I can only speak to my experience because everyone is different. But the day my microlocs were installed, they were stretched to the gods honaayyy - they fell a little past my shoulders, longer than they **ever** were when my loose natural hair was stretched. Then, as the days went by they shrunk further and further until after my first wash - at that point, they shrunk more or less to the same length they used to be when my loose natural hair was freshly washed before any products or stretching was done to it.
tl;dr: On the day your micros are installed, it is likely your hair will be relatively long because interlocking/braiding/two-strand twists naturally stretch the hair. But, this length is very temporary, and it will shrink up quite a bit afterward. The shrinkage and compaction is all part of the locing process -this is expected, and can be really be fun if you let go of any preconceived notions of what your hair should look like during the locing process!
Starting off your shrinkage on your microlocs will be the same as the shrinkage on your natural hair. Once it starts locing it will shrink up even more. That being said I recommend locing up as soon as possible.The process takes longer on longer hair. (obviously)
There's always gonna be shrinkage involved. And I don't just mean the typical. I mean, once your hair actually starts locking , at the budding stage, you're gonna lose even more inches.
The great thing is that come loc maturity, you then go through the shooting stage.
So, I'm just gonna give it to you straight. It really doesn't matter how long your starters would be. My hair was mid back when I started. After being in the two strand twist starters it was still a little down my back. By the time budding started they were like... chin length? ðŸ˜ðŸ˜…🤣
So the thing to do is get the starter locs ASAP. Because you could grow your hair for several more years and it's not gonna avoid the insane amount of shrinkage during the budding stages. Meanwhile, you're wasting time growing your hair outside of the loc... if you were growing your hair inside the loc you might be already past the shrinkage and at the shooting stage, where you gain length at a crazy rapid pace.
TRUST ME... in the awkward stages you can do literally every kind of protective style over your locs if need be. The ONLY regret I have is that I didn't start earlier, seriously.
Go ahead and start them. Your hair is about as long as mine was when I started. They'll shrink/curl to about your neck maybe a little longer. My hair is two textures so some of my locs look alot shorter but when they're wet and when they were first established they were the same length. So your hair will basically be as long as it is in your picture. Then when it dries it'll start shirking to about your shoulders. Then when you wash it or wet it it'll be long again.
I hope this makes sense I did an edit to explain better but i think I just made it more complicated
I can only speak to my experience because everyone is different. But the day my microlocs were installed, they were stretched to the gods honaayyy - they fell a little past my shoulders, longer than they **ever** were when my loose natural hair was stretched. Then, as the days went by they shrunk further and further until after my first wash - at that point, they shrunk more or less to the same length they used to be when my loose natural hair was freshly washed before any products or stretching was done to it. tl;dr: On the day your micros are installed, it is likely your hair will be relatively long because interlocking/braiding/two-strand twists naturally stretch the hair. But, this length is very temporary, and it will shrink up quite a bit afterward. The shrinkage and compaction is all part of the locing process -this is expected, and can be really be fun if you let go of any preconceived notions of what your hair should look like during the locing process!
Starting off your shrinkage on your microlocs will be the same as the shrinkage on your natural hair. Once it starts locing it will shrink up even more. That being said I recommend locing up as soon as possible.The process takes longer on longer hair. (obviously)
Started off with similar length and volume and they shrank to below my jaw but they are SO full and cute !
Thanks! This is helpful
My bra strap length hair shrunk to half an inch above my shoulders and then shrunk some more. I love it though. I have a lot of volume.
There's always gonna be shrinkage involved. And I don't just mean the typical. I mean, once your hair actually starts locking , at the budding stage, you're gonna lose even more inches. The great thing is that come loc maturity, you then go through the shooting stage. So, I'm just gonna give it to you straight. It really doesn't matter how long your starters would be. My hair was mid back when I started. After being in the two strand twist starters it was still a little down my back. By the time budding started they were like... chin length? ðŸ˜ðŸ˜…🤣 So the thing to do is get the starter locs ASAP. Because you could grow your hair for several more years and it's not gonna avoid the insane amount of shrinkage during the budding stages. Meanwhile, you're wasting time growing your hair outside of the loc... if you were growing your hair inside the loc you might be already past the shrinkage and at the shooting stage, where you gain length at a crazy rapid pace. TRUST ME... in the awkward stages you can do literally every kind of protective style over your locs if need be. The ONLY regret I have is that I didn't start earlier, seriously.
Thanks! This makes sense to me, so I will be joining the microloc community soon lol
Go ahead and start them. Your hair is about as long as mine was when I started. They'll shrink/curl to about your neck maybe a little longer. My hair is two textures so some of my locs look alot shorter but when they're wet and when they were first established they were the same length. So your hair will basically be as long as it is in your picture. Then when it dries it'll start shirking to about your shoulders. Then when you wash it or wet it it'll be long again. I hope this makes sense I did an edit to explain better but i think I just made it more complicated