How Often Should You Retwist Your Locs?
No matter what your hairstyle is, to maintain its best look, there will be a commitment to taking care of them.
If you are having natural straight or curly hair, you will want to keep them smooth and shining by using shampoo and essential oils.
If you have dreadlocks, you might want to have strong, shiny, and unraveling locs.
Besides using the haircare products (eg shampoo and conditioner, oil, etc.) to ensure the moisture and hydration of your locs, you also need to know when and how to retwist properly.
This article will help you identify how often you should retwist your loc.
How Long Should You Wait for A Retwist?
The pending times will mainly depend on the status of your lock.
If you have starter locs, you might need to come to a hair salon or seek help from locticians two or three weeks after the installation date.
For people with mature locs, you might need to reform every six weeks. The reasons why we need to wait that much time are simple as such:
- Six weeks is a good break from the previous twists for not creating too much tension in your locs.
- Also, that is an acceptable time to let your hair produce the natural oils and have the right texture for twisting, which helps reduce the amount of hair care products you need to put on your hair.
How Often Should You Rewist Your Dreadlocks?
Two key points determining the right frequency of retwisting dreads are:
- How often do you wash your locks?
- How fast does your hair grow?
Also, as mentioned in another article about the stages of dreadlocks, dreadlocks lifespan can be summarized in five main stages: starter, budding, teenage, mature, and rooted stage.
Each stage will have its own determining factors in how often you should retwist your locs.
- When your dreads are in the starter phase (usually last for three to six months), they are pretty fragile and easy to unravel. During that time, you might need to retwist your starter locs frequently every two to three weeks, until your mature locs are formed.
- When your dreadlocks are already strong and not easy to detangle, you need to retwist much less than the baby phase frequency. At these stages, you can retwist by yourself or go to the hair salon every six weeks.
What Happens If I Never Retwist My Dreads?
Some people skip this retwisting step because they think that it is not necessary since their locs are already firm and in place.
However, there are several hidden risks from not retwisting your locks.
First, your locs will marry (matted together at their root). At that point, you need to pull them apart, then retwist them, which takes a lot of time and effort, and even causes pain and scalp numb.
The second downside is easy to predict: Your locs will be detangled and lose their shape.
Thus, you need to apply a considerable amount of conditioner/wax/gel on your help to help with the twisting process, which might lead to buildup.
See also:
- The Way To Retwist Dreadlocks With Rubber Bands
- 6 Steps To Retwist Dreads With Beeswax
- 3 Steps To Retwist Faux Locs
How Long After Retwist Can I Wash My Dreads?
Usually, the retwist will be done one day after you washed your locs.
This is because your hair after the washed day will be frizzy and a bit messy, so you need to reform and make the new growth be in place with the existing locs.
Thus, you can just follow your regular washing routine. If you want to make sure your locs form nicely and firmly, you might need to extend one-two weeks more until your next washing.
During the retwisting process, you might need to ask for help from wax or gel, or water.
After that, you need to air-dry your hair or use a clean towel to wipe the left wax on your scalp. This is to avoid buildup or mold from damaging your hair.
Conclusion
Other than keeping a right retwisting routine, you also need to know how to retwist the right way to avoid breakage and irritations.
You should retwist in the same direction for every locs so that your hair follicles won’t be damaged.
Also, remember to moisturize your hair before the maintenance process to reduce the breakage to the least.
Aida
Founder & Hair Beauty Specialist
I’m Aida and this is my blog where I write mostly about beauty and make up related stuff, but I like to spice it up a bit with lifestyle and photography posts. Or with whatever that comes to my mind. Hope you will enjoy the reading enough that we will ‘see’ each other more often!