Step by Step Loc Detangling

I'm going to break this down, step by step.  I got pictures and everything.

First I have to say that it is NOT necessary to cut your locs.  Even if your locs are five years old, you don't have to cut them in half before you start picking them out.  My youngest daughter's hair turned out to be almost twice as long as her locs were and if I'd cut them, I would have been cutting into her length.  I cut off the very tips of my locs, because they were "sealed," but I did not cut more than 1/2 inch off the ends.

You'll need something to pick the hair out with.  I use rattail combs and lift combs, like these.  A fork will work too, but I found that the tines were too large and I was ripping out more hair than necessary.  You'll also need something to give the hair some slip.  Any cheapie condish will work, I've used both White Rain and Suave.  Adding oil to the conditioner helps too, it doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive, vegetable oil will work fine.

Wet the section or loc of hair that you're going to work with and slather on plenty of conditioner/oil. Slip the teeth of the comb through the end of the loc and begin detangling. I'm right handed, so I hold the loc with my left hand and hold the comb with my right.  Work slowly and make sure the hair stays wet and coated with conditioner.  Notice that I've broken two teeth from my comb, but that's why I prefer using a comb with five steel teeth over the rattail comb.  I've taken down two complete sets of locs and I've gone through six or seven of these combs.

It's important to work your way up the loc SLOWLY.  If you move too fast, you'll end up ripping out the hair, which totally defeats the purpose of picking out your locs, right?

15 minutes later. It took an average of 40 minutes per loc to pick out my 5 year old locs.  My youngest daughter's locs were 3 years old, but slightly longer, and hers also took about 40 minutes.  Her locs were started with twists, mine with comb coils.  My older daughter's 1 year old locs (that I'm working on now) were maintained by latch-hooking.  Her locs are fairly short and they take about 15-20 minutes to detangle.

Obviously, this ain't something most people can do in a weekend.  It was a six-week project for my own head, and even longer than that for my daughters (I was a little more laid back with them).  Patience is key.  I worked from the back of my head up, and wore a LOT of headwraps as I was nearing the end.

That's basically it. If you're thinking about untangling your locs, shoot me an email and let me know how it goes.

Comments

[AmyM]

Really cool post. I know tht it will help A Lot of people. When I took my locs out a few years back I had to first get over the mental hurdle of thinking that they couldn't come out. Thanks for taking the time to document this.

[AmyM]

I did the same thing a few years ago. I first had to get over the mental hurdle that locks can't be undone. It took me about a month. I was in college but I became sort of a "community project" and in the end I had about a dozen or so people taking shifts to help me get done.