THE HEALTHY LOCS GUIDE – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

Since they gained popularity in the 1970s, locs – also known as dreadlocks or dreads – remains one of the trendiest hairstyles for black people of all genders. This is because locs are beautiful and versatile. They’re capable of various styles and they’re easy to work with. 

In fact, for most people with locs, it is a lifestyle. Some consider keeping them a personal journey. Watching your locs form slowly every day will teach you a lot of great life lessons like patience, change, and growth. 

However, there is a misconception out there in the natural hair community that locs don’t require as much care and attention as other hairstyles. This is not true at all. All hairstyles require care for your hair to stay healthy. You need to come up with a hair care regimen that will keep your locs thriving and your scalp healthy. 

In this blog post, we will guide you through a hair care routine you can adopt for your locs. Let’s go!

What are Locs?

Locs are rope-like clumps of matted or braided hair that can be achieved through various methods like braiding, rolling, or backcombing. According to All Salon Prices, the history of dreadlocks can be traced to ancient times. They were worn by people of different cultures and regions. Some of these regions include Minoans from Crete (now in Greece), ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Hittites, Amorites, etc.

According to Byrdie, your locs journey may take between 18 to 24 months. Locs strands go through five stages. They are illustrated in the table below:

Starter Locs	3 – 6 months old locs
Budding Locs	6 – 12 months old locs
Teen Locs	12 – 15 months old locs
Mature Locs	15 – 18 months old locs
Rooted Locs	18 – 21 months old locs

These different stages require different care and maintenance methods. Some people find it easiest to style and care for their locs at the starter, mature and rooted stage because the strands are well defined at these stages. At the budding and teen stage, the locs are prone to frizz and dryness, and they may be hard to style. 

How to Take Care of Your Locs

Finding a hair care routine that works with your locs is not a process that is difficult at all. Caring for your locs includes regular cleaning and detoxification, keeping the locs always moisturized and hydrated, eating healthy meals, getting retwists when due for one, and so on. These are routines you can carry out yourself in the comfort of your home. 

Here are some tips on achieving healthy locs:

• Wash Your Locs Regularly

Washing your locs helps remove product build-up and residue from your hair and scalp. It also helps keep your locs and scalp hydrated. It keeps your hair pores free of dirt clogs and open to moisture and hydration. You can follow these steps to wash your locs:

1. Prepoo your hair with an apple cider vinegar or baking powder solution. You can do this by diluting either apple cider vinegar or baking powder with warm water. Pour it into an application bottle and wet your locs and scalp with the solution. Don’t soak them fully and don’t use water that is too hot. 
2. Use a sulfate-free shampoo to massage your scalp and locs gently. Make sure the shampoo is residue-free too so that it’ll get product residue, dirt, flakes, and debris out of your hair and scalp. You may need to shampoo the hair two to three times so that you can get all the dirt out. 
3. Dry your locs with a microfiber towel. You should use a microfiber towel to avoid frizzling. You must not dry your locs with heat because heating can damage your locs. Air dry your locs only. 

• Moisturize Your Locks Regularly

All hair types and styles require moisture to stay healthy. Your locs strands and scalp are prone to frizz and dryness due to constant retwisting. It is important to always moisturize to keep the hair shiny and hydrated. We recommend that you use light moisturizers like oil sprays. This is to avoid product build-up and residue. Oils like carrot oil, coconut oil, olive oil, and sesame oil are great choices. 

To keep the moisture in, you need to upgrade your sleeping materials to silk or satin fabrics. Get a satin pillowcase so that it doesn’t suck up moisture. You should also always wear a satin hair bonnet or scarf to bed everything. To get satin hair bonnets or caps with amazing designs and good quality, visit our online store.

• Retwist Your Locs When Due

You need to get your locs retwisted regularly. For people with sisterlocks, you should consider retwisting every 6 to 8 weeks. Retwisting too often can make you become thin and cause breakage. You can retwist your locs yourself by watching a DIY tutorial video on YouTube. If you’re not so big on that, visit your loctician. 

• Give Your Locs Time to Rest

When starting your locs, allow them to rest and give them space to grow. You can do this by wearing faux locs on them. This protects the locs from dangerous environmental conditions. Giving your locs time to rest gives you healthy and strong locs. 

FAQ 1: 

How often should I wash my locs?

Answer:

How often you wash your locs depends on your hair type and lifestyle. On average, you can wash your locs every two to three weeks. But if you exercise or sweat a lot, you may want to wash them more frequently. You can ask a professional loctician for a routine that fits your hair. 

FAQ 2:

Are locs hard to maintain?

Answer: 

No, they’re not. They may seem complicated at first but that is because you have not gotten used to them. If you want to keep locs, you need to have patience. Take your time to figure out a hair care routine and styling pattern that works for your hair. Once you get a hang of it, you’ll realize that it’s quite easy. 

FAQ 3:

Are locs bad for your hair?

Answer:

The answer is NO! In fact, locs are protective hairstyles that keep your hair and scalp safe from breakage and damage. They protect your hair and scalp from environmental conditions that may be dangerous for your health. 

With the above tips on dreadlocks maintenance, keeping your locs healthy should no longer be a problem for you. Whether you’re just planning to lock your hair or you want to upgrade your locs maintenance methods, the above suggestions are going to play a great role in the health of your hair.