Gurl….i realized everything you said after my sisterlocs install and that FIRST retightening. I took my SL down after that. It felt like having a perm mindset culture to me. If they see their roots come in…time to get that “re-tie” every 4-6 weeks,,,,just like relaxer!! These women still are afraid to see their roots.smh Thank you for confirming what I already knew. And that’s why sisterlocs were created for the same “relaxer” mindset ladies…..this was the owner’s intention. Genius, if you ask me. Still have black women in bondage to hairstylists every 4-6 weeks. So glad ‘I have my thick semi Freeform traditional locs. True hair freedom. Your roots and locs are gorgeous!
Wow this is a perspective I never considered having never had a perm😬😬😬 But you are definitely on something here. I just knew I didn’t want to be stuck having to pay $250 every 6 weeks for some lil roots. Whew , i’m going to be pondering this comment for the rest of the day
@@theminimalistnatural yes…it’s very deep what the Sisterloc owner knew and took advantage of with black women. That’s why Sisterlocs were marketed for relaxed ladies (especially back in late 90’s/early 2000’s) to be able to transition into this style without cutting off their permed hair. Great video!
Wow. I paid over 1000 for sister locs not taking them down. I got my certification for loctician. I advise my people to come every 8 weeks and never retie to scalp. Thinking about trying this on my hair.
@@kayceep.morgan7318 And ain’t nothing wrong with aesthetics and convenience BUT it’s time to give ppl resources for taking care of their hair ON THEIR OWN and in between salon visits outside of a 6-8 week schedule.
It's not aesthetics. Medium to fine density hair people with SL or very small microlocs will have breakage and loc damage from prolonged times without maintenance. The smaller the loc and the finer the hair texture the less time they can go without maintenance. I have personally loss locs going too long.
@@moderndaycynic695 Hmm, i guess it just depends on what is defined as “prolonged.” Most ppl’s hair should not be falling off because they missed a 6 week apt and if it is, I think there’s a deeper issue at play. But you’re definitely right about fine hair needing more upkeep and attention. Everyone has to do what works for THEM.
I have been sisterlocked for 6 years and my hair had started to thin. I went before for 6 months without retightening and my hair started growing back. I started retightening every 7 weeks and now hair is thinning again. I am stopping my retightenings and working on my hair and will retighten or retwist or whatever I want to do when I want to do it. I actually like it when I have a lot of new growth because it looks voluminous. Great video sis!
You are absolutely right! I do not retighten every 6 to 8 weeks and the cost to retighten when you have gone past 8 weeks is insane. I've been maintaining my hair the best way I can and working on a different system because I have 3 children, a husband, work FT and am an active mom. I just don't have time to sit and do my hair to that extent every 2 months
Exactly this. I resonate with everything you said ! Have you tried retwisting? I have 3 kids , a business and a husband as well. It’s rough out here sis
I didn’t get micro locs because I know me lol, and I knew I wasn’t going to nobodies salon every 6 weeks. I went with small traditional locs and I’ve noticed all of the rules you mentioned in the traditional loc community as well. They say to retwist every 4-6 weeks, wash every month, no conditioner etc. None of these things work for me. As a person with a finicky scalp, I wash every week and I use conditioner! I crochet my hair every few months and I keep it moving!
Oh, and I like the idea of experperimenting with semi freeforming because I’m doing the same thing. I was told not to semi freeform by a loctitician (because I have fine hair) but that makes me want to do it more 😂. I’m just going to listen to my hair and if I start to see breakage at the root I’ll regroup, and at least I’ll know how long I can go without maintenance .
yes, you just have to pay attention to your hair and do what works FOR YOU. there’s no one size fits all. I know of locticians that won’t retie your hair if you wait longer than 6-8 weeks. So you have to be able to service yourself these days
UGH I NEEDED this so bad😭😭as a chronic rule follower I’ve given myself a lot of anxiety trying to follow the microloc rules and thinking my hair would be doomed if I didn’t. Coming up on my 1 year and I’m soooo ready to let some of that go! Your hair is gorgeous girl 😍😍would love to see how you maintain your locs in the interim🤲🏾🤲🏾
I installed my own locs(started with 2-strand twists). At 4 months got my 1st interloc retie. I personally dislike the neat look and get reties approx 3 month. My loctician has no issues with that. So I love my best low effort dream hair life
I love that this video gives other people a different perspective of maintaining their locs, but unfortunately for me, when I don’t retie my hair every 4-6 weeks I suffer from real damage, severe bunching and breakage 😢. Maybe it’s because of my hair texture, not sure. But I’m not worried about my grid, having perfect looking locs or anything. I just want healthy locs and I’d love to be able to go longer without a retie.
My hair grows out of the loc so I can’t go beyond two months but this is admirable as hell! I am thinking of maybe squeezing a retwist in so I can maybe push to three or four months. I never cared about a grid I think the obsession with it is one of the most annoying things about this style. I had traditionals so I know how it goes but I love how you keep it unconventional! This is needed
Definitely try a retwist to maintain the structure and keep the loose hairs at bay. Also 2 months isn’t bad, if it works for you keep it up! Do you do your own hair ?
Yes we need that routine please!! Your roots are so healthy! I’m just over a year loc’d and I have been looking for tips to maintain healthy roots in between my maintenance schedule.
New subscriber here!!! I didn’t know how much I needed to watch and hear this. I’m self-maintaining my own sisterlocks after getting them professionally done for 10 years. I came to your channel about retwisting. I’m so glad to have found you 😊😊.
I've had my sisterlocks almost 6 years. I've always cared for my natural hair, so I know what it needs. I retighten my edges every 4-6 weeks. I'll retighten the front half every 8 weeks & the back every 11-12 weeks. I'm an attorney, so I make sure the front of my head always looks good. I stopped following the "rules" as soon as my scalp told me to! As in all things, you have to do what's best for YOU!
This is definitely a thing! Some ppl can’t go long between reties OR retwists. I have coarse, high density hair and so semi freeforming works well for me ! You definitely should follow the advice of your loctician ! do you do your own reties?
@@cecemimi9304 yes free forming or stretching maintenance is Not for everyone. I should mention that I retwist my hair every 4-6 weeks because it keeps them from snagging and marrying together. I just happened to be at 7 weeks in this video cause it got busy. But, it’s important to protect the structure of the hair at the roots to avoid breakage!! I definitely do not think that most ppl can/should leave the roots loose for extended periods of time.
I have medium locs and I chose that for lower maintenance. I let my hair do what it likes to do for the most part. The smaller micro/ sl felt like too much for my lazy , broke behind. I see my loc girl maybe every 6 months and I installed and maintain my own and my loctitian supports me in this!
I totally agree with video. There are too many rules. It's too much!! I know my hair better than anyone and I'm doing what's best for me and my hair. Thanks for this video!
My hair has been growing out of the locs over the last year. It’s almost like weeds growing 😂. So I stick to a 6 week Retie schedule. I have about 300 locs and my appointment takes 1 hour. Your hair is awesome and beautiful!!
Thank you so much for this video. Had I known more during my journey, I would have saved myself heartache. During the pandemic with no loctician in a new state was a huge factor in losing so many locs on my head. I can’t wait for your new video, I worry about my roots with the interlocking method, it would be nice to have a alternative healthy way to maintain my micro locs.
Thanks so much for your feedback! I feel there’s a lot of women in your shoes. When I had my baby in January , i was too tired to do my hair and I couldn’t afford anyone else. Totally understand!
Traditional rocks here. I'm personally not a fan of micro Locs and especially Sisterlocks but your hair looks great. Nice and healthy nice separation and it makes it all that much nicer knowing that you did it yourself and not being a slave to the community.
I am turning 40! been wearing extensions wigs weaves since I became a stylist in Secondary school. I have only had my hair done by someone else 2 or 3 in my life (before mum). I have gotten to a point where I am am fed up of doing my hair with extensions and don't wanna do anything to it anymore! I want to micro loc and this is the video is what have been looking for. I didn't understand all that interlocking stuff and paying all that money and taking all that time! I was like that defeats the purpose! and I will just slap a wig back on my head, coz I aint got time for all that! but u have restored my hope in lots, I really will be binging on your videos because I love how your locs are looking and this is the length I would want... so HELLO girl and thank you. I would like to have some locs now and the colour is amazing too. Blessings from London UK
I am so happy I ran across you. I was debating on switching from my Microlocs to traditional just because the length of time my reties were taking every 6wks to 8 wks were too much for me. It’s nice to have the option to just retwist. My scalp is so inflamed right now because of my autoimmune issues as well. I am only 7 months in to my journey and honestly love my micros but was willing to give them up. Just taking a break from reties
I say keep doing what you doing!! I love it. It’s all temporary weather it’s retie or twist WHENEVER you feel like it . I love how you set the tone . I’ve had my micro locs for a year now and you have helped me so much to just do MEEEE!!! ❤
I’m 5 months in with my diy micro locs. I started with doing reties every 6 weeks but now I retwist them with my fingers. It’s faster and I like the feel of my hair better with it. I may stick to resisting for a yr then maybe go back to reties. But for now I’m retwisting these bad boys and loving it. All that to say I’m with you! 😂😂
I think you should do what’s best for your locs but seems like you may be more apt to semi freeform and twist. Either or you locs are beautiful and I can’t wait to see the progression.
thank you so much for joining the convo! I love all the methods for different reasons. My preference would be to interlock 2 times a year and retwist monthly or every two months. I want to do an interlock right before summer and water activities and then once in the new year.
@@theminimalistnatural that sounds like a great plan actually. If interlocking was only twice a year for me then I wouldn’t be considering cutting mine :-( … although the ladies including yourself have gotten so innovative. I see women who have added curly ends to their existing sister or micro locs and it’s gorgeous!❤
I’m not going to lie, I too was concerned when I saw your videos on IG about going back and forth lol! But this explains a lot in a way I never thought of. My hair is a little more fragile (mix of fine and medium hair strands, high porosity) and I like the more unified look. I maintain it myself and have experimented with space between reties, and it helps me to keep on a schedule of 8 weeks max. But this is a great option for people whose hair is stronger, and can’t keep up with a regular retie schedule. Will definitely be recommending your content!
@@sarahbelle988 thanks so much for taking the time to comment and share your experiences. It sounds like you’ve found the perfect routine that works for you. I love that you can maintain your hair yourself.
I have DIY microlocs & I agree there exists freedom outside the every 6 week rule. I do it when I want to and who "wants" tired arms. 😂 I'm enjoying the freedom from hair products, extensions, failed Twist outs, and fear of water. Do you pop your locks between maintenance? I do. I also cut my locs to maintain a cut. Your locs are beautiful. I may consider delaying my retie a bit more. The longest I've gone is 13 weeks.
@@vernettehill3484 Hahaha YES to all this and HEAVY on recovering from the fear of failed twist outs. I don’t really pop my locs because they never really get matted together. I will be sharing my routine soon!
I have microblogs and I will be doing my own retwist soon. With life snd priorities, maintaining the interlocking just isn’t for me . I agree with your video, it’s too much pressure and stress that ppl try to put on you about your hair . Thanks so much for this video and yes, we would love a video on your care routine in between your retwists. I’m going on 8 weeks with no retwist or retie and I love the freeform voluminous look. It’s freeing and stress free lol
thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my video! I’m so happy to have you here in the Off Grid community. I’ll be dropping maintenance routine this weekend so stay tuned.
i’m so glad i watched this, this part stresses me out the most and i agree, i didn’t get into it for this stress lol i now do my hair in halves. Retie the back. Retie the front. i no longer follow a strict schedule either.
I was going to the salon every 4 weeks for a retighten and it was time consuming and expensive. I’m like I got locs so I would have more freedom and flexibility 🙄 I’m a digital nomad and it was hard to find someone to maintain my locs while traveling so I’ve started maintaining my locs myself and interlocking them about every 8 weeks. I went 3 months without a retighten and I did have a couple locs break out and some locs in the back marry together. I have 3c hair that grows really fast especially since I loc’d my hair (like I had to stop using my hair elixir)
I never had any intention of maintaining my micro locs diy and I don’t care about the cost of service. I do lots of traveling and I’d rather my hair be somewhat neat when I’m presenting myself in different places, so I do prefer to have service every 8 weeks. Not sure I like the look when I’ve gone 12 weeks but your hair looks fantastic.
Honestly it sounds like you’re already living the dream! 🥰 If it ain’t broke, DONT FIX IT! Once I have the means, you best believe Ima be in someone else’s chair! hahahaha
I appreciate the respectful dialogue here. I just got my micro locks professionally installed one week ago today and it is my intention for at least a year to go and do the retightening on schedule. I have the money allocated for it. I am retired. My boys are grown and it’s not expensive but once my year is up, I will learn how to do it myself And then not be bound to go every 6 to 8 weeks. Because as I have seen some ladies mention here on this topic 6 to 8 weeks almost feels like you’re going back into doing a perm again with that kind of scheduling. And I appreciate you showing all of us what six months out looks like without having to do a retie. It does not look bad at all, so I am very inspired that once I complete my one year cycle of going professionally I would love to see what my hair will look like several months out without having to do a retie on a schedule. If it’s starting to look like it’s raggedy and it just does not look great, the time and money that I would have invested in learning to retire myself I’ll be able to do that on my own time frame. Everybody’s hair and everybody’s circumstances are going to be different. But I do appreciate you taking some of the complication and stress out of the loc journey. And I appreciate that you have provided us the permission that we need to go ahead and experiment with our hair we know for ourselves, if it doesn’t work out, we can cut it off and grow it all again and do something different. And I have seen a lot of ladies doing many different things many are pressing their locks. Many of them are , doing their own color cutting their locks etc etc so that’s all part of the journey. Part of the journey is also having fun and exploring.
Yes thank and it is a struggle to find styles with fresh micro locs. All styles are with matured locs. And i started my locs with a grid in the back because i thought it was necessary but i found ONE video that had free parting and was so happy so the back of my hair has a grid and the rest os free part. I like free part better because i diy my locs. I got a baby to feed i aint spending 1k plus on my hair😅
I have microlocs and I absolutely hate a fresh retie look. I love my roots to be fuller. I wash my hair and moisturize regularly. And I do finger comb through my locs weekly and separate any that have started to grow together. My loctician is teaching me to retie my own locs and actually recently suggested I get a different stylist since I like to go so long between reties.
I’m grown so will do whatever I want. I get reties every 6-8 weeks to make sure my new growth doesn’t merge and tangle. I’ve never heard of retwisting, but I know I’m not doing that to 400+ locks. It’s just easier for me to go to my loctician and sit for 2-3 hours and that plus weekly washing is all I have to do. That’s very low maintenance for me.
Period! I love this, for you and FOR ME! cause honestly one day I hope to be in the same place. I’m on a debt free journey so I don’t have extra funds for my hair, so I have to diy everything currently.
I just started my microlocs on the 15th and 16th, and I started it with messy parts cause I know that i won’t be able to maintain the perfect parts. I love when my hair is frizzy but it’s getting bad at the roots cus I want to wait until my retwist time, but I love my locs regardless😅😂 your hair is beautiful, and thank you for this video
Yea I'm on a 9 month deployment and I'm on my 2nd retwist and I'm only doing it now because we are FINALY going home and I want to take cute pics when we get to the peir.
I have a cosmetologist license and loctician certification. I have sister locs. I dont understand the concept that if one is loose natural with no breakage at roots.....but hair breaks if if loose at root with locs....it all loose at the roots.
I don’t think it will thin out because of the frequency, I think it matters the technique and the tension! Same with retwisting. Have to handle these babies with CARE lol
Thankyou soo much for sharing this perspective! Im not loced up yet but thinking of getting microlocs, but the every 6-8wk interlocking felt a little 😩 to me so i knew at some point i wanted to learn how to do my own hair when i wanted. I would truly appreciate the maintainance in-between video... i just want to learn as much as i can so i make an informed decision on whats right for me cos there is soooo much mixed messages out there 😩
In one part of the video, you said you haven't retightened in 7 weeks but later in the video you said 7 months. Was it 7 weeks or 7 months? I want to go longer than 6 weeks because I do my own hair and it takes me about 15 hours to retighten my microlocs. I am afraid my hair may look a mess but if it's been 7 months and yours looks that good I may try to go at least 3 months. 😂
perhaps I misspoke in one? I reTWISTED 7 weeks ago. I hadn't reTIGHTENED for 7 months. So 7 months of new growth. Retwist isn't permanent, it only lasts until the next washday. Hope this helps :)
I have sisterlocs but I cant afford the retighs anymore and my loctitian is so far that now its an inconvenience after having my 3rd baby. I have started re-twisting because its easier and faster than interlocking. I know its not the standard but i don't want to cut off my locs after all the money i have poured into them. $1700 to start and $250 every month for retighs for the past 2 years now smh.
@@theminimalistnatural it took me 2 days but that's because I have a newborn. I liked the results, I still prefer if my locs were interlocked but twisting will have to do for now.
@@jessicalascase2895 Got it. I had my newborn in January and finally did a retwist in February or so. I definitely understand. The retwist look grows on you. I actually prefer it now over the retie. Did it come out how you it wanted and did it last?
Definitely need this routine because my ends are bigger then my root space now & it’s painful interlocking ..I also know that’s very unhealthy & I don’t want my hair to break trying to pull them through the root..
I swear Black folks are something. I am so tired of these types of videos complaining about hair rules and accusing people of telling them what to do. The loose hair naturals complain about hair policing nonstop. When we all start a hair journey our inclination is to watch tons of videos, we follow the advice and appreciate at the time. Our hair processes, some things work some don't as should be expected. But some people start feeling themselves when we are doing well and want to turn around and complain about this same content and policing hair. Please, nobody is telling you, demanding you do this or that. It is just advice take it or leave it or modify it. It just comes off so ungrateful for the time and effort these well meaning Black women put in to making these FREE videos that are so helpful to us.
Thank you for taking the time to join the conversation and to share your insights. I sincerely welcome these types of thoughts. I am not sure you watched my entire video or if you’re just reacting to the hot take? It seems you missed the entire point of what I was saying. 1. I absolutely LOVE the microloc content out there and the creators and experts taking time to educate us all. My issue is with the LACK of information and false information that circulates the community. For instance Telling people their hair will break off if they retwist their microlocs spreads unnecessary fear and keeps ppl pigeonholed in a technique that is unrealistic for many. I am expression my frustration for this gap and how it caused me to go off grid. 2. “Nobody is telling you or demanding you do this or that” 😂😂😂 Um, yes they are. They ABSOLUTELY message me, comment on my posts, etc etc and just comes with the territory of having a public platform. And it’s totally fine, I even said that I appreciate the feedback because I wouldn’t take this journey without helpful criticism. Not only online, but IN PERSON, people are genuinely concerned with microlocs being retwisted and for mostly good reason - there’s just NO INFORMATION 3. “It comes off as ungrateful for the well meaning black women who take the time to make these free videos for us “ I’m one of the well meaning black women making free videos and tutorials - and I have the right and a responsibility to share my own thoughts and experience and to try to help make change in my industry/community.
