There are many causes of thinning locs.
However, this one cause isn’t anything scary and is easy to fix when caught early! This common cause of loc thinning is unintentionally not locing hair that was previously locd. It then causes the loc to thin out as there is not as much hair in the loc as before.
When you are retwisting your locs, it is common to “pop” out loose hairs that don’t fit in that grid line. Loose hair from the loc is common – particularly after washing your locs. Unfortunately, popping out stray hairs can cause the loc too thin over time.
Read on to find out how to fix it and about a more detrimental cause of thinning locs – traction alopecia.
To prevent this common cause of loc thinning
First step to prevention is identification. If you notice a number of loose hair around a loc, then there is likely some thinning happening around the loc. If you catch it early enough, you can braid or crochet the stray hairs into the loc. The loc will return to maintain an even diameter from that point on again.
If you notice thinning but there isn’t enough hair at your root to add to it, then you may be losing hair due to any number of reasons – one of them being traction alopecia. That cause should be suspected if you retwist too often (before new growth comes in) or tightly.
To stop it from happening
To prevent thinning locs will depend on the cause of it. It’s best to get down to the source of it; otherwise, the thinning will keep happening even after you repair the loc. If it’s caused by popping stray hairs from your grid line, then the best thing to do is to try to add the strays to the correct loc as soon as possible.
If the cause is traction alopécica, then prevention can be a bit more complex. Some tips to deal with one type of alopecia are listed here. Two quick tips for now would be to retwist less frequently and less tightly.
To fix it, repair by adding hair
There are many ways to repair a thinning loc. A common one is to repair it by adding new hair and crocheting it in. If, like me, you aren’t an expert with crocheting hair, there’s another method you can use – braiding.
But how exactly, you may ask?
To do this, you’ll need some loose hair. You can use unlocd portions of your hair of at least two inches or some purchased hair that matches your hair texture.
With that, you take the loose hair and split it into two sections. Bring a small rubber band and tie both loose hair sections tightly over the thinning loc. Make sure there is some overlap with the non-thinning section. Then, braid the hair down over the thin part of your loc. Lastly, cut off the rubber band and braid the tiny leftover portion upward. After that, your loc is now reinforced and won’t break off.
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Alright all, thanks for stopping by to read about this common cause of loc thinning. Loc thinning doesn’t automatically have to end your journey. Take your time educating yourself and implementing fixes! If you’re not comfortable doing the fix yourself you can still always go to a loctician.
