Locs are a matted hairstyle that requires a unique maintenance routine. Unfortunately locs do not come with a book, so learning the right things to do can be difficult. Loc maintenance is a complex topic. In this article, we will discuss the foundation of loc maintenance. We will explain hair washing, root maintenance and moisturizing. Lastly, we introduce you to loc restoration options for loc issues. This article will give you helpful advice so you can begin understanding how to maintain your locs.
What is Loc Maintenance?
Loc maintenance describes all the steps that are required to maintain healthy locs that include hair washing, root maintenance, moisturizing, and loc restoration.
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Anatomy of Locs
Locs contain several strands of hair matted together. When using hair products with locs, some of the product’s ingredients can remain inside of the locs. The matting makes locs more likely to hold product ingredients. Over time, the left over ingredients create product residue in locs. Locs also hold oils, dead skin, or dandruff known as biological residue. Biological residue from the scalp usually forms near the roots. Biological residue usually has a beige, whitish wax appearance. Product residue looks the same but appears more often throughout the length of the loc. Washing your locs helps clean your hair from product and biological residue. Regular washes improve the health and appearance of locs. Clean locs look better and are less heavy than locs with heavy buildup.
After washing your hair, you might notice something still in your locs. Lint appears throughout the locs and at the ends. Lint is often mistaken for buildup. Unfortunately lint cannot dissolve through washes. All locs have some lint from clothing and the environment. You can prevent the amount of lint in your locs by covering your locs at night.
Hair Washing
Shampoo
The best shampoos for locs are clarifying. Clarifying shampoos remove build-up on the scalp and hair using strong surfactants. Surfactants are soap-like ingredients that get rid of grease, oils, and buildup in your hair. Shampoos that are clarifying provide a deeper cleaning than traditional cleansers. Surfactants that cleanse and remove buildup are known as anionic surfactants. Anionic surfactants are added to shampoos for cleansing.
Look for the following anionic surfactants in the ingredients list to ensure that your shampoo removes oils, dirt, and sebum:
- Sodium lauryl sulfate
- Triethanolamine lauryl sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate
- Sodium laureth sulfate
- Triethanolamine laureth sulfate
- Ammonium laureth sulfate
- Disodium oleaminesulfosuccinate
- Sodium dioctylsulfosuccinate
- Sodium cocoyl isethionate
Clarifying shampoos also contain nonionic detergents to mitigate the frizziness and negative charge that results from anionic detergents. Nonionic detergents are poor cleansing but mitigates impact of anionic detergents:
- Polyoxyethylene fatty alcohols
- Polyoxyethylene sorbitol esters
- Alkanolamides, coco glucoside
- Decyl glucoside
- Lauryl glucoside
Do not use moisturizing shampoos for locs. Moisturizing shampoos leave residue on locs. When selecting a shampoo, read the product description and ingredients. Ingredients like silicones found in shampoos or styling products are not water soluble. Because silicones do not dissolve in water, product residue accumulates in locs. Avoid shampoos and other hair products with silicones (like dimethicone and amodimethicone) and heavy oils. If you suffer with a scalp condition like dandruff, eczema, seborrheic dermatitis, or psoriasis, make sure that the clarifying shampoo does not disrupt your scalp condition.
Everyone benefits from a clean scalp. Cleansing your scalp helps prevent hair loss from scalp inflammation and Malassezia yeast.
Although this section is about hair washing, the two targets of focus for washing your locs is your scalp and your hair. A clean scalp is the foundation of your hair health. Avoid harsh shampoos that irritate or disrupt your scalp. A scalp cleanser that we recommend is a diluted mixture of apple cider vinegar (ACV) and water. Spray this mixture directly to the scalp as a rinse. This helps cleanse and break down the oils on the scalp before shampooing. After applying this mixture, rinse the scalp and proceed to washing. The goal of your washing is to cleanse your scalp and your locs. Apply shampoo to the scalp and massage all over the head. If there are no suds, there may be a buildup or excess of oil. Continue to massage shampoo and rinse multiple times if necessary.
Recommendations
We have a few recommendations to ensure a thorough wash. As you wash your scalp, some suds travel down to the loc. Those suds do not deeply clean the loc. If there is buildup in your locs, we recommend that you massage shampoo to those affected areas. If possible, you can leave the shampoo in your hair for a few minutes to soak inside the loc. In a salon, the stylist may let your hair rest in the sink. At home, you may be able to use a plastic bag to hold your hair. You may notice brownish water or build-up moving to the surface. Rinse the shampoo out of your hair again. Focus on the areas of concern for buildup as you shampoo your hair again.
When drying your hair, we recommend you use dark colored towels (preferably microfiber towels). You can also use dark colored t-shirts to dry your hair. Locs can be dried with a blow dryer, a hooded dryer, or air dried. If you sleep on damp locs, we recommend you to use a diluted ACV rinse after shampooing. The ACV prevents your hair from developing mildew inside of the loc.
There is a debate with some hair care professionals about the best products for locs. Some professionals recommend moisturizing shampoos. As we gain clarity on this topic, we will share our findings and update this page to reflect new recommendations for shampooing locs.
Ingredients with silicones typically end in -cone.
Loc Genius Tip
Conditioner
After washing your hair, we recommend you use a mixture of loc friendly oils to seal in the hydration and maintain moisture in your hair. Generally, commercial hair conditioner is not meant for locs. Creamy conditions leave residue on the outside or inside of your locs. This residue results in buildup. The goal of conditioner is to retain hydration for the hair while not creating buildup.
For specific recommendations for your locs, we urge you to consult the advice of a hair care professional.
There is a debate with some hair care professionals about the best products for locs. Some professionals recommend avoiding oils and substituting them for leave-in conditioners (via Twitter). As we gain clarity on this topic, we included our findings in a separate blog post. We will update this page to reflect new recommendations for shampooing locs. We searched natural hair companies and examined their leave in conditioners formulated for locs. They all contain water, glycerin and a variety of oils.
Detox
A detox is a deep cleaning to remove large amounts of buildup. Buildup is not only a result of product residue. It naturally occurs as the oils from the scalp coat the hair. Over time this results in whitish, waxy buildup known as biological buildup. To deeply clean the insides of your locs, we recommend a detox. Detox require a higher level of cleaning than shampooing. We recommend that you detox your hair 1-2 times a year. There are a variety of methods loc wearers use to detox their locs. However, detoxes should not damage your hair. Detoxes that create severe dryness can lead to breakage. Follow up your detox with hair treatments that restore your hair’s moisture for optimal loc health. The most popular loc detoxes methods on YouTube are apple cider vinegar with baking soda and Dawn.
Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) Method
The apple cider vinegar with baking soda detox is a method where both ingredients are mixed in a container and the person soaks their locs. Depending on the ratio, baking soda and vinegar mixtures can be alkaline, acidic, or neutral. Vinegar like acidic mixtures can degrease. The fizzing effect makes the mixture stick, similar to foam cleansers on tile walls. Foam cleansers adhere to surfaces better than liquid spray cleansers. The foaming does not improve degreasing and removing buildup.
We encourage you to check the pH of ACV and baking soda mixtures. The healthy pH range for hair is 4.5-5.5 (slightly acidic). This range allows the hair to have cuticles raised enough to allow moisture in and closed enough to retain hydration and moisture. Hair can range from 3.6-5.5. pH is important to measure because pH has a large impact on your hair. Improper pH can cause your cuticles to lift or close too tightly and result in breakage, change in the elasticity of your hair and change in how your hair reacts to other treatments like coloring or bleaching. Avoid any mixtures outside of the 4.0-7.0 range. Beauty supply stores have litmus strips that can test the pH of your ACV mixture.
Dawn Method
The Dawn dishwashing soap detox (the blue original) is a method where the Dawn is used as a shampoo to detox locs. Use the Dawn method is a method only in extreme cases. After detoxing, treat your hair with oils to restore moisture and hydration to the locs. This method is very drying and requires deep hydration and moisture after to restore your hair and avoid dryness.
Recommended Products
The beauty of natural hair is learning about your hair. We have a few suggestions to help you find the best, high quality products for your locs:
Clarifying Shampoos for Locs
Neutrogena T/Sal
Product Detail:
Salicylic acid, the active ingredient, will help with buildup on the scalp and hair shaft. It also helps control dandruff and limit the amount of malassezia yeast on the scalp.
- Salicylic Acid 3% (Anti-dandruff, anti-seborrheic dermatitis, anti-psoriasis)
- Free of added color, preservatives and fragrance
Paul Mitchell Number Two
Product Detail:
Deep clean hair with this lemony fresh clarifying shampoo. Excellent for oily hair, it helps minimize oil production, so hair becomes less oily over time. The color-safe formula remove dulling buildup, leaving hair squeaky-clean, shiny and full of body.
- Color Safe
- Vegan
- Paraben-free
Scalp Detox
Apple Cider Vinegar mixture of apple cider vinegar and water (ratio depends on your hair needs)
Root Maintenance
As locs grow, your new growth must be maintained. Your root maintenance routine depends on your loc type and needs. The three types of root maintenance we have identifies include interlocking, palm rolling and loc popping. Certain loc types have a specific root maintenance regimen. Root maintenance is important because it incorporates new growth with locs and builds the foundation of the loc form.
What is interlocking?
A root maintenance technique where the individual loc is threaded through the new growth. This method maintains a neater root bed that holds the new growth. It is important to keep the same interlocking pattern to maintain lock consistency. Inconsistent interlocking patterns create locks that are inconsistent in width. You can find other interlocking insights on our starter loc guide. The most important concern for interlocking is to ensure your roots are not pulled too tight. This can result in traction alopecia and hair loss.
What is palm rolling?
A root maintenance technique where new growth is incorporated into the loc by twisting the loc in the palm. This method maintains a neat root bed temporarily (when compared to interlocking). Palm rolling is best if you would like a larger loc type.
What is loc popping?
Loc popping is the practice of separating locs from their matted roots. We recommend that you only use loc popping when your hair is wet. Loc popping dry hair can cause damage to your hair. Loc popping is not recommended for freeform locs. The separating effect of loc popping can disrupt the organic growth and shape freeform locs need to develop.
Many loc wearers use loc popping as an alternative to palm rolling and interlocking. This form of root maintenance is common with semi-freeform locs. This practice helps semi-freeform locs because while it separates the locs at their roots, locs are not shaped by interlocking or palm rolling. Locs develop their own shape and form.
Moisturizing
Locs require daily nourishment. Hydrating and moisturizing your hair helps your locs look and feel healthy. The difficult part is selecting the right way to hydrate and moisturize your hair and scalp. A healthy moisturizing regimen solves your hair and scalp needs while minimizing the amount of buildup in your locs.
How to Hydrate your Locs
Hydrating your hair increases water content in your hair. A hair mist of oil mixed with water is an example of a hydration.
How To Moisturize your Locs
Moisturizing helps to rehydrate and enhance the capacity of the hair to hold water. Oils and humectants help locs retain the moisture from hydration. Some oils work better with loc than others depending on your hair type. The oils we recommend are light-weight oils that do not cause heavy buildup. For humectants, we suggest Aloe Vera gel.
Scalp Care
A moisturizing routine can also help soothe scalp issues. Heavy oils like Black Castor oil should not be used on locs. Instead, you can Black Castor oil to your temples to treat thinning edges. For other scalp conditions like itchy scalp essential oils like tea tree or peppermint provide comfort. For persistent scalp issues like dandruff, we advise you seek the advice of a dermatologist or medical professional. ACV rinses are a great method of scalp care for fungal issues. ACV helps fight bacteria-causing fungus and restore the scalp to a health pH (scalp pH is 5.5).
Loc Oils to Use and Avoid
| Daily Use | Scalp Treatment | Rarely | Never |
| Jojoba | Tea Tree Oil | Castor Oil | Petroleum |
| Almond | Peppermint Oil | Shea Butter | Waxes |
| Grapeseed | Rosemary | Olive Oil | |
| Avocado | Castor Oil | ||
| Sunflower | |||
Loc Restoration Options
During your loc journey, you may encounter issues with your locs. There are a variety of services you can utilize to help you repair or solve your loc concerns. Hair care professionals are developing new loc methods and solutions. This is an abbreviated list of loc restoration services.
Loc Repair– A loc repair is a method of reattaching a broken piece of a loc to the loc. This method attaches and fortifies the broken piece to the loc. Many professionals use thread to reattach.
Combining– A loc technique where locs are combined. One way loc professionals combine locs is through a crocheting method. Wicks locs can be formed from combining and crocheting locs together.
Re-sizing– A loc technique where hair is re-parted to increase or decrease the size of locs.
As new methods develop, we will update this list to reflect new restoration methods for locs.
Conclusion
Loc maintenance requires a solid care regimen. Before selecting hair products for your personal regimen, you should learn about the anatomy of locs and hair to select the best products for optimal loc health. The topics in this article provide a brief overview of common loc questions and issues. For specific loc needs, you should consult your hair care professional. Locs have general needs but there are also so many differences in hair types and loc types that finding your best products and regimen takes time. Have patience and enjoy the process of learning and discovering your hair and all your hair care needs.
Sources:
What is the Best pH for Your Hair? – Minnesota School of Cosmetology (msccollege.edu)
Clarifying shampoo: why you need it & which ones are good| Dr Dray – YouTube