birthday and now she has gone even shorter. I love it. After that, I asked her opinion on the color I wanted for my hair and she said she loved it....She said I should definitely leave the color to a professional and not try to do it on my own. So I may be going with her the next time she goes to her stylist. She said she goes every two weeks and can book both appointments for us and take me with her if I let her know soon. I told her I could get a sitter and we could do a fun sister outing and hit the barber shop and then do lunch or something else. I'm excited!
Kids stay waking up or trying to stay up when you are busy doing something! Lol
I’m excited about your color!! Did you use a tiny crochet hook to reattach and or combine?
 
Kids stay waking up or trying to stay up when you are busy doing something! Lol
I’m excited about your color!! Did you use a tiny crochet hook to reattach and or combine?

I bought a kit from Amazon a while back that has 2 in there, along with the beads and other adornments for locks.

I two-strand twisted the locks together to combine. I don't like interlocking to combine because I don't like having 2-headed dragons until they merge together, or having to cut one of the heads off later.

The ones on the left definitely look like twists compared to the surrounding locks, so I plan to wrap the shed hairs I've been saving around those so they can match better while they continue to form.
 
My headbands were delivered today. I love all of the colors and prints I chose. The other ones are still waiting in my cart. I will try to order one last time before I allow customer service to intervene.

It looks like all of them are still available, so that's a good sign.
 
I am not a happy camper with these headbands. The 1st one is great but the other two are VERY cheaply made and have a weird fabric. I'm very disappointed.

I am scheduled for my retwist in 3wks but I need/want to retwist sometime this weekend b/c I have to get my driver's licensed renewed. I dont want to put too much tension on my hair by retwisting too much. I had retwusted my hair about 2wks ago but b/c of sweat my hair is super frizzy and my locs in the back are starting to marrying. I've been popping them. Is it safe to "pop" marrying locs on dry hair?

I semi compromised, I washed and retwisted the front. I'm really proud of myself b/c this was the 1st time I washed my hair by myself since having locs (that's 7mths!). It felt soooooo good to be able to wash my hair on my own-to be able to feel my scalp and use my own shampoo:cloud9:. I realize my locs are more formed than I thought. It was super easy to part & retwist. My next goal is to be able to wash and retwist my entire head. I was scarred that after I washed my hair I would have one big loc or I wouldn't be able to find the parts. If my b-day wasn't coming up, I would just cancel my loc appt-since I feel confident that I can start washing and retwisting on my own.

To wash the front of my hair, I split the front into 2 pigtails. I used dr. Bronners lavender hemp soap. After I washed each section, I put them back in pigtails. I then took down one pigtail at a time and separated the locs and applied oil on the scalp after I separated them. I learned that from my loctician-that's the way she does my hair before retwisting.

The pics below are during/after I washed the sections. I'll upload pics tommorow once my hair dries. I'm keeping the clips in and letting it air dry overnight-since I don't have a standing dryer.
 

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