What’s Inside My Locs?

What’s Inside My Locs?

We’ve all had that moment where we find something foreign in our hair and have no clue what it is. Sometimes it’s something as simple as dandruff, but other times the consistency, smell, and color can lead you into believing it is anything but dandruff, or toothpaste.

The most common conclusions to this turbulent question is, it’s either build-up, lint, dandruff, or mold. If it’s not any of the four options mentioned above, then someone in your house probably has some serious explaining to do. Let’s draw on the characteristics of each of these free-loaders. Once you’ve got the diagnosis down, then you will know the proper treatment.

Determining Dandruff

Most of us are pretty familiar with our scalp conditions and, whether we have dandruff or not. This can change from season to season, and even house to house. The condition of your scalp may react to the hard water you may encounter in one house and not another, or can occur from the extreme shifts in temperature. When you notice white flakes around your scalp and roots the best solution is to drink a lot more water and to try to wash your locs more frequently. Very often, dandruff can be due to an overproduction of your scalp sebum. If you were going 9 days plus between washes try going down to 7 or 8 days.

Long Lasting Lint

While lint may be confused with dandruff or build-up, lint is very much unique to its own kind. The easiest way in determining whether or not it’s lint or build-up is by inspecting your roots and locs after a wash. If you still notice the white foreign substance in your locs while they are wet then it is usually lint. Lint is usually thin fibres and debris that have gathered in the locs over time. Lint can accumulate in locs from cotton pillow cases and scarfs, or just floating debris in a dusty environment. A soft brush for locs usually works at removing lint from mature locs.

Build-Up Bummer

There are several ways in which build-up can grow inside your locs. The most common cause of buildup is by using products that are not natural and are not made for locs. These products will leave behind waxy residue inside the locs and will grow overtime. While the appearance of build-up may fade after a wash, it certainly isn’t disappearing. Make sure to use residue free products on your locs. Dr. Locs pre-cleanse is specifically designed to pull up any lint, residue, dirt and debris from the scalp and locs in order to prevent build-up in locs.

Anything-But-Mild Mildew

Mildew grows inside the locs after the build-up in the locs has been growing and cozy for some time. While build-up doesn’t always have a foul smell, mildew always always does. Mildew will grow due to excess build-up where the bacteria can feed and grow. Clarifying formulas are designed to deeply clean the locs both inside and out ensuring you remove any build-up or potential mildew.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently asked questions

Yes — locs can be started on virtually any hair texture. The technique that works best and the timeline you can expect will vary depending on your texture. Finer hair typically takes longer to lock and may require more patience in the early stages.

Sisterlocs is a form of interlocking — they use the same foundational technique. The difference is size and a proprietary pattern. Interlocking can be done in a range of sizes and is not limited to the Sisterlocs system.

Loc extensions should be placed as a permanent technique by a qualified loctician. When done correctly, the extension integrates naturally into the hair over time. When done incorrectly, the hair often can't sustain them and the client removes them early.

Yes — comb coils are one of the most common ways to start locs. As the hair grows and matures through the baby and teenage stages, the coil gradually locks into a permanent loc.

Interlocking and loc extensions are generally considered the most durable and fastest-to-progress techniques. If skipping the baby stage entirely is the goal, loc extensions with a qualified loctician may be the right option. However, understand that with all processes, you will go thru a process.