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

msdeevee

Well-Known Member


Yes, I should have asked her to clarify. My next retight is on 5/2 if I remember I’ll ask her to explain. Then I’m going to the Sisterlock convention in Atl in June and I think I’ll have a retight when I’m in Atl so I’ll get a 2nd opinion.

I love Sisterlocks so much that I’m going to the convention but just for that Saturday. My Cousin in Atl has Sisterlocks too. We’re going together. Yippee!! :toocool:

Oh, I lost a lock last week. :eek:
 

mz.rae

Well-Known Member
Yes, I should have asked her to clarify. My next retight is on 5/2 if I remember I’ll ask her to explain. Then I’m going to the Sisterlock convention in Atl in June and I think I’ll have a retight when I’m in Atl so I’ll get a 2nd opinion.

I love Sisterlocks so much that I’m going to the convention but just for that Saturday. My Cousin in Atl has Sisterlocks too. We’re going together. Yippee!! :toocool:

Oh, I lost a lock last week. :eek:
I didn’t know they were having a Sisterlock convention!! That’s exciting, I hope you enjoy yourself!!
 

simplycee

Sweetest Taboo
Yes, I should have asked her to clarify. My next retight is on 5/2 if I remember I’ll ask her to explain. Then I’m going to the Sisterlock convention in Atl in June and I think I’ll have a retight when I’m in Atl so I’ll get a 2nd opinion.

I love Sisterlocks so much that I’m going to the convention but just for that Saturday. My Cousin in Atl has Sisterlocks too. We’re going together. Yippee!! :toocool:

Oh, I lost a lock last week. :eek:

:eek:
I was watching a video of a woman on FB reattaching her SL. When she was done she pulled out a little baggie of SL she needed to reattach, easily 10-12 locs. :( I would have been :cry: if I lost that many. Is that a thing? Losing locks? My mother said she has never lost one that she knows of. How can I prevent that?
 

msdeevee

Well-Known Member
:eek:
I was watching a video of a woman on FB reattaching her SL. When she was done she pulled out a little baggie of SL she needed to reattach, easily 10-12 locs. :( I would have been :cry: if I lost that many. Is that a thing? Losing locks? My mother said she has never lost one that she knows of. How can I prevent that?

I don’t think it’s that common. If she had a baggie of lost locks I would suspect she has a problem she needs to see a dermatologist about.

I have lost 4 locks in my 19 months. My consultant cut 2 off herself at my temple area because when I first started retightening my own I put knots in them that were painful. When she cut them off you couldn’t even tell. They’ve grown out now. The 3rd 1 again retightening my locks I snipped it off by mistake. This last 1 kinda worries me bcuz it was very thin at the root and as I tried to retight it the poor thing popped off.

If I lose any more like that I’ll go to a dermatologist but hopefully not.
 

BillsBackerz67

Well-Known Member
Decided to semi free form and not retwist until July but I’ll retwist the front two rows every 3-4 weeks to make it look “fresh”. Last full retwist was March 21. Rewisted the front two rows last night I did not use a dryer. Just air dried over night with clips. With the heater running lol.


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tolly

Well-Known Member
I installed two strand twists a week ago and want to continue as free form. I have about 80-90 in number. I am not so sure I won't change my mind.
My method is mostly because I don't have a salon I trust to do this right so this.
I am concerned about lint and I know I will not sustain keeping a scarf on all the time.
 

BillsBackerz67

Well-Known Member
I installed two strand twists a week ago and want to continue as free form. I have about 80-90 in number. I am not so sure I won't change my mind.
My method is mostly because I don't have a salon I trust to do this right so this.
I am concerned about lint and I know I will not sustain keeping a scarf on all the time.
My method has been Satin pillowcase, drying hair with cheap rayon blend bellbottom pants from eBay that looked horrible on me but worked great as a towel (no lint and absorbs most of water without overdrying) , and wear hair up when wearing sweaters or traveling. I have very little to no visible lint by being diligent.
 

simplycee

Sweetest Taboo
Had my retightening yesterday. All my locks stayed in tact during washing. She made ponytails but no braids to wash. I was going to ask for an updo but after seeing my hair after she was done I opted to wear my SL as they were with the curlies on the end. For the next month I’m going to try to go with no styling, just wear them as is.
 

msdeevee

Well-Known Member
I’ve decided to loc my hair this summer in traditional local and I’m looking for a loctitian in the nyc area. Do you ladies have any recs?? If they have a social media page I can check out that would be great.

Check out Vanityhairstudionyc.com or you can check her out on IG.

Natasha is the owner. She installed my Sisterlocks but does traditional and other locks too. She is uber talented, fast and very personable.
 

mochalocks

Well-Known Member
I’ve decided to loc my hair this summer in traditional local and I’m looking for a loctitian in the nyc area. Do you ladies have any recs?? If they have a social media page I can check out that would be great.


Sancia at locks of nu salon in Brooklyn.
 

shortycocoa

Hair Weave Killer
I didn’t know they were having a Sisterlock convention!! That’s exciting, I hope you enjoy yourself!!

They have them all the time! If you are on their mailing list, they tell you when and which cities they'll be in. They also tell you when they're having trainings to learn how to do Sisterlocks or for just the retightening class.

I still glance at some of the e-mails, even though I parted with my Sisterlocks in December of 2011.

:eek:
I was watching a video of a woman on FB reattaching her SL. When she was done she pulled out a little baggie of SL she needed to reattach, easily 10-12 locs. :( I would have been :cry: if I lost that many. Is that a thing? Losing locks? My mother said she has never lost one that she knows of. How can I prevent that?

I lost a couple. When I lost mine, it would usually be from the front part of my hair. My hair is really soft and short right there and does not really grow. I had problems with all (or most) of the Sisterlocks in those sections coming undone completely and my consultant having to reinstall after I washed my hair. This happened every time I was due to wash my hair.

Finally I had to beg her to see if she could put glue on those locks. She was against it at first, but I kept asking and asking. I told her I was at the end of my rope. Well, the glue helped them to stay in for several months and I didn't have the problem of them unraveling as much anymore. But near the end of my journey with them, a couple of the ones that had glue on them came out.

I'm not sure if it was just the glue that caused it, or several other factors (I had moved away and wasn't getting my hair maintained by a consultant on my regular retightening schedule anymore, and I was also retightening the ones that weren't in those areas on my own with a yarn needle.) So that could have contributed to it as well.
 

shortycocoa

Hair Weave Killer
I'll be 4 years loc'd next month! :yahoo:

Congrats @Platinum! I remember when you started them. Your locks look great in your avatar!

@BillsBackerz67 your locks look so full and healthy! I remember when you started yours, too!

I got bitten by the lock bug again, recently, so I have decided to get back in the game. This time I'm doing traditional locks, though. I spent 3 hours Friday night trying to start them with finger coils, but I didn't like how they were looking and they were not all uniform in appearance and were already unraveling. So I just combed out what I had already done and decided to start fresh Saturday with two-strand twists.

I got most of my head done and I hope to complete these last few sections by tomorrow.
 

shortycocoa

Hair Weave Killer
when I first started retightening my own I put knots in them that were painful. When she cut them off you couldn’t even tell. They’ve grown out now. The 3rd 1 again retightening my locks I snipped it off by mistake. This last 1 kinda worries me bcuz it was very thin at the root and as I tried to retight it the poor thing popped off.

This has happened to me, too! I also had a lot of 2-headed dragons from my retightening mistakes or from a few adjacent locks marrying. I would just cut them off and keep it moving. A lot of my locks were skinny until about 3-4 inches at the ends, and then they would be thicker. That used to hurt like hell during retightening, especially when I did it myself.
 

msdeevee

Well-Known Member
Ok, I never thought I would have this complaint.

My hair grows too fast. I had my last retight in about the middle of March. I had scheduled my next retight for 4/28 that would be about the 6 week mark. My consultant had to reschedule me for 5/2 but my hair has grown out at least 1 1/2”. I’m constantly separating them and pulling them apart because they mesh together if you don’t separate them. I’m still trying to understand why that happens.

I’m still loving my Sisterlocks but the growth is really something else. Anybody else experiencing this with their locks?
 

shortycocoa

Hair Weave Killer
Ok, I never thought I would have this complaint.

My hair grows too fast. I had my last retight in about the middle of March. I had scheduled my next retight for 4/28 that would be about the 6 week mark. My consultant had to reschedule me for 5/2 but my hair has grown out at least 1 1/2”. I’m constantly separating them and pulling them apart because they mesh together if you don’t separate them. I’m still trying to understand why that happens.

I’m still loving my Sisterlocks but the growth is really something else. Anybody else experiencing this with their locks?

It's going to happen with your Sisterlocks...it's prone to happen with other types of locks also, but it's more apt to happen with the Sisterlocks due to how small they are and how close they are to surrounding locks. My hair used to do that all the time and I would have to constantly separate them, or my consultant would pull apart the ones I missed at a retightening session.

She actually had to move up my retightenings from 6-8 weeks (if I recall correctly) to 4-6 weeks, (with 6 weeks pushing it) because of this issue and my hair texture.

It might not be a bad idea to learn how to retighten your own Sisterlocks so you don't have to be stressed out about this, provided that you don't have any other serious issues with them that absolutely need to be addressed by your consultant.

I had all my issues, plus slippage in most of my locks that she was repairing for free to help minimize my costs (even though I was banding on a regular basis, it was still happening to them, so I just stopped banding after a while because it was a waste of my time.)

I actually liked the thick, fat ends of my Sisterlocks and the smaller size they were near the roots. It was just painful to pull them through the base of my lock when I would retighten them. I had a few locks that still looked like the starter locks after my install, and I didn't like that.
 
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shortycocoa

Hair Weave Killer
I'm not sure if this has been asked before, because I'm still making my way through this thread, but can we make this a sticky? There is so much valuable information here that I am taking notes.
 

msdeevee

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the response.

I did take the retight class so I can do it but for right now it’s too much.

I was thinking today I may have to go every 4 weeks but my retights cost too much to go once a month.

I’m gonna have to figure something out bcuz I lost another lock today. I’m taking my hsn vitamins plus extra vit.D and my multi and a drink a lot of water. I’ve also been massaging my scalp with JBCO. I am under stress right now but I’ve been stressed before and never lost hair. I’m about to be :cry3::cry3::cry3:
 

shortycocoa

Hair Weave Killer
Thanks for the response.

I did take the retight class so I can do it but for right now it’s too much.

I was thinking today I may have to go every 4 weeks but my retights cost too much to go once a month.

I’m gonna have to figure something out bcuz I lost another lock today. I’m taking my hsn vitamins plus extra vit.D and my multi and a drink a lot of water. I’ve also been massaging my scalp with JBCO. I am under stress right now but I’ve been stressed before and never lost hair. I’m about to be :cry3::cry3::cry3:

That's right, you did mention you paid for the class. My bad! I hope you are able to figure out what is causing you to lose locks everytime. Do you only lose them when you retighten or do they come out when your consultant does it as well? Please forgive me if you already answered this upthread. I'm still working through it but I'm only on page 10.
 

shortycocoa

Hair Weave Killer
I haven't seen any recent threads for those of us that have locked our hair so I decided to start one. The purpose of this thread is to offer support those of us who have decided to embark on a loc journey and others who are considering loc'ing. Please feel free to share your experiences, pics, regimen, or even ask questions.

Please answer the following questions:

1. How long have you been on your loc journey?
2. What made you decide to embark on a loc journey?
3. How long do you plan to stay loc'd?
4. What type of locs do you have? Sisterlocs, Traditional, Cultivated, Freeform?
5. What process did you use to start your locs?
6. How do you maintain your locs?
7. What, if any, products do you use on your locs?


I'm going to answer these questions in another post. In the meantime, I'm tagging a few loc'd members. If you know anyone else who's loc'd, formerly loc'd, or interested in loc'ing, please tag them. Thanks!

ChasingBliss Foxglove *Happily Me*

Hi ladies...I am coming to answer the questions from the first post since I haven't yet.

1. This is my second lock journey. I had been contemplating locking again off and on for a few weeks. My second journey begins this month! I finished my starter locks on 04/23/18 at 1:45 P.M. It took all weekend.

2. Every time I decide I want to embark on a lock journey, it's usually due to convenience and looking for a low-maintenance regimen for my hair. I have officially tapped out on loose hair. I am just tired of spending the amount of time required to wash, condition, detangle, deep condition, style, and banding and tying hair down at night to preserve my wash and go.

Plus, I am tired of seeing the amount of shed hair, knowing that shed hair can be contributing to developing my locks and reaching my short term and long term length goals.

3. At this point, I plan to stay locked indefinitely, barring some unforeseen circumstance that causes me to have to part ways with them. That's why it's really important for me to get it right this time, because I would hate to have to do that again.

4. I had Sisterlocks the first time I decided on locks (8 years ago). This time I have traditional locks.

5. Initially, I started with finger coils. I wanted to use a comb, but I didn't want to run the risk of snatching my hair out from not doing the technique correctly. But my hair was not holding, and that could have also been because of the product I used. It would be loose in the middle of the coils and tight near the roots and the bottom. So I combed those out and started over the next day with two-strand twists.

I used the curl guide technique to determine the size of my twists. Hopefully I will end up with the size I want once they have matured.

6. I plan to interlock them. I was either going to do comb coils to start and retwist or two-strand twist and interlock. I like the look of interlocking so ultimately that's the method I chose. As far as the tool, I plan to use a yarn needle or a hair pin since I already have a few. I ordered some yarn needles from ebay, (a pack of 100...LOL) since I have no clue what I did with the ones I had when I had Sisterlocks. I might have to get a smaller pack in the meantime and adapt them to the size and lengths I need because it's going to be a while before my order ships.

7. Right now I am still trying to decide on what I will be using to care for my locks. I don't want to use shampoo to wash my hair, but if I make the decision to go back to shampoo (at least until my locks mature) then I will choose one based on the recommendations in this thread. But my preference is to use a conditioner or alternative cleansing method that doesn't involve shampoo or conditioner and also won't cause unraveling or something that is hard to wash out.

The plan for moisture is to spritz them with my mix of Infusium 23 leave-in, water, and peppermint EO. I might add glycerin to it, but I need to get some. I would like to also focus on internal things that will help with creating moisture in my hair and scalp so that I don't have issues with itchiness and dryness.

I haven't figured out what I'm going to use for deep conditioning or regular conditioning, but it will more than likely be the conditioners I am already using. (Aussie Moist, Tresemme, or Suave Almond and Shea Butter conditioner.)

Right now my hair has been banded and covered all week under a scarf. I haven't had any issues with severe itching or dryness yet. It might be because of the gel I used to twist. (Long Aid Curl Activator Gel for extra dry hair)

I need to keep my hair covered because otherwise I will be playing in my hair and I don't want my hard work to be in vain if my twists unravel.

I am so excited and am just soaking up all the knowledge from this thread, as well as YouTube. I am also looking forward to being able to spend less time on my hair, more styling options, and experimenting with different looks, like lock jewelry and headwraps. I saw a couple loc socks on ebay that looked cute. I plan on ordering some.
 
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