DIY Microlocs on Natural Hair | Entering a New Natural Hair Era ✨

I installed my own micro locs at home and yes, I did the entire head by myself. I have fine, low to normal density type 4a hair and if you're thinking about starting your own micro locs, watch this whole video before you begin because there might be a few decisions that you cannot change later. Hey DIY dolls, welcome back to my channel. Today we are officially entering my micro loc era. After years of braiding, protective styling, trying extensions, and constantly managing my loose natural hair, I just wanted something that gave me versatility but actually worked with my lifestyle. These are permanent though so I did not make this decision overnight but once I committed, I decided to install them myself. So this entire install took 8 days, yes 8 days. Now when it comes to deciding the size, before I parted my head, I created a few test locs so I could see the size of how I wanted them. I actually did this one time before this and I had 230 coils but they were looking a little too big for me so I went ahead and tried to double that amount so I'm hoping that I landed at about 500. If you guys want me to count them, let me know in the comments. Also the method that I chose was 2 strand twists with a small braid at the top and then interlocking using a 4 point rotation. I shared the start of my journey on my Instagram and I got some tips to go not as long in between my reties and to not use a 4 point rotation to do more like a 2. So I'm definitely going to be doing trial and error to see what works best for me but you can see I'm using the interlocking tool and I'm basically flipping the twist inside of itself in 4 different directions. Now this is going to help reinforce the lock and I chose retying over retwisting just because I felt like it. Now what really drew me to this, when I was thinking what do I want my hair, my signature hairstyle to be, I'm turning 26 in October and I just feel like I wanted something different but something that was really me. What drew me to the lock community is that there is no real way to do anything. You can just choose what method you want to do, you can choose how many locks you want, you can choose the size. You can choose how you start your lock so you can do twists, braids, coils, freeforms. The options are endless and I just loved the freedom that it looks like the people in the lock community have so I'm very excited to be sharing my journey. I chose micro locks as well just because I love the small look of them and I just feel like they're going to give me more versatility versus the bigger locks. I love to style my hair and I just love my curl pattern in general so I'm really hoping that with the smaller micro locks you're able to kind of see maybe the coily ends or you know it'll just frame my face and my head better. Something else that really drew me to locking my hair was the amount of products that you don't have to use. You don't have to use really anything, just water to moisturize your hair. But me, you know, I'm not a product junkie but I do love my go-to products for moisture. I like to keep my hair moisturized and healthy but minimal products is what the lock community preaches. You want to avoid buildup at all costs so making sure that you regularly shampoo your hair and also keep it moisturized is really, really, really important. So I just feel like that is a plus. You know, I don't have to worry so much about what products and like how much like I don't have to over consume basically. This did take eight days in total y'all. This was probably like day six and you can see that I'm doing a brick layer grid pattern. I've seen people do different types of grids, one where you know the boxes are on top of each other. I like my grid pattern brick layered. It just makes my style look fuller. It makes me look like I have more hair than I actually do. I severely underestimated how long this would take. I have been braiding my hair for a week straight. I kid you not. Actually, it's more than a week now. It's day eight. I have been braiding my hair in general since high school but this was the most challenging hairstyle I have ever done, ever. No hairstyle has ever taken me eight days to do. Yes, I've done box braids, yes, yada yada, like it's taken a long time but I just think the challenge of trying to get these super super teeny tiny parts, first of all to just see how I'm doing them but also to get them neat and to get them how I wanted them because remember this is going to be my permanent grid. There's not much changing around you can do once your grid is in place so I really wanted to make sure that I got it right. After I finished the install, I hopped straight into the shower. Because I started off this style with low dried hair, I wanted to add back a little bit of moisture and a little bit of fluff back to my hair. My hair when it gets wet, it swells a little bit so it adds a little bit of fullness and I'm able to really just moisturize my hair again. Remember this took eight days so by the time I finished, girl it was time to wash my hair again. So I'm using a clarifying shampoo from the Dew and I'm also using a Camille Rose conditioner mostly on my ends there. I'm not really applying it you know at the length of my hair but I'm really making sure to get the ends. Okay that's what's important and then I am drying with a t-shirt. You guys like my shirt? I'm drying with my cat t-shirt and then I'm getting out of the shower and then what is really important now is going to be what products you apply that do not cause buildup. So I'm going in with the Camille Rose mint condition braid spray and also the mint condition foam. This spray is clear so I'm hoping that it does not cause buildup. So far I've had no issues and then I'm applying the foam on my ends. Now of course because this is a journey, it's going to be a lot of trial and error to figure out what products work best for me, which ones I like, which ones I don't like but what I know, what I learned is that I need to braid and band. So this is what braiding and banding is. I have my hair in these doodoo braids and I have these, they're not rubber bands, they're like fabric bands at the end and I need to keep my hair in these doodoo braids anytime it gets wet. When I take a shower, when I go to sleep, this is going to help the locks not unravel when they're wet and to keep their shape. Oh my gosh y'all, I love it. I finally finished on, what's today, the 28th. I started these on August 17th. Today is August 28th. I think being someone with fine hair is like, it builds character because I love the style, I love the shape, like I can see the vision, right? But my hair is just so see-through. But you know what? I'm going to get used to it, okay? And something that I've learned over the years of wearing my hair, wearing protective styles, just figuring out what I like to do with my hair is that I literally will get used to it. Even after I big chopped my hair and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm bald. I always got used to it. You know, after a while you just start to get used to how you look with your hair like that. So I definitely think this is one of those cases. I didn't count how many locks I have. I'm assuming I have about 550 if I'm being hopeful. The first time I did it when I did coils, I had 230. So I just made sure to make these extra small. So I'm hoping I doubled that number at least, okay? And then added some more. So I was going for 500. One thing about it though is that I need to stop touching my hair. I need to stop touching it. I just need to leave it. Something that I am seeing in other people with locks in the lock community is that they leave their hair alone. I'm talking like hands and hair syndrome where they just leave their hair to be. It is what it is because it's going to do whatever it's going to do. So I think that aspect of it is just so freeing. It sounds so freeing to me right now. And in this stage in my life, you guys, I'm turning 26 on October 8th. So I just feel like something's got to give, okay? I am trying to optimize my life to make sure that I can do everything that I want to do and that I enjoy doing, especially day to day. And something like my hair. I love my hair, but I feel like I rely too much on doing it often, if that makes sense. I love to switch up my hair. It's part of my personality. It's who I am. But I definitely just want a change. It's so funny. This change is going to be permanent. It's a permanent change. That's funny. I'm definitely just trying to stay away from heavy extensions weight on my hair because that definitely plays a role in breakage. As I go throughout the week, I'll get some footage. But this is just part one, okay? You guys, let me know what do you think? What are you thinking? What are you feeling? Is starting locs something that you've ever wanted to do? Or do you already have locs, you know? Tell me, guys. Let me know. And give me your best tips. I'm very open to hearing what you guys have to say, okay? Put me on. I'm also posting more beauty videos. So if you want to check out any of my beauty DIY tutorials, check them out in this playlist right here.