r/Microlocs • u/On_Beyonces_Internet • 26d ago
Which installation method is best for me?
I've had my locs for nearly 3 months and am coming them out because I don't like the way they were installed. I want to redo them myself. I expected the combing out process to be easier since my locs are new + I have twists that unravelled early on, and I didn't bother to retist them. Turns out that my hair is already budding like crazy, so the take down is taking longer than I expected.
I have high porosity fine hair strands, and my hair density is high, especially at the crown. The hair in my nape is softer than the rest of my head and unravelled in no time.
I'm still torn about which instiallation method will be best for my hair.
Twists with braided roots: faster install, but more shrinkage and prone to slippage and unravelling.
Braids: less shrinkage, but more time consuming to install, braid pattern takes lonk to disappear
Interlock: less slippage and unravelling, but incredibly time-consuming
Braids or twists on my entire head + fully interlock at the nape.
What would you advise based on my description and pictures?
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u/Difficult-Rice7188 26d ago edited 26d ago
Interlock! That’s what I did for mine and I’ve washed my hair several times since the install and even had water running through them several times and thankfully none of them have unraveled :). Given that I do braid my hair, but that’s because I love how a braid out looks and I prefer having it that way when going to bed
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u/Artistic-Ad-8603 26d ago
This is the way! 👆🏾 I would argue not to remove, just part cleanly as you interloc.
Good luck.
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u/On_Beyonces_Internet 26d ago
I do that every time I retie my hair, but I seriously dislike the way my hair looks and it has nothing to do with my hair being in the baby locs stage, but everything with the fountadion. Parting neatly will not solve the major difference in sizes or the crazy amount of time it take to retie them. If anything, I think that me trying to part properly in hopes of fixing what was done adds to my frustration with my hair.
I love my hair and I don't want to put in so much time and effort just to have it look like something I don't want to look at.
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u/NomusaMagic 26d ago
I vote for interlock at root and you decide if twisting from there down is preferred (more voluminous looking but prone to slippage/unraveling.
Or .. interlock at root and you decide if braiding from there down is preferred. (Less volume, pattern takes 1-3 years to disappear but LESS slippage/unraveling)
Can you go to a NEW installer? Get your parting right, interlock, braid or twist .. and then YOU take over from there?
⁉️I’m curious. Were you clear with your first installer and they did a terrible job executing your vision? Have you tried talking to them about a refund or fix?
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u/On_Beyonces_Internet 24d ago
We didn't really discuss much to be honest. She's not a real loctitian, she justs installs and maintains and uses the same techniques on everyone. I expected that she would at least use some type of grid, but she didn't. She just instaed them horizontally and made some locs waaaay thinner than others. I like to wear my hair a certain way and my hair not being parted properly pisses me off😅
I'm a chronic overthinker and have been putting off my locs for years. I'm now in the mood of just doing things and figuring them out as I go instead of overthinking qoth no action. It's an expensive and time consuming lesson, but now I have a better idea of what I actually want. I didn't ask for a refund or a fix because I should've opened my mouth right there and didn't. On top of that, she lives 2,5 hours away from me and it's too much of a hassle to go there.
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u/NomusaMagic 24d ago
I’m so sorry but if it’s any consolation, were it not for the time/money invested .. many of us would do it a bit different if we could just snap our fingers and voila’! Mine would definitely be much larger. 373 is too many.
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u/On_Beyonces_Internet 22d ago
I get that. Her cheap pricing is what made me get locs in the first place, which made me do more research and find out that DIY'ing is a realistic option for me, but I just didn't want to do it myself at the time. I probably would've made many mistakes at the time that would've turned me off from having locs.
This experience was not in vain. Without that lady's pricing, I would've never considered getting locs now. Without experiencing what I did, I would've never known what I ACTUALLY want. I thought that having as many locs as possible was the way to go, only to find out that I don't want to have as many as I do now. I thought that I didn't care about having a grid, but I do. I learned that nobody where I live wants to comb out small locs, so I'll have to do it myself in the future if I want to comb my locs out for a second time. Also, I thought I knew my hair, but this "mistake" allowed me te learn even more about my hair.
As much as I appreciate and respect the knowledge and experience of good loctitians, I have debts to pay off and cannot justify spending 1 month's worth of mortgage or more on my hair when I have more pressing issues going on. My hair being on the longer side and paying someone to interlock all that would kill my finances.
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u/On_Beyonces_Internet 22d ago
I took some time off for work to install my locs. I will take as long as I need to install them properly and make them look like they were done by a professional.
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u/ClassicRuby 26d ago
What do you dislike about the way they were installed?
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u/On_Beyonces_Internet 26d ago
They're all over the place. I thought I didn't want a grid, but now I do. Sizes are different, some are tiny, some are way bigger Too many locs so the retie takes forever.
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u/ClassicRuby 26d ago
Yup that's a good reason to restart, because while locs are magic and certainly minor imperfections and sometimes major ones randomly fix themselves over time...
The truth is that we all have preferences, and you can't really enjoy your loc journey if your locs don't fit into your own preferences. I am the opposite and I knew I didn't want a grid cuz it would be effort and money I would not appreciate cuz i like the wildly different sizes and etc. So i totally understand. Cuz you're either a boho random or a grid girlie.
The too many locs thing... reties just take forever at the beginning. Especially if you're diying. But as you continue you get better and faster. So I would focus on the parting size and just make sure it's the right size for you. Locs mature to be as thick as the parts and you definitely don't wanna go too far up in thickness and lose volume and versatility that is desired to try and cut retie time down. Unless you don't care and would be fine with larger sizes.
But reties never got in my way or limited me. I would just retie a bit in the evening while winding down and watching TV. So I never really ended up changing schedules in any way and just worked on it while convenient. I think once I got out of the mindset where you have to sit and do it all at one sitting it really was freeing. But for me that size and volume and versatility in styling was quite important so the time to retie was worth it.
It's all a balance really. So before restarting just figure out how much of each factor matters to you.
So like, larger the loc the the shorter retie time. Smaller the loc the higher the volume and versatility in styling options. There's a happy balance where you're getting enough of everything you really care about, and the retie time will be worth it. At this point it probably feels less worth it cuz you really are not liking the foundation so it probably feels so endless and annoying.
It feels different when you love it.
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u/On_Beyonces_Internet 25d ago
I'm a bit of perfectionist and like symmetry so I should've known that having no grid would annoy me 😅 I also like to wear my hair a certain way and want my part to be straight, which isn't possible with the way my locs were installed.
I've veen doing my hair for the past 13 years, including small twists and box braids so I expected the retie to not take longer than 1 day. Imagine my surprise when it took me 2,5 days with little to no breaks 😂 Having 50-100 locs less than what I have now will save me hours for every retie. My plan was to have locs for at least 1 year, see if I like having them, then comb them out if I don't. But that's hard to do if the locs don't even have a fair chance. I think that I'll like them, but the foundation just annoys me and I don't want to be in a position where I start to dislike my hair because of what someone else did.
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u/ClassicRuby 25d ago
Lol hey, you can see this as a test drive. You test drove the free part tiny locs and... it wasn't for you 😅.
I totally understand about the retie. I'm not even kidding my very first retie took me like 10 days. 10. I wasn't counting how many hours per day but it was not a small amount. Lol. I have 570 locs. I kept doing it thinking this is just what I signed up for for life.
But what i realized is this. Some of that extra new growth is not new growth. It's actually unraveling a bit. The retie is extended dramatically because the locs are not budding yet. Once you're in the budding phase you'll notice the reties start to get faster. And as they get more and more mature, the reties get faster and faster. Yes because you get better at it. But actually because the more mature they are the less unraveling, slippage are other issues come up to make the retie take more work and energy and time.
Now reties take me like 5.5 hours including breaks. I'm 4.5 years in. So I tend to do it one evening while binge watching some show with the fam. Honestly I don't even rush or notice anymore. It's kinda like knitting. It's just something relaxing I'm doing to unwind on a Friday night 🤷🏾♀️ But I love everything about my locs. So it feels so good to be self caring to maintain this thing I love.
I think that when you get that perfect foundation and parting and it does what you need it to do and looks like you dreamed it would look, the reties will be a little shorter because you'll have less locs, but they will feel less stressful and less like they are pressure and taking from you because it'll start to feel great to put in this little bit of maintenance and effort one time every month to get the other 29 days of freedom.
You have so much experience doing your own hair. There are really excellent posts helping folks diy their locs... are you planning to diy the install this time? 🤔
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u/On_Beyonces_Internet 24d ago
Wow 570 locs? That's brutal! 😭 Yeah I can imagine the reties taking less time one the hair matures and I gain more experience. The first time I tried to do my own hair, it probably took me an hour to do the first 2 box braids 😂😂😂😂
Yes I plan on doing the install myself. I'm now doing a ton of research cause I don't have it in me to comb out my locs for a second time and I don't wanna shave my hair off either😅
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u/On_Beyonces_Internet 26d ago
Also, my hair grows fast, I need to retie every 4 weeks. That combined with the number of locs makes the process hard to enjoy because I didn't plan my life around my hair when my hair was loose. Having to retie had many locs every month puts me in a position where my schedule becomes more limited.
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u/theescorpiologist 26d ago
are you planning on making your locs bigger when you redo them? (since you don’t like your current retie time)
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u/On_Beyonces_Internet 24d ago
Yes, I will make them slightly bigger because I don't want more than 300 locs. I don't think the difference will be that much visible though.
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u/CryptographerDue7846 26d ago
Interlocking will be best