(This post is companion to a YouTube video posted in April 2026.
Watch the video here.)
For a long time, I told myself everything would be fine.
I told myself that inspite of everything I had been noticing, it was going to be OK.
It wasn’t. And eventually I stopped pretending it was.
Here are the five reasons I decided to combine my Sisterlocks
I have decided to combine my Sisterlocks.
The decision has come from noticing a number of things about my hair and scalp and eventually deciding that I couldn’t keep ignoring them.
Here are the five reasons.
1. My locs were becoming too thin
I naturally have thin edges, but I began to notice that some of the Sisterlocks around those edges were themselves extremely thin.
That concerned me as Sisterlocks get longer, there is more weight being carried by the hair at the root. Styling can add further pressure, even when a style feels relatively loose.
I had already experimented with combining some of the thinner perimeter locs, and I could see that creating a thicker root made me feel much more comfortable about the strength of each of the locs I have combined.
The more I looked at my hair, the more I became aware of thin locs in other areas too.
2. I was experiencing scalp pain
For me, this was a significant factor.
I had been on roughly a six to seven-week retightening schedule.
My hair grows relatively slowly, so I often felt that the appointments were coming around far too quickly. But I understood (from my consultant) why regular retightening was considered necessary: the locs were very small and needed to be maintained, through regular retightenings, in order to survive.
The problem was that my scalp hurt.
I would experience scalp pain during and after my retightening appointments and, for a long time, I simply accepted the pain as part of the process.
Eventually I couldn’t continue this way. My scalp was telling me that something wasn’t working for me, I had to pay attention.
Since I stopped the retightenings, I haven’t experienced any scalp pain.
That has been one of the most important changes for me.
3. I was dreading the appointments
This sounds like a small thing, but it wasn’t.
I had started to dread my retightening appointments.
Every six or seven weeks felt very regular, particularly when I didn’t feel that I had much regrowth to work with.
I found myself wishing I could push the appointments further and further back.
At some point I realised that my reluctance to attend those appointments was information that I could no longer ignore.
Listening to my body was also about paying attention to how I felt about the maintenance itself.
4. I didn’t want to see so much scalp
I’ve never particularly liked the very ‘scalpy, plucked chicken look’ of a fresh retightening.
And as I became more concerned about thinning, I found myself looking at the spaces between my locs differently.
I realised that the grid was not so important to me that I was willing to justify maintaining it at all costs.
In fact, I’d reached the point where I would much rather have slightly messy hair around my scalp, if it meant having more hair covering my scalp.
I’m happy to let the grid soften and eventually disappear.
For me, the aesthetics of the Sisterlocks grid are no longer the priority.
Hair coverage and how my hair feels are much more important.
5. I ignored the signs for too long
Perhaps this is the most important one.
I had noticed things.
I noticed the pain.
I noticed that I was dreading appointments.
I noticed the increasing visibility of my scalp.
I noticed the thinness of some of my locs.
But I kept telling myself that everything would be fine.
After all, the pain only lasted for a while; 24 hours, to be exact.
I’d feel better the next day.
I could manage another appointment.
But eventually the accumulation of those little signs became impossible to ignore.
So I decided not to wait for something more dramatic to happen.
I wanted to understand what was happening with my hair and take action based on what I was observing.
What has happened since?
It has been 11 weeks (as at April 2026) since my last retightening.
And my hair is doing fine.
I’ve started combining at the roots, and I’m much happier with that decision.
When I press around some of the roots, particularly towards the back, they feel more protected.
I can also feel a coverage of hair beginning to grow over my scalp, and it’s something I really value.
This is not about me telling everyone with Sisterlocks to combine their hair or stop retightening.
It’s simply what I’ve decided to do after looking at my own hair, listening to my own body and questioning a maintenance routine that no longer felt right for me.
For me, the bigger lesson is actually about paying attention.
Thin locs.
Scalp pain.
Dreading appointments.
Increasingly visible scalp.
Ignoring the early signs.
Those were the things that eventually made me stop and reconsider.
And I’m glad I did.
I’ve been documenting this journey on my YouTube channel.
Come and follow along over there: Love Those Locs on YouTube 💜