What people get wrong about locs

Few hairstyles carry as much misinformation as locs. Some of it comes from ignorance, some from genuine contempt, and a lot of it discourages people who would have loved the journey.

The first and most stubborn: that locs are dirty. The opposite is true. Locs get washed, and washed often. A scalp that is not cleaned itches, smells, and eventually produces the buildup that weakens the loc. The question was never whether to wash, but with what and how often.

The second: that locs damage your hair. A loc installed too tight or allowed to get too heavy can break at the root, but it is the tension doing the damage, not the loc. Well made and well looked after, locs protect length better than most styles, because you stop handling the hair every day.

The third: that you have to shave your head to remove them. Taking locs down is slow, sometimes very slow, but it stays possible on locs that are neither too old nor too merged. Plenty of people keep their length without going anywhere near clippers.

The last, and the most tiresome: that locs are not professional. That says more about the person thinking it than about your hair.