What No One Tells You About Exercising With Locs

When you get a fresh retwist you’re likely to workout just as much as a woman that just got a relaxer— hardly ever! I know you’re probably thinking “why would I put all this time and effort into my locs to just sweat it out”? While this is a fair question, and the most obvious answer is for your health, looking good while you get fit is important too. Thankfully, you don’t have to sacrifice your loc maintenance for your fitness goals.

How to Make Your Retwist Last Longer

When you workout, I mean really workout, you’ll sweat which will cause your hair to swell and then before you know it poof— your nu growth has gone wild. The secret to making your retwist last longer is compression styles or interlocking.

Interlocking is a technique using a tools or fingers that allows your nu growth to be retightened to your scalp and last for weeks.

Compression styles are for locs that are maintained with palm rolling and are used to keep your locs together while preventing your roots from unraveling.

Please be aware that if you maintain your locs with palm rolling you should NOT constantly switch back and forth between interlocking because it can cause weakness and inconsistencies in your locs.

The most common compression styles are rope twists, braids, and pipe cleaner curls. Each of these styles, when done correctly, will prevent your roots from swelling, control frizz and encourage your hair to lock— all while allowing you to exercise as much as you’d like. Another added benefit of compression styles is that they’ll transition into a second style after you take it down. For example, if you rope twist your locs immediately after retwisting and then take out the style 1-2 weeks later, you’ll have beautiful waves in your locs (also known as a twist out)! Your twist out will also last through workouts because your hair has been compressed together with the compression style— was that an “aha moment”?!

If your hair is not long enough to put into a compression style after you retwist or you do not want to interlock, you want to you control your locs with a satin fitness cap. The snug fit of the satin fitness cap will prevent your locs from moving excessively and help prevent your roots from unraveling. As you can see putting a little pressure on your locs while you workout will make your retwist last longer and give you more styling options.

I challenge you to retwist your locs, try a compression style, and workout at least twice next week. Go!

Let me know which style you’re going to try first in the comments!

P.S.— Scalp health is just as important as styling when working out so be on the lookout for the next article on cleansing your scalp after a workout.