Interlocking on a loose curl pattern ?

**lafoule** · 12-08-2016, 09:47 PM

Hello !

It's been a long while but I'm hoping I can get some help / advice. YouTube , google and the search function have failed me

A background on how I maintain my locs: wash and retwist with no product every two weeks. They get pretty loose after the first week as I'm not using as product and I move around a lot during my sleep, even though I've always used a silk scarf. This week I've tried no maintenance but it's not something I can do long time as there's lot of loose hair and it's not neat enough. I initially got locs as I wanted something with less maintenance than when I was loose but I feel like I spend way more time and worry about my hair than before.

I've had my locs for about 2 1/2 years and in the last few months, since I took out my extensions really, I've not been happy with my locs. I've been having scalp issues and just not really into them. I decided to go to a loctican to see if they can help and while I doubt i'll go back( mis information, using products that cause build up! etc), some stylists at a salon I went to recently suggested that interlock my hair. Tbh I was really really surprised. I have a fairly loose hair texture and it's quite fine, especially at the front where I had to combine almost all the locs as they simply weren't locking with twisting alone. Everything I had previously read suggested that interlocking was more suited to tighter curl pattern.

I have experimented a tiny bit with interlocking before as I just wanted to see how my hair reacts and deals with it. I did one near the bottom of my ear that eventually locked up but for a few months it's just looked like the roots had a braided pattern, it was also very tight and dense.

I would actually really like to interlock my hair so it's not as much hassle and as I'm sure twisting every two weeks isn't great. But I am concerned that they won't all lock well ( like the front where it's fine and the curl is the loosest) and that like bits of hair will pop out from where they have been interlocked (I have observed this on the two locs I have interlocked and almost all those that I have combined). I've put a couple of links below. They're dreads in straight hair but it seems to be how my hair locks up too.

http://www.thedreadquarters.com/wp-c...epair_cyn9.jpg

http://www.hipforums.com/forum/topic...root-flipping/ - scroll down to the last pic. It's a close up pic of straight blonde dreads. Ignore the comments lol. But where the arrow is , is what happens to my hair too.

I'm also concerned that there will be a big obvious difference between the twisted and interlocked parts. If there's anyone on here who interlocks and has a loose curl pattern I'd really appreciate hearing from you and any photos if possible.

Thanks !!

**Lockolatte** · 12-09-2016, 01:00 AM

My texture is not loose, but not extremely tight either. It is very fine and interlocking suits my hair. I have always read that interlocking is great for fine and looser textured hair. I've had mine interlocked for 6 years with no problem. At first the hair did slip out of the lock, but once it started locking there was no problem. I think there is a member on here who has a fine texture with locks and I believe that she interlocked, but I'm not sure she is still active. I will see if I can find her info.

**lafoule** · 12-10-2016, 02:30 PM

Thanks for replying !

It's reassuring to hear that it works for you

Mine are locked, though not mature, so I don't think I would experience too much slippage.

If you could find her info or any photos I would really appreciate that

**Lockolatte** · 12-10-2016, 10:16 PM

You are welcome. The person I was thinking about is Coalblacklocks. You can search her name and see what you discover. I do know that she had a very loose texture. I am thinking now that she might have used a combination of twisting and interlocking for maintenance.

**coalblacklocs** · 01-28-2017, 05:03 AM

I latched the roots of my hair and used a tiny crochet hook to grab the loose hairs and draw them back into the loc. There are YouTube videos on both techniques. I believe latching is the same as interlocking, though I'm not sure.

There is no way for latching to come aloose, which is why it works so well for loose textures of hair. But my hair is slippery, so sometimes stray hairs and frizz would escape from my locs. This is where the method of using the small crochet hook came in very handy.

I was always comfortable using water soluble products in my hair, so that I could be sure that it washed out easily. Wax and so forth aren't water soluble.

I don't have locs anymore, but I was thinking of starting another set so that is why I have poked my head back in here.

**coalblacklocs** · 01-28-2017, 05:26 AM

I believe that the picture is showing some bunching. I had that problem too, and it is a pain in the neck. I had that problem more so with interlocking. It is difficult to deal with after it's already done. It seemed like this happened to me when at times, the loc would not slide all the way through when latching for whatever reason. I am remembering now that what I did was wait until I had a decent amount of new growth at the roots, and then use a comb to comb the new growth in the loc section a bit before latching/interlocking. This pushed the locked hairs down neatly into the length of the loc and allowed enough space in the space of new growth for the loc to slide all the way through a little easier when interlocking. I had less bunching when I did this.