The New Year can sometimes offer the feeling of a new start in many areas of our lives. One area you may be focused on this year is your wellness and beauty, which is exactly where locs come into the picture. If you’re toying with the idea of transitioning to locs in 2024, here’s everything you need to know from a loctician’s perspective.
Consider Your Lifestyle
What’s going on in your life will absolutely appear in your locs. If you’re having a stressful time, changing your diet, taking certain medications, having a baby, just had a baby, all these things will affect your loc journey and the condition of your hair. Consider your routine and habits and discern whether they align with having locs at this stage in your life or not.
Consider Your Hair Texture and Expectations.
There's many ways to start locs and there's no right or wrong technique to go with. What you do want to pay close attention to when considering locs is both your hair texture and your expectations - both when it comes to your loc journey and the outcome. Does your hair curl up, or is it more fine? Do you have the expectation of having locs right away? Or, do you want that experience of achieving locs over the next few months to a year?
Consult with a Professional Loctician
Consider the size locs you want, how you’ll want to style your hair in the future, and how much time you’ll want to put into your locs each month. Then show your loctician different photographs of people with the size you want so they really know what style you want. This way your loctician can help you fulfill your expectations.
We recommend not rushing into it, but scheduling a consultation with locticians to find one who works for you. Check in on their schedule and how they work. Maybe they have long waiting times and that doesn’t work for you, or maybe they’re not proficient in the style you’re interested in. Consultations are so important.
Read Up On the Loc Journey in Advance
Understand the loc journey so you can have a better loc journey. Here’s a brief breakdown of what your journey may or may not look like:
- Stage one: Baby stage. Your hair can come undone with comb coils. It'll take about 6 months to a year depending on your hair type. By 6 months you’ll probably have completed the baby stage which could make styling your hair feel easier.
- Stage Two: The teenage phase. You’ll know you’re in the teenage phase when you wash your hair and it doesnt come undone. However, the teenage phase is not the adult phase. In this phase there is still space for growth and understanding. You’ll need to double clip the locs to really encourage the form you want. There can be some poof because of the shedding hair which is forming your locs.
- Stage Three: Adult phase. After year one you may have reached the adult stage. At this point you’ll just be twisting at the root and should be more familiar with the rhythm and style of your hair. .
You’ll have a happy loc experience by knowing these phases in advance.Do your research and find out who does interlocking, comb coils, sisterlocks, brother locs or micro locs. Find a loctician who is proficient in the style you’re interested in.
