(This post accompanies the monthly update YouTube video published in early October 2026.
Watch the video here)
Since I stopped retightening my Sisterlocks 9 months ago, I’ve discovered something – and I only discovered it this month!
It is about the way I have been combining my locs.
How am I deciding what to combine?
Let me explain. When I first started combining my Sisterlocks, I wasn’t following a particular method.
I simply tried out some different approaches and then decided on the one I was going to follow. But until now, I didn’t realise what really made me decide to combine in the way I did.
I combined hairline locs over a year ago because they seemed too thin to me. Then I tried combining 3 Sisterlocks by plaiting them together from root to tip, but last month I undid that loc.
Combining the regrowth at the roots is the approach I stuck with, but how did I decide how many locs to combine?
I started by combining them in twos, but then there were threes, fours and fives, and even some bunches of six Sisterlocks.
I never used a mirror when combining. Instead, I realised that I was doing it by feeling the hair and locs.
Where my hair is denser and stronger, I felt more comfortable bringing more Sisterlocks together.
Where the hair was finer, less dense or still recovering, I was much more conservative about how many Sisterlocks I combined.
I’ve realised that density was the reason behind this, and I’ve started calling it density-led combining.
The back sections of my hair
The difference is particularly noticeable at the back.
This is one of the denser areas of my hair, and it is where I have some of my largest combinations of Sisterlocks.
The hair feels stronger in that area and there is more of it, so bringing several Sisterlocks together made sense to me.
But not every combined loc has the same number of Sisterlocks.
The density of the hair in each area is what influences the size of the resulting loc.
What about the front and the crown?
The front of my hair and the crown are different.
My hairline and some of the crown are finer, so I’ve been much more cautious about combining large numbers of locs there.
The combinations are smaller, reflecting the amount and density of hair that I’m actually working with.
But not all of the hair in one area is the same.
Just above my forehead, the locs are shorter, but the hair itself is noticeably denser.
And because there is more hair in that particular area, I’ve been comfortable combining a larger number of Sisterlocks there too.
So rather than applying a rule to an entire area, I feel for what a particular area is ‘telling me’.
Because the approach is based on density and strength, and how I’ve used that to feel how many locs to include in a larger loc, I’m calling it: density-led combining (I made this term up!).
Density-led combining
Some combined locs are larger.
Some combined locs are smaller.
And that makes perfect sense to me because my hair isn’t the same density everywhere either.
So what have I learnt after 9 months of combining my Sisterlocks?
I love that this journey is uncovering so many gems for me along the way and, at the same time, I am developing a new relationship with my hair, especially as the regrowth takes on its own personality and grows out (not down!)
My hair ‘told me’ to combine using density as a guide, and I am curious to ‘hear’ what it will show me to do next.
I’ve been documenting this journey on my YouTube channel.
Come and follow along over there: Love Those Locs on YouTube