About Less Is Locs

I’m Abou. I have 4C hair, I’ve had locs for about two and a half years, and I test loc products on my own head so you don’t have to buy three sprays to find out none of them work.

My hair, briefly

I’ve been relaxed. I did the big chop. I grew my natural 4C hair long and learned, slowly and expensively, how coily hair actually behaves. Then I chose locs.

My locs were installed by a loctician using a method I was told was called “instant locs”, an interlocking/crochet-type technique, eight or nine hours in the chair. When he finished, they already looked and felt fairly mature, and I could wash them soon after instead of waiting weeks. He used oil. No wax, no heavy gel.

Today my locs sit somewhere between my shoulders and my armpits. I wash them at least once a week. I get a professional retwist every two to two and a half months and tidy the front myself in between.

Why this site exists

Almost everything written about loc care is written by the brands selling the products. I got tired of reading “hydrate daily with our mist” and then feeling my locs get drier. So I started paying attention to what actually happened on my head instead of what the label said would happen.

That became a habit, and the habit became this site. Every product here goes through the same protocol for its category, gets the same five scores, and ends with a plain answer: would I buy it again?

What you won’t see

You won’t see my face. This is on purpose. The proof is the hair, not the person: close-ups of my locs, my scalp, my hands, the product on a white cloth. If a photo would need my face to make its point, it doesn’t make the point.

You also won’t see a product I haven’t tested described as though I had. Research is labelled research. Tests are labelled tests.

One head, one texture

I am one tester with one head of 4C locs, installed one way, living in a dry climate. That’s a real limitation and I’d rather say it than hide it. When something works for me, I’ll tell you what kind of hair and routine it worked on, so you can judge whether it’s likely to work on yours. Later, I plan to bring in a small group of reader testers with different loc types so the verdicts get wider than my own head.

How the site makes money

Some links here are affiliate links. If you buy through one, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Commissions never change a score, and brands don’t get to see reviews before they go up. The full version is on the disclosure page.

Say hello

Questions, a product you want tested, or a result on your own locs that contradicts mine? I want to hear it. The contradictions are usually where the useful stuff is. Contact page.