Phenomenal . . .

Phenomenal . . .
Life, Growth, and Connection (This sunflower was nourished by my hands.) 2010; Photography by Benita Blocker. Please become a follower of this blog.

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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Locs: Achieving Smoother Edges

I confess that I am past due to tighten up my roots again.  The biotin and Viviscal supplements that I have been remembering to take more often are also kicking in with extra new growth.  However, I need at least four consecutive hours to tighten my whole head.  Luckily, I started hand locking some of my roots, but I want to twist all of them at my next tightening session.

But in the meantime, believe or not, the extra wide headband is sooo tight around my head that it is literally smoothing out my new growth in the front.  It is a good thing that I only use this headband at night. It would be too much stress on my hair to wear all day.

Smoother edges give a more polished look when excessive new growth is present. Some loc wearer mist their roots with water every morning to keep the new growth compact.

As discussed in a previous article or articles, some non-loc wearers do not like seeing "afro" roots while loc wearers understand that too much tightening or overtightening weakens the loc and causes other issues.  Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.  For those loc wearers with enough hair for two or three people (smile), then thinning is less of an issue.  Thinning locs can happen to any and every one.  So amazingly, without any chemical treatments, overcurly hair naturally is prone to break without continuous attention to it.

2 comments:

  1. I've been looking at all of your progress pictures, and the difference between your scalp at 10 months and now is outstanding. The reason I looked at the 10 month picture is because at 8 months for me now, our hair is about the same amount of scalpiness in the back, but now yours fully filled in. I use the biotin suppliments, but I have to cut back some cause I am gaining weight with them, but where can I get some visical suppliments to help mine fill in. Watching your journey, and others, has truly been an inspration to me, I'm so glad I decided to loc my hair and pretty much just leave it alone.

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  2. Hi Gale: I have blog articles on the Biotin and Viviscal supplements. As far as fullness, I was actually born with a full head of hair. I have never known my hair to be thin until I started getting scalp damage from relaxers, breakage from having Sisterlocks consultants overtighten my locs, and following Sisterlocks consultants advice not to moisturize my hair resulting in dry, brittle locs that were breaking. So my hair thinness that you see at month 10 for me is recovery from stress, age, chemicals, overtightenings, and lack of hydration to my hair. So we are all born with our hair follicles. As we age, it is likely that we may get thinner, but not necessarily any thicker. I hope that this helps you in your own personal journey. It may not be the answer that you were looking for, but it is what I know from my cosmetology background and my own personal journey. As you gain loc length, curly lock styling will hide most thin areas. You will figure out what is best for your hair. As far as interlocking tools go, I may use them around my hairline, but other than that, I will use them sparingly. Please keep me posted!

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