Maintenance

Maintaining locs are pretty simple in my opinion.

Washing:
I wash my hair every 7-10 days. I use Creme of Nature shampoo and when I have to battle dandruff I use Head and Shoulders. For the first three months I banded every time I washed by placing the bands from root to tip instead of braiding. Since the fourth month I have only been separating them with band at the root. I've tried to wash without banding but it seemed to create more frizz. Maybe it's just because I've entered in the frizz stage. I didn't wash it like that again just in case I was the cause.

Moisture:
I don't apply a lot of heavy products because I want my hair to loc faster. I have looser curl pattern in the front and sides of my hair and it may take a while for my ends to seal. I feel if I use too much moisture my ends will be curly while the back is loc'd. Anyway, I've been using Nature's Shine Organic Root Stimulator, African Pride's Braid Sheen Spray w/Tea Tree & Peppermint Oil and Softsheen-Carson's Sta-Sof-Fro's Hair & Scalp Spray conditioner with Lanolin. I only use one product at a time and I only apply maybe 2-3 times a week when needed. I also spritz my hair with a little water now and again when I'm trying to get rid of bed head.

Styling:
I've only curled my braidlocs a few times. I've used small perm rods, soft curlers (the ones with the wires to tie) and pipe cleaners. The down fall with the pipe cleaners is that the material sheds from the wire. So get a color close to your own hair color. They all get the job done.
I've also worn braid outs and plenty of updo's. Next time I do it I'll take a pic and post it.
I mainly free style most of the time to prevent too much manipulation (like Mr. Brown would say "manipudip") so my hair will loc faster.

Night:
I cover my head with a satin cap or with a black nylon scarf. Most nights I separate my hair with bands to keep my locs stretched out to prevent shrinkage.

Retightening:
Latchhook. I'm going to try to make my own tool using cooper. I've seen it on Youtube and it looks so much like the nappy tool I've seen on line. I'm all about saving money. I'll post it when I actually do it and find that it works.

Color:
I want to color my hair but I don't want to slow down the loc'n process. Actually I like the hair color left on the ends of my hair. I've been advised to wait at least a year before I color.

Preloc'd days

In The Beginning

My locs were installed on March 4th thru March 6th, 2008. Yes it took me three days to complete! I decided to do it over the span of three so it would be a stress free process but it still was stressful trying to get those parts straight. I think my head is crook-ed. I asked for help from my mom and my 12 year old daughter. Yes, they could part a straight line but it was diagnal. So again I had to depend on me to get the job done. I can see where I got tired on some of the braids because they are bigger than desired but hey I can live with it as is. I felt so liberated after it was completed. I felt I had made the right choice. People saw my braids and said they were cute but commented on the take down process. Of course I wasn't taking them down, which I shared with some folks and others I just didn't feel like they would understand what I was doing and why I was doing it. I retighten every 4-6 weeks. The first time was purely experimental but I was determined to do it myself because I couldn't afford to allow anyone else to maintain them. During my perm days I always did my own touch ups and my own sets, wraps and up do's. When I was younger my mom couldn't afford to send me and my sister to the beauty parlor that often so I had to learn to profect the styling process myself and I did without breaking or having my hair fall out from poor management of my hair with chemicals. Well, prior to loc'n I did research on the net for a couple of months and found so many helpful sites. Now, four months later I feel loc'd.