Oh no, year old croChet and interlocked locs

what should I do? I just discovered this site, I am so disheartened.

My first experience with locs was twisting. It didn’t seem to work at all on my texture of hair (soft and curly, North African ). Knowing that I really wanted locs my wife said she would be willing to learn how to crochet. She has been dutifully crotcheting it for a year but noticed the locs are getting very hard. She is very tired of doing them but is willing to restart with a different method?

you guys, where do I start? Do I just stop doing anything with them? Should I have my wife brush them out and start over? Is there a way to “hide” the extreme frizz as it recovers? 

I would really appreciate a nudge in the right direction. Thank you thank you thank you

the "extreme frizz" is  broken hairs made hundreds of times worse by worrying about a lil bit of frizz.. DO NOT TRY TO HIDE ANY FRIZZ JUST LEAVE IT ALONE you however made it worse

heres the thing

you can recover, which will take forever..a few years to lose the stiffness and the extra frizz maybe permenant

im guessing twisting "didnt work" cause you either used wax, kept retwisting, or did not give it much time

now to get amazing dreads you literaly do nothing but wash it.. thats it, and optionaly but highly recommended, separate them so they don't congo or form huge dreads'

recovery option:

1 condition condition..condition but with a light, residue fre conditioner you need to losen these up severely!  1st, squeeze 1 does it feel spongy and softish..or even firm but with some give..or do you feel a 'squeekiness" as some described it.. broken hairs grinding on broken hairs

2 comb them out..unfortunately losing handfuls of broken hairs..lil shot pieces your hair afterwards will be thinner..how often were they being crochetted also interlock points maybe extra hard to undo..

to  start over options:

1 twist once.. and never again let them get loose less distinct less dread like and just wait they will dread..all starter methods do is define the sections..which predefined sections are way overrated

2 dont comb just wash let it dread.. this is abslutely by far the best way to dread in any type hair separate as dreads form to control the range of sizes.. a range of sizs is way more natural, but ofcourse you might not want huge ones ..and maybe not tiny ones.. but be aware hat they thicken as they mature

its not for me..or us to decide your course of action only  be honest about he harm done and inform you of recovery options or ways to restart

i will say however that often people regret the bad start for years ..and i'm sure other victims of the hook will weigh in on why they chose to start over..or not

id guess however that 2/3-3/4 did eventualy choose to start over.. most fairly soon but a few after a couple years

many continued on however..very very few eventually looked fairly natural and those were barely crochtted ..once and not at all tight

the crochetted look...even after the stiffness eventualy fades.. might always be able to be seen in them

if you don't mind the crochetted look and the extra friz  from recovery (that may never be normal...and it is entirely normal to have frizz, esecialy at the scalp, but along the entire length of the dread as well..the cleaner  they are the more frizz.. right after washing they will be frizziest)

just ignore it

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Thank you so so much for the reply! So fast and informative! 

And your response really laid things out for me, I super appreciate it.

im really going to have to think over what I want to do next as far as restarting them completely or coming to terms with having crotcheted parts. I’m not sure if they will be able to be brushed out. Perhaps I will ask my wife to brush out 1 loc and see how much hair is lost

probably sensible plan use a whole lot of condtioner and be slow and gentle it can take a long time to brush out just 1 especialy if real tight

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

I had crocheted dreads and brushed them all out and lost a fair bit of thickness in my hair.

It was definitely worth it though. A year later and you would never know.

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