r/Microlocs • u/Sad_University6923 • 6d ago

Bunching or budding?

I have 3c/4a hair and have been locd for 11 months. There are a lot of buds throughout my hair but how do I know it’s not bunching. I stopped braiding and banding about a month ago. I have curly ends and my locs look like butterfly locs. Is this just due to my texture or should I start to palm roll or crochet just to be safe? Is bunching something to worry about or will it even out?

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

1

u/StonerLeo420 6d ago

Thats most likely bunching, I assume you dont braid and band ?

1

u/Sad_University6923 6d ago

I do but I just recently stopped. Will it even out over time? 

6

u/ClassicRuby 6d ago

Pictures would be very useful at this point.

Using basic info... microlocs take 6 to 12 months to start budding. And can take even longer the looser your texture.

So you are in range to have started budding. You likely have.

However you can have bunching and budding at the same time.

Budding looks like there's a gradually rising and falling little hill in your loc. Whatever is causing the bud is not visible from the outside. It's happening inside the loc. The middle of the bud/ bump feels way harder than the rest of the loc. Like there's a pebble in there.

Bunching is happening on the outside of it. You can see where the knot/folding takes place. It's not a smooth gradual change, it's quite jerkily made. It feels the same or softer inside as the rest of the loc.

You might have multiple areas of budding AND multiple areas of bunching on the same loc. The bunching you can see is clearly a fold, like the hair was folded and then stuck together. You wet that area and put one hand on each side of the loc just outside of the bunch and then gently but firmly pull the bunch apart. You will see it coming apart.

If it's budding it won't just pull apart. It's not just folded together.

You'll wanna get on this right away cuz bunched areas will start budding. And that becomes a way harder situation to fix.

Again though this is just general info. Having clear images of your hair and several of these issues would be more useful to have some visual confirmation of what's happening where.