Being flexible with your loc take-down process, will prevent you from getting frustrated with the multi-week (sometimes multi-month) journey. We wanted to make sure you knew some of the obstacles that could delay your goals.
1. Life
If you have any responsibilities, such as children, work, or other people who may need you from time to time - they may delay your loc take-down.
2. Fingers
Your fingers may get wrinkly, cramped, or in pain from being repeatedly stabbed by the comb. Whatever the situation, your fingers have been working full-time for hours at a time and deserve a break.
3. Arms
Similarly, your arms may experience cramping or soreness from being held in the same position. When figuring out your take-down strategy, it’s a good idea to switch from the right to the left sides of your head, so that you’re alternating dominant arms and giving each side a break.
4. Sore Scalp
Undoing locs requires a ton of tugging. Be gentle on your scalp by giving it breaks whenever you experience moments of soreness.
5. Hair Dries
It’s best to loosen locs on super drenched hair. This typically means after taking a warm shower. Spritzing your locs (with a water bottle) can help, but hair that is fully saturated and lubricated with conditioner is tremendously easier to take out. Thankfully locs take a long time to naturally dry, so as long as you thoroughly wet your locs, you should be good for a few hours.
What Happens If You Are Interrupted Mid-Loc?
Interruptions are bound to happen. When they do - try your best to complete the whole loc and make a mental note that you will return to your locs in a couple of hours or a couple of days. This can be difficult especially if detangling a loc takes 20-60 minutes. If you are mid-loc and need to attend to something else, you can stop where you are and twist the detangled hair. Twisting will keep the hair somewhat stretched so that you can pick up from where you left off. Try to not leave the detangled hair out, as it may dry and mat before you return to undoing your locs.
Undoing your locs can consume large parts of your day, month, or even year. Whatever timeline you give yourself, you may want to multiply that by 2 or 3. This way you have plenty of wiggle room for the occasional interference or unexpected emergency.
If you want to estimate how long it will take to undo your locs, you can use our calculator here. And if you’re curious which locs are the hardest to take out, we have a list for you here.
Until next time...
Love The Journey,
