I finally finished combing out my 342 sisterlocs! I figured I would share my process and talk about my results to help anybody who might be on a similar journey. I got my sisterlocks installed in 2007 so it’s been 15 years and I had to get rid of them because of the traction alopecia was only gonna continue if I kept them. 

The process
I started to comb out my sisterlocs May 23 finish July 18. I really liked using African Pride Pre-Poo Detangler and Conditioner for the vast majority of the time, which is a recommendation I got from this subReddit. Initially, the videos and readings about removing sisterlocks did not address the topic of washing your hair or they only addressed doing a wash once you’re completely finished. I knew that this might take two months or more and initially, I tried to follow that plan. I live in a really humid, hot area and about a month in to this I had to wash my hair and so I thought I would share my process to help people who are unsure about how to manage the two different hair styles during the transition. 

I started combing out my locks in batches of 10 or so in the back until I got closer to the roots and then I would do smaller batches until I would be able to comb out a complete loc individually. This is how I did most of the back. Then I would double strand twist the section with a little bit of water for moisture. As I got to the front I started to want to do smaller sections and eventually started to just do individual locs at a time.  This was around the time I started to wash my hair pretty regularly and attempt to style it with different things. 

Initially, I would wash my sisterlocks how I usually would which involves putting them in braids and tying the ends with a protective rubber band. But for the back of my hair, I untwisted everything and attempted to untangle them with water and slippery conditioner. I separated them into two large twists before getting in the shower.  Then I used a clarifying shampoo on the back of my hair focusing on one twist at a time. Then I use the conditioner that allowed me to continue to detangler and then I had a protein treatment that I applied one section at a time. I did the twist out in the back with the Shea moisture curl smoothie which has a light hold. I didn’t remove the twists for a few days. As I continued to remove my locks in sections on the side, once I had removed, maybe 20 or so, which would’ve been big enough for a twist I would wash that section by covering my hair with a plastic bag or plastic cap and only have the hair I’m washing that’s outside of the cap. Eventually, I had to put a hole in a bag or put a hole in a cap in order to separate the hair. It’s a good idea to clip down the hair that you don’t want coming through the hole as a precaution to separate it from the hair I already washed and styled. 

When I was calling on my locks, I studied to have some sort of barrier between the water and pre-poo and the hair that was already styled. This took different forms from a bandanna to a sleeping cap the head a hole already. This let me finish taking out my locks while having a complete hairstyle without needing to then spend hours on washing and styling everything that day. The very last section was at the top of my head towards the back and that day I braided it and dried it on cool before wearing braid out behind what it looks like today. This morning I unbraided it with oil and it blends in perfectly. 

I watched a lot of YouTube videos about natural hair and maintenance while I was doing the comb out and I eventually realized that I have a lot of low porosity hair so instead of doing the protein treatments, I switched to doing a mask treatment on the sections of unlocked hair towards the end. I started to try different leave-in conditioners each time I washed my hair completely but when I did the separate sections, I would use the same conditioner and styling products so it would blend in with the rest. 

The results 

I was really curious about my hair texture since my mom and dad have very different types of hair textures. I have many different types of textures with curly hair in the back and different things throughout. I could be wrong about this since it’s so new to me and it’s supposed to super damaged. I’m kind of nervous about doing a “wash and go” because of all this diversity of texture but if anybody else has already tried this, let me know. 

I was hoping that all of my hair would be the same length the way that my sisterlocks were cut, but there’s different reasons for why that’s not the case. The dermatologist talked about how the hair near the edges are not as deeply rooted as hair throughout our heads so I think that might be part of why it’s shorter in the front. I also know that whenever I would re-tighten my sister locs and accidentally combined two locs I had a decision I had to make. I either need to combine the locks into one lock or needed to work at separating them, which usually meant breaking some hair that wouldn’t come out on its own. Since I never really thought I would need a comb out my locks, I didn’t always combine the locks when this situation arose, and I regret that. The thicker locks had more hair length retention than the thinner ones.

I bought some different hair wraps because I thought I was going to use that instead of learning how to style my hair and hide the locks when I went out. They are still an option for me to use whenever I want, but I thought learning how to style my hair was worthwhile especially once the locks could be hidden in a small bun or a banana clip.

I’m still growing out my edges and addressing the traction alopecia as some of the photos show. I have mixed feelings about this transition because the sisterlocks were super easy and convenient and didn’t require buying a lot of several extra products or spending a lot of time on them outside of the tightening that needed to happen. On the other hand, I have a lot of excitement about trying different styles and products. But as a professor, I want to have a regular rotation by September 1, which is when the semester starts. 

I think I need to see a natural hair beautician to talk about getting a trim, but I’m still not sure what I really want. I liked the videos I saw where people were styling their hair and stretching it without heat so I’m not sure if I’m gonna be a straight natural, or do the more curly styles or switch between them. So I might wait until September before I do anything irreversible like a trim for curly styles or straight styles. 

Finally done with combing out my sisterlocks! Loving my hair!