Living the Loc’d Life : Winter Edition 2025
We are halfway through winter here in the North Eastern United States. Punxatawney Phil was frightened by his shadow on February 2 and apparently predicted 6 more weeks of winter. I think it was an easy call.
The weather has been very cold and windy due in part to the polar vortex that seems to dip down from Canada more often than in years past. What I have done with my loc maintenance this winter has been really a game changer. Let’s call it my Canadian vortex loc response. Surprisingly, it has been a very easy routine to follow. My locs have grown and now sit thickly on my shoulders. I have gotten used to the warmth on my neck and the way my hair curls inside of my collars and turtleneck sweaters. Having my locs feel moisturized and soft against my neck has made the cold winds tolerable.
Winter Loc Maintenance Routine
I continue to wash my hair once a week. Depending on my daily schedule, wash day is either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. No stress there.
I usually apply Dr. Bronner’s diluted castile soap with a spray bottle in the shower. Usually, I will follow with a second lathering of hydrating shampoo by Cecred. During this winter I decided to combat dryness in my locs with conditioner after the shampoo. I have been using Cecred’s moisturizing conditioner.
I finish my shower then, rinse the conditioner thoroughly and squeeze the water from my hair. I do not wring the water from my hair. Twisting the locs together while wet causes loose wet hair to migrate into neighboring locs. Its much better to just grab sections of hair and squeeze the water out from root to loc tips.
I wrap my hair with a microfiber towel. While I dry off, the towel has time to absorb some excess water. At almost three years loc’d, it now takes two hours for my hair to fully dry. I don’t mind. While I am waiting, I will run my fingers through my locs to separate them. I take time to wrap loose strands of hair around the appropriate locs. I move my locs into the style of the day. My last wash day task is to apply oil. I don’t always apply oil immediately after shampooing my locs. Most weeks I wait until the next day and apply aoil after I have sprayed my locs.
There are a few oils I am currently using. I have my staple Black Jamaican Castor Oil, Cecred Hair Oil, a blend of oils I bought on vacation in St. Martin and a mixture of oils I concocted by blending Argan oil, rosemary and amla oil with a little teatree oil and peppermint essential oil. I do not use all of these oils together -simultaneously. I will apply a small amount of one or two oils in the palm of my hand and use my finger tips to apply in several areas around my temples and scalp. Most of this oil will go to the length of my locs to help keep moisture in. I will not apply oil again until after my next shampoo.
Using less oil allows my own sebum to do its job and I have had no dandruff since locking my hair. I had a lot of itching during my first 4 months wearing baby locs but I stopped applying oil for a month as an experiment and the itching stopped. Since this revelation, I use oils sparingly on my scalp and locs.
The biggest difference this winter is I am spraying my locs with water twice a day and using instant conditioner after I shampoo. This winter my locs have felt supple. They have also continued to grow. My first two winters as a loc wearer I noticed my hair growth slowed during the winter. I expected this. My loose natural hair would also stop growing during the winter… or so I thought. I am taking the same vitamins and supplements as the last two winters and yet this winter my locs have continued to grow. I can tell there is growth becuase I see the new growth at the roots but due to the shrinkage I don’t see longer locs until I retighten them. This year I will let my locs tell me when they need to be retightened.
Steam Your Locs
For Christmas my daughter gave me a steamer. I have used it four times since then; so, every two to three weeks. I used it first with only water on my locs. Next, I applied a leave in conditioner. Finally, I applied the conditioner in the shower and used the steamer with a goal of seeing what changes if any were apparent. The steamer softened my locs with just water. My locs felt supple for the rest of the day. I did not reapply water during the day. When I applied leave in conditioner I did not notice any difference from applying just distilled water. When I used the steamer after applying conditioner in the shower my locs were supple for two days. I did spray water on my locs the next morning but I could have gone without. My experiment with a steamer shows me that a steamer is a good tool to use on my locs at least during the winter. The steamer does help keep my locs supple and moisturized.
The Knotted Locs Experiment
If you recall, at the end of August 2024, I installed 10 (ten) knots at the base of what I felt to be thinner locs. I had not retied or interlocked my hair in more than 3 months in keeping with Melissa Blake’s Knotted Locs. During the first night I removed 7 of the knots. They were too close to my scalp and caused too much tension, In other words, I felt they were too tight. I left 3 knots in and they remain in place to this day.
My observations have been: tThe knotted locs experienced less slippage. I did not have to retie the knotted locs when all of the other locs were retightened. As time passed the new growth between the knot and the scalp had very few loose strands. In February, when I retightened my locs I was able to use my interlocking tool and interlock the three knotted locs. That was six months after the knots were installed. I can still feel where the knots are on each loc. Due to there being only 3 of them there is no real change in the way my locs look.
I am finally beginning to embrace interlocking as the loc maintence method I want to use on my hair. From around six months on this journey I have been afraid that interlocking is stressful on the roots and scalp. I now think that infrequent reties without trying to catch every millimeter of new growth are a healthy way to maintain my locs. Also, retying or palm rolling locs is fine for me for maintenance between retightenings, because I wash my hair once a week, retwisting my locs doesn’t last very long. Sometimes I am happy with just separating my locs after a shampoo.
Wearing Bangs or A Fringe
I have followed the loc trimming instructions Pauline Walker, En Toi Beauty gave earlier in December 2024 on her YouTube channel to trim your locs. I don’t know if I can describe the technique here as well as she demonstrates. Basically, you determine where you want your locs to stop and where you want the bangs to start. Comb the locs forward that will make up your bangs. Going from the top of your head to the bottom of your bangs pick up one row of locs. Cut the lowest one so it ends where you want your bangs to stop. The loc immediately on top of this one is cut next. It is cut slightly shorter than the lowest loc. Make sure each cut is made at an angle, not straight across. Continue to cut each loc in this row making sure the top one is a little shorter than the one before. Then go to the next row and cut those locs the same. When you have finished cutting you need to go back to each loc, spray water and palm roll the loc to close the end and keep hairs from escaping and making a ball at the end of each loc. This advice was given to me by Lillian Okibe.
After I used this technique to trim my bangs, I parted sections down the side of my face and trimmed those locs as well.
If you have not signed up for the Lilian Okibe Locks course, I highly recommend it. The cost is $59.99 US Dollars. Currently, you will have one year’s access to the course at that price. As a bonus, Lilian Okibe adds modules to her course and you will have access to the new information as it rolls out. I was recently made aware there is a loc cutting tutorial in the course. After reviewing that section, I picked up my shears and cut my bangs a second time. Please note that my bangs had been trimmed 6 to 8 weeks previously and I had no need to cut the locs framing my face. Lilian Okibe’s cutting instructions are similar to Pauline Walker’s. Since they are both trained hair stylists that should be no surprise. Ms. Okibe’s focus however is to keep your locs looking fuller after your cut. Ms. Walker’s focus is to cut the locs in a style. Both work!
Really excited to be approaching three years on this microloc journey!
Any thoughts or concerns about trimming your locs? What is the worst thing that might happen? Please note that I am only asking about trimming not cutting off locs. In fact, I hope you
Stay loc’d!
Bettye
Microlocs and Me: Journey to Hair Freedom 