Ever wondered what some of the basic principals of loc’ing your hair would involve…? Well here are some simple pointers for you:

There are a few ways to loc including:
*two strand twists, which get washed and re-twisted without combing the hair through – a very presentable, tidy way to do it)
*gel coils which get redone at the hair dressers fortnightly or so without combing through the hair – can be quite messy in between washes
*have plait extensions and keep getting the hair re-plaited without combing the hair through
*sister locs

There are three stages of growth:
*baby locs (look neat, cute and nice)
*teenage locs (don’t do anything you want them to do)
*mature locs (settled in, manageable, thank God you didn’t give up!)

There are two ways to maintain locs after (or in some cases in between) washing your hair:
*palm rolling
*latch hooking

Things to be aware of:

* if a hairdresser knows that you want to loc your hair they may charge you more money, saying that they’re “starting your locs off”. If on the other hand you say you want comb coils, you’ll be charged the normal price for comb coils; if you say you want your hair to be twisted they’ll charge you a reasonable price to do that too but use the term “please start my locs off” at great expense.
*don’t get your locs any thinner than pencil sized (unless you like Sister locs) – remember to be practical: Don’t have more locs on your head than you’ll be comfortable managing on your own

A good tip:
*If you’re going to have slim locs, have a centre parting from the front to the back of your head when you start them off so that you can have neat bunches/pony tails, etc when your locs mature

There are some great Yahoo! groups which you could join including
*LadyLocs (Good site)
*Lovinlocs (I highly recommend this one!!!)

Natural Products for your Natural Hair

*Maintain your hair with natural shampoos, conditioners and oils – no beeswax, wax or petroleum based products as they are almost impossible to wash out of your locs.

Want to know more about loc’ing your hair or any of the pointers mentioned above?  Post your questions below…

Yours naturally,

Xina