By Jhoni | August 5, 2020 | The Pros and Cons of not retwisting | Beauty
Loc'd people, let's chat for a second. I want to have a super honest, uncandid chat. I feel like every loc'd person has been through this phase....
I remember wanting to loc my hair and telling myself that I wouldn't go without a retwist. My roots were always going to be slick and retwisted, PERIOD. Then....I loc'd my hair...and all of a sudden, the fuzzy root look grew on me. I would see women who wouldn't retwist, and I had to admit, I didn't hate it. Then I read into why women (and men) choose at some point in their loc journey to stop retwisting....
We all like to think of locs as a "low maintenance" style- one that requires almost no effort. I don't think I've ever been more wrong about anything in my life. First of all, the wash process is up there with calculus in terms of difficulty. Washing out products takes a year and drying takes about 4 and a half years (please note my sarcasm lol). The moisturizing is a full time job. When I say that, I mean you have to take the time to find a moisture routine that your hair thanks you for, then you have to actually do the routine at least 3 times a week...if you're color treated like me, then do it everyday. Every. Day.
Then, there's retwisting. After washing your hair for 5.5 years, as stated above, you 'have to' retwist...or do you? Dont get me wrong, unless you are free-forming, you absolutely must retwist occasionally, or you'll be a semi-freeformer, by default. However, the question is "What is all the hype around not retwisting?". If you're like me, you've been seeing ladies and gentlemen all over social media going extended periods of time without retwisting...I have become one of those people. I have not had a retwist since the beginning of June, 2020. Let me tell you why I jumped on the bandwagon:
#1 Locs, by nature of their design, get heavier and heavier as time goes on. I mean, think about it: all of the hair that your head sheds daily, ALL of it, stays in the loc. Naturally, this causes tension on the roots.
#2 Another reason, that I deemed it necessary to try not retwisting is due to loc styling. Now, Im not known for intricate, tight loc styles, but I do a bun now and then (lol) and that has its own associated tension.
#3 Lastly, retwisting encourages a tighter, thinner loc. Not thin, but thinner..slimmer is a better word. It encourages a slimmer loc. Now, though thick locs aren't immune to breaking, there is some truth to the fact that thinner locs break easier. In my mind, I feel like not retwisting as often, somewhat thickens up my locs, just a tad.
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Just based on those 3 things, I feel like not retwisting gives your hair a rest from the normal loc manipulation and stresses and hearties it up a bit to endure what you want to do to it later. Obviously, people who retwist often can, and do, still have full heads of gorgeous locs, so don't feel like if you don't want to go without a retwist, that your locs are going to snap off...they won't necessarily. My goal is to no retwist until September, probably for my birthday. Based on the title of this blog, I bet you're waiting for the 'con', right? Well, honestly, I cant think of one...and for those of you who think you're hair will loc together, you can separate your locs without doing a retwist. Just throwing this out there, my locs become intertwined at the root as soon as I wash them, no exaggeration. Ultimately, highly moisturized hair is the key to achieve a head of those locs that all loc people love to envy. Cheers!
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