What Causes Mold in Locs and How to Avoid It

Mold is a common problem that many people experience.

Oftentimes, mold is not noticeable when you have mold in locs, until you start to experience symptoms such as itching, smells odor.

Getting rid of this type of fungus is not an easy task because it spreads quickly and easily forms.

How does mold form in the first place? We know that fungus grows in dark damp places, so the inside of your lock is a wonderful place for mold. That’s why it is a big challenge for locs, because our locs hold in moisture a lot more than normal loosen hair.

There are a few reasons we might get mold in locs.

Number 1: product overused

When it comes to maintenance, some loc’d friends use these products that don’t really wash out very well. And inevitably the loc might have odor.

Number 2: your locs are constantly wet

Another situation is despite their pay best efforts to keep their locks clean without product overdoing.

If you’re constantly sweating a lot. This is definitely something that could happen to you too. Your locs might smell like you left laundry in the washer for a few days and forget about it. Another causes that can contribute to forming mold in locs is air drying.

That is especially for people who have thicker hair types or they have a lot of locks or both.Moisture/ product can get trapped inside of your locks. Especially if you have particularly thick hair or you have a lot of locks or really long locks if your hair is not air drying in a timely manner, that actually could be in my opinion, contributing to why you’re dealing with mold in your locks.

How to Get Rid of Mold From Locs

Long before locs became fashionable, African Americans have been using apple cider vinegar as a natural way to keep their hair healthy. The ACV detox method is one of the most popular ways to cleanse locs.

ACV cleansing is an effective method for dissovle mold or build-up. Check the link on how to do ACV detox.

How to prevent mold in locs

When our hair gets wet, it takes a lot longer for it to dry. In fact, it could take many hours for locs to dry. And of course, the longer your locs are, the longer it will take.

So, one way to prevent mold is to make sure that there are hours and hours between washing your hair and styling it.

I recommend you wash your hair in the morning, typically don’t do your hair at night, and then dry it throughout the day. Especially in the summer, your hair dries in that heat and sunlight so quickly.

If you have a hair dryer, that’s easier; even if you don’t, just make sure your hair is completely dry before you lay down for bed, put on a scarf, or anything like that.

Cause once you combine the condition of locs being dark and being wet, then you know the chances of getting mold is a lot higher. But if you’re hair is not getting dry in a timely manner. It’s sitting there like a wet towel and then over time you’re going to start dealing with odor cause that’s cultivating the environment for bacteria and other things.

So if you don’t live in a place where the sun can just help evaporate that water out of your locks. Then you need to evaporate that water out of your locks by using a hair dryer so that it’s not taking 10 more hours to get dry.

You can always test your hair from mold as well. You can tell if your hair is wet inside by squeezing your locs.

Sometimes it feels dry when you touch it, but if you squeeze it and you can feel some water or moisture coming out on your fingers, you know that it is not dry yet. You can use a blow dryer for 10 minutes and blow it around your hair.

Most importantly, just make sure you’re not laying down, covering your hair, or wrapping your hair while it is still wet.

I know mold in locs is a topic a lot of people have opinions on. If you have experience or other opinions, please drop it in the comments so other people can read and respond.