Moving over to locs

There is no single way to start locs, and the right start depends mostly on where you are starting from.

On healthy natural hair it is straightforward. The minimum length depends on the method, but broadly the healthier the hair, the more cleanly the loc forms.

On relaxed hair, the honest answer matters: the relaxed part will not loc. It does not tangle the same way and it eventually breaks. Either you cut it now or you grow it out and cut it later, but it is going. A salon that promises otherwise is selling you wasted time.

Coming out of braids or twists worn for a long stretch, the hair already holds a pattern and has sometimes suffered from tension. A treatment and some recovery beat an immediate install.

The big chop is not compulsory. Plenty of people start short by choice rather than necessity, because watching the loc form from the beginning is easier to live with.

Either way, the consultation matters more than the style you saw somewhere. What your hair can carry today decides what you will be wearing in two years.