Loc Journey: Steps to Preparing Hair to Becoming Locked

If anyone told you that your hair would loc overnight, probably they were unsure of the process.  It will take some time for your hair strands to wrap around itself and form an actual loc.  I’ve been fortunate enough to have very coarse hair, and in the time since June 22, 2020, the day I finished my mini twists, there have been some parts of my hair that have already loc’d.

This process has allowed me to learn about my hair strands all over again.  Although I thought my hair is coarse in texture, also known as 4chair, I discovered that there are parts of my head that have a more defined curl pattern than others. Having a softer curl pattern than a coarse one, takes a longer time for hair to loc. When that is the case, there are products some will use to assist in the process.

Products 

I’ve read different blog posts and watched numerous amounts of YouTube videos that show various ways of creating, cleansing, and retightening locs.  It’s incredible how so many people have many thoughts and opinions on how to do the same thing.  I took a little of this and a little of that and added myself to the group.  Without using any conditioner or styling products, I shampooed my hair with Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap and asked my sister to section my hair so that I may focus on one part of my head at a time.

Unlike what I did, I saw that a few people used a spray or gel to assist in the process of locking their hair.  Here are a few products if you choose to use a product too.

Nag Champa Tightening Spray – Dollylocks Organic Products

Dread locking Sea Salt Hair Spray – Made with pure ocean water

Loc Twisting Jelly (With Honey)

Dreadlocks Tightening Gel by Dread Empire

Knotty Boy LockStead Tropical Tightening Gel

Jamaican Mango and Lime Resistant Formula Locking Hair Gel

Taliah Waajid Black Earth Products Lock It Up Tight Hold

Section Hair

There are different types of parting styles for starting the loc process.  You can also just allow your hair to free form lock – which means after shampooing, just allowing it to be without any manipulation.  Sisterlocks seem to be the only style that has a precise parting and section with a specific measurement for each loc.  I changed my mind and decided since I was going to DIY this process, that was way too much math and patience.  Also, my hair is not that long, and it took at least three weeks past my mini twists to be able to interlock my strands.

Shampooing New Locs

Let me tell you; shampooing new locs is not recommended in the first few weeks of having mini twists. I learned the hard way when my scalp was a tab bit itchy and wanted some water.  I thought I was gentle; however, the process of applying any type of product and water loosened almost half of my twists. My arms were on fire after I had to redo nearly half of my head again.

I would suggest purchasing or making a scalp refresher to spritz on your hair and scalp after installing locs.  I wish that I paid more attention to that tip than doing what I wanted to do with my hair.

Tools

When I say it will take you hours, days even to install mini twists or locs, believe me, and others online that have also gone through this. I started this process using my fingers to create mini twists, but I wanted to do sisterlocks.  One, my hair was too short to do the interlocking process, and two, I didn’t create the different grids and measurements to call my mini locs sisterlocks.  So I chose just to install mini twists and wait the time necessary until my hair decides to loc onto itself.  I love the journey.  I honestly can not wait to see how my hair turns out once it stops standing up on top of my head.

Once my hair was slightly long enough, I was able to use my fingers to start to interlock the twists onto itself.  I used a two-point rotation. I’m lazy. I watched the loc sisters online just moving so quickly through the rotations, and I tried, but my arms just don’t have it. lol

If your hair is long enough where you’d instead use tools than your fingers, there are tools on Amazon that will assist you with this process.  I opted to visit Etsy and bought a two-pack in a little pouch loc tool by Locsanity.  I’ve been able to use this tool only on the more extended parts of my hair, which is on the top.  It was easy to use and did not cause any issues.  I do recommend getting and using many one or two-prong clips to keeping all hair apart as you work on that one loc.  If you don’t carefully separate your twists or locs, there is a chance you will merge a loc into another.  You don’t want to do that.

Do you have more steps for someone on a loc journey?