- Dec 8, 2022
- 8 min read

3 Months Re-locking Sessions Water & Oil Gives Us?

"It's time for the next generation to look forward to owning an African Hair Style that is beautifully sustainable and continually celebrates their identity. African Hair is in my family."

3 Months intervals gives complete scalp rest. Please keep visiting this post as there is a lot of evidence to share, which I will be adding in bites size so you can help process why reducing the your regimented 6 weeks re-locking sessions is vital.

Who is this post for?

This post is for those who believe this information is relevant to you. If you or a anyone you know are experiencing signs of hair loss with Small Size Locs or Medium Size Locs this post has been created to enlighten you.

This was Me!

Disclaimer

I am a Small to Medium Size Loctician specialising in African Textured Hair. This information is 16yrs+ in the making, from my experiences as a client wearing Sisterlocks to me practicing as a Certified Sisterlocks Consultant to my current Knotted Locs Practice. I qualify to help increase our small size locs density. This is me a few months ago next to #CassiesLocks.

#CassiesLocks is an important part of my research into the best way we should be living with our small size locs. I have worked with these locs for 10yrs. Traditional clients like Cassie have always spontaneously chosen when they want their locs re-locked, larger size locs always appeared to need re-locking after 3 months. I kept asking myself the question, "Why can't our small size locks re-lock sessions be stretched out further than 6 weeks?"

Interestingly when I did experiment stretching out my re-tightening (Sisterlocks terminology) sessions, I found the interlocking process long and tedious, with significantly thinly freshly interwoven hairs at the base of each lock. So reluctantly I had to go back to 6 weekly interlocking sessions. What I did notice during that period was, not one loc dropped or fell off. This is a myth perpetuated by countless people, including Sisterlocks Consultants, 'If you don't retighten your microlocks or Sisterlocks every 6 weeks it will begin to fall out!' Not true, this is the same lie that was served to us with perm, we were told, 'Re-touch every 6 weeks of breakage will occur.' Another lie!

So many lies have been feed into our heads about how to maintain beautiful hair style with our African Textured Hair and the base of it is fear, cost and lack of sustainable enjoyment unless we chop it of and live with a cropped hairstyle, which isn't a preference for countless numbers of us who want to want to enjoy living with our denser, stronger and more healthier African Hair.

Question

How can we have low maintenance hair, in it's natural state, presenting itself as professional yet individualistic, with sustainably dense, long and healthy strands. Resulting in celebrating and showcasing the incredible and super interesting features of her diverse strands?

Choose #KNOTTEDLOCS

3 Knotted Locs Facts.

Knotted Locs is firm precise knots to be placed along the strands, created to reduce the unravelling, slippage, locks resistance stage.

Knotted Locs requires 3 months of complete scalp rest, resulting in 3 months growth enabling each loc to be re-locked in the firmest and healthiest way.

Knotted Locs is created and continual maintained with both oil and water.

WATER

Water Benefits our Small Size Locs Tremendously. The fact that our African Hair coils and moves when water touches it is a signal that our hair is powerful, strong and at it's healthiest.

Hydrated, our strands display various levels of elasticity, again I refer to this as strand strength and in the case of small size locs, their optimum healthy state. Moisture nourishes and strengthens and is crucial for locs development.

Water is wrongfully avoided when African Hair is in small size locs like Microlocks and Sisterlocks for fear of unravelling. The results, terrible hygiene, because locs are only being washed every six weeks before re-tightening. Lack of hydration because locs aren't spritz, watered or dampened regularly (as often as you choose to). When I used you to practice Sisterlocks, dry scalp and flaking were synonymous with my work and I felt undignified to my clients, lacked enjoyment and the robustness of our small size locs was definitely lacking.

The fear of our 100% interlocked small size locks unravelling or experiencing slippage dominates this very unhealthy practice. I have experienced follicles becoming easily up rooted leaving a trail of highlighted damaged follicles along each loc, especially edges and crown areas. Breaking stretched out thinning areas of locs and increased snagging as strands are dry and catch easily. Which is why I use water and oil when working with locs always. When you put Follicles 1st water is introduced immediately into your locs care regime.

This is why Knotted Locs has come to exist, slippage or unravelling is eliminated within 6 months of your new knotted small size locks creation. Soft strands happily sit in my precise fine knots, firmly locked while watered numerous times. Daily swims and weekly washes have become the norm with zero fear of unravelling our small size locs permanently. Flakes, dry scalps, long term scalp conditions, uprooted follicles, thinning locs all from driness and lack of water are all nightmare experiences in the past!

With water, our Knotted Locs demonstrates it's healthy state through our African strand's elasticity. Our small size locs are stronger, more pliable and our follicles are nourished and strengthened and therefore remains rooted in our scalp. Knotted Locs enables us to wash and wet our Locs as often as we choose to without the worry of our Locs softening leading to unravel or slipping off. With the interlocking technique, it slips off because interlocking is backward braiding or plaiting with a tool and therefore because of the small sizes of Sisterlocks and Microlocks unravelling was part of our Locs journey experiences. Now let's talk oiling our small size locs and why it important.

OIL

Oil aids water to remain locked into our strands for longer. It also helps condition our locs from root to tip, prolonging maximum hydration and helps keep our Locs separated for longer whilst preventing head lice.

Water on it's own can evaporated very quickly from our denser locs. This could be caused by our environment or our body heat. Oil helps bins and Locks in water.

Fraying. Our small size locs used to fray, fine or very tiny short strands would fall out of our locs when shaken, hand combed through or during re-tightening sessions. Fine hairs would fall like tiny falling fibres from the locs, these fibres are the vital scaffolding holding our locs together. They are an important part of keeping our locs binding together and strong.

We were wrong to assumed the fraying of our fine hairs was a permanent characteristic of our small size locs. Since introducing oil and water to our daily locs care regime, we discovered that fraying is only a characteristic of dehydrated locs! Lack of oil and water is weakening your small size locs and will encourage breaking and stretched out thinning locs during your locs cycle. Oiling along our locs keeps them hydrated and conditioned to face the elements like the weather, air-conditioning and our radiator's heat, and because our small size locs are in Knotted Locs slippage and unravelling do not happen anymore, therefore we are free to oil our locs every day!

Knotted Locs speeds up the locking process which has enabled us to reduce the amount of times we re-lock our small size locs from 6 weekly cycles pre 4 years ago to now 4 times a year re-locking sessions; summer, autumn, winter and spring. The re-growth or loose curly afro hair close to our scalp area are kept separated for longer thanks to the slippery characteristics of oil which emulates water when our locs are completely saturated in in the shower or bath.

Once separated your locs can keep grow healthily and happily for a few months with no need to re-lock them, which has led to my Knotted Locs clients only re-locking when they choose to and this is why Knotted Locs has grown in demand simply because we are now empowered to get to understand our hair needs better, thanks to introducing oil to our locs care regime.

Headlice is an issue amongst Sisterlocks and Microlocks wearers who are not oiling their locs, this is simply because as a practicing Certified Sisterlocks Consultant, I experienced seeing head lice on dry scalps. Headlice can easily latch on because they have nothing to discourage them from attaching to a dry head, added to that the curly characteristics of our African Hair and it being locked is a haven for headlice! No oil is a bad idea!

Oil eliminates any risk of head lice and adding strong smelling organic essential oils to your carrier oil like lavender, lemon or tea tree ensures that they remain repelled by our locs. Knotted Locs ensures the elimination of head lice in small size locs, simply because we oil our Locs daily.

3 Months Growth

Knotted Locs requires 3 months growth to enable the creation of the right knots for each loc.

3 months gives room for nature to do what it does best, heal. This is vital, especially for us who have had history of scalp trauma, heavy braids, super tight re-tight or interlocking sessions, heat and wig/weave abuse. When we give nature the space to help nourish our scalps, we continually experience optimum scalp rest and follicle recovery and regeneration.

3 Months Growth cycle enables the complete eradication of tight pulls, because each knot placed is firm preventing unravelling/slippage. This gives room for our scalp to breathe and finishing off re-locking our small size locs with room for our scalps not to feel tightly pulled experiencing ease enables a more kinder and pleasurable locking experience, adding to our locs thriving as they grow.

Another lifestyle benefit of our 3 months breaks from re-locking is there is less pressure to sit in the chair for re-locking sessions every 6 weeks. With our very busy lifestyles, 6 weeks sessions seem to come by too quickly! 3 months rest from re-locking sit down sessions has meant we can carry on living our busy lives without our small size locs interrupting our work life flow, after all our hair should not dominate and control our lifestyle regimes. This longer re-locking cycle format has become so successful that to date, Knotted Locs clients now choose their own re-locking dates, this self empowered experience for Knotted Locs Clients has now added to the many satisfying benefits of choosing Knotted Locs!

Our small size locs experience minimal interference which has enabled our Locs to become thicker and fuller and the most abundant we have ever experienced during our locs journey. This includes my locs journey experience which is currently 16yrs and counting. We continue to showcase our various knotted Locs textures because 3 months gives us time to enjoy our hair growth and African Hair textures as well as your our hairs individual elasticity characteristics and ultimately our unique small size locs diverse textures and that's simply because Knotted Locs is inclusive and naturally leads us each to showcase our diverse range of small size locs textures.