Thursday, October 29, 2009

Slippage, can you define it?

Slippage, what exactly is it? Funny enough, I must admit all the blog stalking I did before getting my locks, and the stalking I continue to do as I now have them I have always read about people experiencing slippage. All this time I'm thinking that slippage starts at the root and works its way down to the end to eventually have the pattern slip out or at least close to the end of the hair, hence the word slippage. A few months now I've noticed around my edges that my locks are unraveling from the end. This is not occurring any other part of my head so I'm wondering what's the actual cause (I have yet to find out). Unraveling, yep that's what I'm calling this problem although others say slippage. I know that this can be corrected by redoing the lock from where the unraveling starts, but here is my thought; eventually all my hair will lock, and it has been sectioned off by a small group of strands some still in the pattern and some not, but it will lock, so why go through the trouble?

17 comments:

Bajan Lily said...

I call it unravelling too! (hee hee)
Lots of my locs around the front edges have done that - I also have no idea what causes it, although it started after I stopped braiding AND banding.

Gigglz said...

You stopped B&B --you're a brave soul!! I guess we're even since I broke out the color already!! LOL!!!

TheNerd said...

Wow, I never knew what people were talking about with slippage, I always thought they were talking about from the root as well... Im not sure if my ends are slipping, it looks like these curly qs are longer, but i really cant tell...

Bajan Lily said...

Fluff and stuff was building up in my hair where the bands were - so my consultant advised that I only braid (around June/July). And one day I forgot about braiding altogether (totally by accident) and just washed it hahahha. Wouldn't advocate it to everybody and most days I do braid at least but sometimes I'm just too lazy :(

Gigglz said...

@Yahvinah - long curly Q's I would take too, lol!! Slippage or unraveling I think may be happening though.

@Bajan Lily - Fluff and stuff! hehe! How often were you banding that it was causing build up, because they should have only been in give or take 15 minutes at the most depending on your hair washing routine. I don't get lazy, and you should watch out too...at least bundle!

Bajan Lily said...

Girl, that's why it was so baffling!
They were only in for as long as I was washing my hair - so the time it took to put them in, wash it, take the bands off, dry the hair, then undo the braids. It was a right mystery!
My consultant said maybe the water was just washing any fluff/dirt out of my scalp/locks and getting stuck right where the bands were - so depositing it there. Go figure!

Gigglz said...

Thats interesting, and what type of rubber bands where you using? And shampoo?

Nai said...

hmmm I have noticed this too ... since I started to two strand twist at night ... hmmm.

Gigglz said...

N'Joi - Has your slippage started because you're two strand twisting or before that?

Nai said...

Well at the beginning it slipped a lot but by 3rd retight it stopped. Must admit I do not spritz a lot as I thought this was a problem. Now I only permit my hair to get steam damp in the shower ... I think I need to balance the two extremes. For the last 2 weeks I twisted and only today by looking at your blog did I realise one lock at the back looks like your pic... and a few others around the edge.

msfullroller said...

My ends looked like that very early on then they curly q'd up and started locking there first. Like you I didn't worry about it either. I will tell you this, I got a bit worried as those ends got big, bigger than the loc but eventually slimmed back down to the size of the rest of the loc.

Gigglz said...

@N'Joi - it seems to be art of the journey. I've had slippage in the front hairline from the beginning, but it seems to be decreasing as time goes on.

@msfullroller - uh-oh on the unraveled ends being plump when they first seal. I will keep a watch on them.

A Sista Who Locked said...

Now this is a great post. I have/had this issue IN THE FRONT. In the front of my crown is always the ‘scene of the crime’ for my hair woes. I also find that it only occurs with those ends that were pressed too much. My good and kinky strands (in the back) have not had ANY issues. The only thing that I figure can be done is to eventually snip them. It always seems to come back, and like you, I feel like, what’s the point. Since you had a silkener, do you think that has anything to do with it? I did have my stylist to fix the couple that I did have in the front because they were down right ridiculous. I had HUGE holes in my locs. It can be kinda discouraging, but I guess you have to have some downfalls.

Bajan Lily said...

re: what type of rubber bands/shampoo - it happened all the time regardless of shampoo. I used ponytail holders or rubber bads - neither made any difference.

I have less unravelling when I braid... so mostly I braid (instead of braiding AND banding) but as I mentioned - I have forgotten one or two times and just washed without doing anything.

I find that like 'A sister who locked', most of the unravellers are the ones where my texture is almost straight, so I ended up braiding some of them just so they'd stop! I don't know how this will affect my overall look once they mature. I'll copy this on my blog and add some pics so you can evaluate and tell me your thoughts :)

Gigglz said...

@A Sista who locked - I don't think its the silkener causing the issue, because its only happening on the first row in the front of my hair, and more so by my temples. So it could be the way I sleep, who knows but I'm not going to let it consume me. I did start fixing a few of them, but I'm over that!! LOL!.

@Bajan Lily - The good thing is you're figuring out what works for you best! thats all we can do in this journey.

Unknown said...

I'm a newbie and I'm having major slippage or unraveling. Mine is at the nape of my neck. I think mine is coming from sweat. I'm a gym rat ;) I band every time I shampooed. I just want to know how to stop it.

Unknown said...

I'm a newbie and I'm having major slippage or unraveling. Mine is at the nape of my neck. I think mine is coming from sweat. I'm a gym rat ;) I band every time I shampooed. I just want to know how to stop it.

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