The Latchin' Method of Tightening Locs
By Kaya Casper
Do you have trouble maintaining your locs at home? Do your locs unravel at the roots when you wash them? Are you tired of spending time and money in a salon? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, the latch hook technique of tightening locs is for you.
I learned about the latchin' technique of loc maintenance on a natural hair care message board. As many of the women participating in this board wear their hair in locs, the post outlining this method was right on time. It had many of us raving about finally being able to do our own hair at home, and have it look just as good as it does coming from a salon.
I had developed my own method of tightening my locs, which worked well, but if I washed too often, my work would go down the drain with the shampoo. With the latch hook method, you can wash as often as you like, swim, or work out, all without worry that your locs will unravel. The method involves using a latch hook to tighten the hair at the root, in a way that will not come undone once complete.
Thanks to Cherie King, the message board member and loc wearer who developed this tried and tested method of retightening locs, I learned how to maintain my locs at home with ease. And you can too!
Simply follow Cherie's Latchin' instructions:
- Grasp one of your locs.
- Take the latch hook into the other hand and insert the hook into the underside of your new growth. Be sure to insert it in an area that is close to where the locked hair starts and not closest to the scalp because you will be working your way UPWARD towards the scalp as you tighten.
- As you insert the hook into the new growth, make sure that you push the hook in until the little latch is out past the OTHER side of your hair.
- Now, take your loc and lay it right across the top of the latch hook. Flip the little latch up into "closed" position.
- Gently pull the hook, along with the loc, back out.
- Now, you'll want to insert the hook in SIDEWAYS (horizontally). From either the left side of the new growth to the right side or vice versa. The reason for this is because I found through trial and error that if you keep inserting the hook in the same way over and over without alternating the direction in which you insert it, you will end up with a gap in your locs.
- After inserting it in sideways from one side to the other, follow steps 3-6.
Okay, depending on how much new growth you have, you may find yourself able to do about 3 or more "runs" of the above steps.
You don't want to tighten it TOO much to the point that it's hurting, although there may be some slight scalp tenderness after a tightening.
Practice makes perfect and once you get the "feel" of it, you'll be able to do this with your eyes closed or while watching TV!
There shouldn't be any knots or anything unusual when you retighten a lock. If there are, you've done something wrong. Just keep practicing until you get the feel for it.
Also, be careful not to join two locs together! This can be avoided, but it happens. In the ebooklet called, "How to Tighten Your Locs with the Latchin' Technique", you will learn how to unjoin two locs if you accidently grab a neighboring loc while tightening another.
By all means, if this method doesn't suit you, discontinue using it and use the method that makes you most comfortable.
Now remember, if these instructions were not detailed enough for you or if you still find it somewhat puzzling to picture this procedure, you can get even more detailed instructions, photo illustrations of the process and more directly from Cherie herself by ordering her ebooklet.
Kaya Casper is the Publisher of Naturally You! Magazine, the first print magazine in the world exclusively for Black women who wish to care for their hair 100% naturally. Share natural hair care tips and resources with naturals around the world - join our free online community at: http://www.NaturallyYouMagazine.com/ecommunity. Ready to order your copies of Naturally You!? Go shopping at: http://www.NaturallyYouMagazine.com/shop
.jpg)
