Loc questions, answered.

Rarely, and never for anything long. The studio runs on appointments because a retwist blocks two hours and an install blocks a day, so a walk-in has nowhere to sit. If you are nearby, message on WhatsApp and ask what is free today — cancellations happen, and quick styling or a jewellery fitting can sometimes be squeezed in. For anything else, book a couple of days ahead.

Yes, for every appointment. It is paid by M-PESA when you book, it comes straight off your final bill, and it exists because an unfilled loc appointment is not a small loss — an install that no-shows costs the studio a full day it could not resell. It is transferable if you reschedule inside the notice window, and the exact amount and the rules are set out in full on the policies section of this page.

There is a fifteen-minute grace period and no drama about it — Nairobi traffic is Nairobi traffic, so message us and we will hold your chair. Past fifteen minutes we do what we can in the time that is left, which for a retwist usually still works and for a long install usually does not. Past thirty minutes we may have to reschedule you, because the next client arrives on time and it is not fair to make them wait. If you know at 7am that you will be late, tell us at 7am rather than at your appointment time.

Two to three days for maintenance, and one to two weeks for a full install or anything on a Saturday — Saturdays fill first, every week. Bridal work needs four to six weeks because it includes a trial. If you are on a regular cycle, book your next appointment before you leave: it is the single easiest way to always get the slot you want, and it is why most of our regulars never have to wait.

There is free off-street parking for a few cars in the compound, and paid parking on the street if the compound is full. We are a short walk from the main Westlands matatu stops, and the visit section of this page has the landmark, the route and a maps link. If you are coming for a long install, park in the compound — you will be with us most of the day.

Yes — M-PESA is how most clients pay, for both the deposit and the balance. We also take cash and card in the studio. Nothing is charged through this website: the booking flow here ends in a WhatsApp message to the studio, and money only moves once we have confirmed your appointment and the actual price.

Because loc work is priced on length and loc count, and one figure would be a lie for most people. A retwist on forty chunky locs and the same retwist on a hundred and eighty microlocs are different appointments by hours, so the rate card here asks the two questions that change the answer and shows you the cell you fall in. Every figure is a "from" price and the real one is confirmed in the chair, before we start — never after.

A retwist on medium-size, medium-length locs is two to two and a half hours. A full head of medium microlocs is a genuine eight to ten hours, and we would rather split it across two days than rush it. Colour is two to four hours plus the rebuild, a detox is around two, and a repair depends entirely on how many locs need work. Every service on this site shows its real chair time, not a best case — check it before you plan the rest of your day, and add time if you are arriving with wet hair.

Fifteen minutes, free, no obligation. We look at your scalp, your density and the condition of your existing locs if you have them, ask what you want your hair to be doing in a year, and tell you what is realistic. You leave with a plan, a real price and a duration — and sometimes with the advice to wait, if your hair is not ready. You can do it in the studio or send photos on WhatsApp: front, back, both sides and a close-up of the roots, taken in daylight.

Yes to both, and most of our regulars came to us with locs started elsewhere. Texture changes the method, not whether we can do the work: looser curl patterns lock better from two-strand twists or braids than from comb coils, fine hair usually wants interlocking rather than twisting, and very dense coarse hair can take a smaller parting grid than most people expect. If your locs were started on a grid we would not have chosen, we work with it rather than against it — re-parting a whole head is a decision with real cost and we will not make it for you.

Yes, from age four to fourteen. Sections stay generous, tension stays minimal, and products stay simple. For under-twelves we cap the session at about two hours and finish over a second visit if we need to, because a child made to sit for four hours is a child who fights you at every appointment after that. A parent or guardian stays in the studio throughout, and we teach you the two-minute nightly routine that does most of the real work.

Often, and it usually saves you money and a trip — a detox before a retwist, or a style set on top of maintenance, are natural pairs. Some combinations we will not do on the same day: colour and a retwist put chemical and mechanical stress on the same root at once, so we space those by at least two weeks. Tell us everything you want when you book rather than on arrival, because the appointment length changes and the slot after yours belongs to someone else.

One guest is welcome, and for a long install we would honestly encourage it — eight hours is a long time alone. The studio is small, so we cannot seat more than one guest per client, and we ask that children who are not being worked on stay at home, both for their sake and because there are hot tools and sharp scissors at working height.

Every four to six weeks for most people, and six to eight if you interlock or your hair is fine. The danger is almost always the other direction: clients come to us retwisting every two weeks because it looks neat, and that is the single most common cause of the thinning hairline we then spend a year trying to grow back. Your roots need enough new growth to actually hold a twist, and your scalp needs time between sessions with no tension on it at all. If you book too early we will tell you, and we will not charge you for the visit.

Retwisting does not cause traction alopecia. Tight, frequent retwisting does, and the hairline goes first because the hairs there are the finest on your head and the slowest to come back. The warning signs are soreness for a day or two afterwards, small bumps along the parting, and locs at the temples that feel thinner at the root than in the middle. We palm-roll rather than over-twist, keep the edges deliberately loose, and if your hairline is already compromised we will work the rest of the head and leave the front alone until it recovers.

Yes to all three. Wash every one to two weeks — under-washing is a far bigger problem than over-washing, and a scalp left dirty because someone told you water ruins locs is how build-up, itch and that sour smell start. For the gym, rinse the sweat out or at least rinse the scalp; salt sitting in a loc is drying. For pools, wet your locs with clean water first so they absorb less chlorine, rinse straight after, and if you swim weekly consider interlocking instead of twisting, because chlorine and gel do not coexist. The one rule that matters more than any of this: never put your locs away damp.

Please do, especially if your scalp is sensitive or you have found something that genuinely works. We will use it, or tell you honestly if we think it is causing build-up — heavy waxes and thick shea butters are the usual culprits, and they do not rinse out of a loc no matter what the label says. If you are between products, ask and we will show you what we use and roughly what it costs, so you are not tied to buying it from us.

Usually, yes. Thin roots, splits at the midshaft, locs that have married their neighbours and locs snapped clean off are all repairable — we reinforce the weak point with your own shed hair or a matched filler and knit it back to full diameter, and a good repair is invisible within a month. What matters more is why it happened: if the cause is tension or over-frequent maintenance rather than an accident, we change how your maintenance is done, otherwise the same locs break again in six months. Repairs are quoted per loc after we look at the whole head.

About four to five centimetres — roughly two inches, or enough to hold a coil between two fingers without it springing open. On tighter curl patterns you can sometimes start a little shorter; on looser textures we would rather you grew another month and started from braids or two-strand twists, which hold far better than coils on soft hair. If you are close but not there, come for a free consultation anyway and we will tell you how long to wait and what to do with your hair meanwhile.

Twelve to eighteen months for most people, and the first three months are the ones that test your patience. Expect a starter phase where they look neat, a budding phase around month three where they frizz and puff and you will be sure something has gone wrong, then a teenage phase where they behave differently every week, and finally locs that hold their shape whatever you do. Fine hair and smaller locs mature faster; chunky locs and looser textures take the full eighteen months. Nothing you buy speeds this up — patience and a consistent wash routine are the whole method.

Some shedding is normal and permanent — you lose fifty to a hundred hairs a day whether you have locs or not, and with locs most of those stay inside the loc rather than falling out, which is part of why locs thicken over time. What is not normal is a loc that is visibly thinner at the root than along its length, a loc you can see light through, or hair coming out in a small clump when you separate. That is a repair conversation, and the sooner you bring it in the less of it there is to fix.

Book the free fifteen-minute consultation and commit to nothing. Bring photos of what you like, and we will tell you what your density and length can actually deliver, what the first year looks like honestly, and how much maintenance it will cost you a month — the maintenance number is the one most people have not thought about, and it is what decides whether locs work for your life. Plenty of people leave that conversation deciding to wait six months, and that is a good outcome, not a lost sale.