It’s officially been 6 months (Feb 1st) since my sister and I installed Delaiah’s Microlocs. Woohooo!!!! Lol.

Here are her pics.

I also wanted to show you all the budding going on in her locs. Here’s some pics I took of her product-free locs after washing but before retightening.

Those “whitish” dots you see all over her locs aren’t build-up. They are tiny buds, where her hair has started to mesh together properly (they feel hard). From these points, the locking will spread up and down the rest of the length until it’s all fully locked. That’s when her hair will be fully mature.

And as promised, here are some comparison shots from week 1 until now.

As you can see, her ends have become progressively less fluffy and the locs have thickened up a bit and are still in the process of ‘shrinking’ up on itself. I knew that would happen as it’s a part of the locking process. At some point the shrinkage will stop and that’s when we’ll begin to see some length from her locs. It’s quite frustrating for her because she wants long flowing microlocs now. Lol. I’m trying to teach her patience, encouraging her with positive messages. She has a vision for her hair and it will reach the goals she’s set in time. What she needs is to keep looking after her hair and it will grow. She’s started young (she’s 9 now) so by the time she starts secondary school (in 2 years) her locs would have gained some length. So that’s her current target.

The regime is still the same, wash every 2 weeks and retighten every 4 weeks. As for products, I have found that the best moisturisers for her locs are water and oil. So I’ve left out all the other stuff I used to put in her hydrating spray like the glycerine and extracts (which all contain humectants of some sort) and have just left in only water and water distillates, such as Aloe Vera, Witch Hazel and Peppermint water.

Because the winter months have been really cold here, I found the light oil spray to be too light for her scalp, which was flaky and itchy due to excessive dryness. So I switched out the light oil spray for a thicker castor oil mix (including Soya and Olive Oils), which I put in an applicator bottle and apply directly to her scalp after washing. I massage it into her scalp gently and pull any oil residue down her locs to seal in moisture. I only use it after washing her hair as it’s quite thick, and it seems to last until the next wash day. Her scalp is looking and feeling much better. If her locs feel dry in-between then I’ll re-moisturise with a misting of the water mix and seal it in with the Light Oil Spray. I do my best not to to overdo the oil, as I don’t want to weigh her locs down or cause build-up. I use just enough to get the job done.

I’ve recently bought the Dr Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap in Peppermint from Amazon to try on her locs instead of the clarifying shampoo and bicarb mix I usually use. I’ve heard mostly good things about it and thought I’d give it a try. I tried it this last wash, before her retightening, by diluting it in an applicator bottle with half water and half the soap. It lathered well and smells lovely but I’m not 100% sold on it. I noticed some white residue on her hair and scalp, as well as on her body as I rinsed it out. I’ll try it again at the next wash before I make a final decision to keep it or ditch it. Has any one else tried it? What’s been your experience? I’d love to know.

I’m editing the video for this update now, so look out for it in the near future.

If you’re on Instagram you can find me at @missmercz. I post a few pics of Delaiah’s hairstyles there on occasion. So if you’re interested in that you could follow me and keep up to date.

That’s it for now. Until next time!