Once your locs are in, the next question is how they’ll be kept up, and that mostly comes down to three methods: interlocking, palm rolling and crochet. The interlocking vs palm rolling question is the one most people weigh up, with crochet as the third option, and each has a real trade-off that’s worth understanding before you commit.
There’s no single best method here. There’s the one that suits your hair, your budget and how you live.
Here’s what each method actually does to your locs, how often it needs doing, and how to pick the right one for you.
A quick word on what we’re comparing. All three are ways of maintaining the new growth at the root as your hair grows, keeping the loc neat and encouraging the fresh hair to join it. People often lump them together as “retwisting”, but they’re genuinely different techniques with different effects on the hair, which is why the choice matters.
Palm rolling
Palm rolling is the gentlest of the three and the most common way to maintain locs. The loctician rolls each loc between their palms to coax the new growth at the root into a smooth cylinder, encouraging the hair to lock in that shape. It gives soft, rounded locs and it’s quick, with a full maintenance session often taking under an hour and a half.
The main drawback is that palm rolling doesn’t hold through water. When palm-rolled roots get wet, they tend to unravel and go frizzy and puffy, which is why some people find their neat roots don’t last long after a wash. It also has to be redone fairly often, roughly every two to four weeks, to keep that tidy look. And like any method, done too often or too tight it can break individual hairs and thin the locs over time.
Palm rolling suits thicker, coilier hair that holds a roll well, and anyone who wants soft, natural-feeling locs and doesn’t mind more frequent upkeep.
One thing people worry about with palm rolling is whether it thins the hair. On its own, done gently and not too often, it’s the least stressful method on your roots. The thinning risk comes from overdoing it, retwisting every week for a sharp look, or a loctician rolling too tight, rather than from palm rolling itself. Kept gentle and spaced out, it’s a method you can happily use for years.
Interlocking
Interlocking works differently. Instead of encouraging the hair to lock on its own, the loctician pulls the end of each loc back through its own base, usually with a tool or their fingers, so the root is knotted and holds mechanically from the moment it’s done. The result is a firm, slightly ropey loc that initially looks a little like a braid at the root.
Its big advantage is durability. Interlocked roots don’t unravel when they get wet, so you can wash, swim and sweat freely without your maintenance falling out. It also holds far longer between sessions, usually every six to eight weeks, and it works well for finer and looser textures that won’t hold a palm roll.
The trade-offs are real, though. Interlocking takes much longer to do, often three to four hours for a full head, and done badly, repeatedly in the same direction or with too much tension, it can leave small holes in the locs or cause breakage and thinning at the root.
Interlocking suits finer or straighter hair, active people who are in and out of water, and anyone who’d rather stretch the gap between appointments even if each one takes longer.
Does interlocking damage your locs?
It can, but not because the method is inherently bad. The damage comes from doing it wrong: interlocking the same loc in the same direction every time creates a weak point that can eventually cause the loc to snap, and interlocking too tightly stresses the root. A skilled loctician rotates the direction and keeps the tension even, which avoids both problems.
The reason interlocking has a reputation for damage is that it’s often done badly or too frequently, not that it can’t be done safely. If you go this route, it’s worth finding someone who genuinely knows the technique rather than treating it as a quick fix.
Crochet method
The crochet method uses a small crochet hook to knot the hair tight, pulling loose strands into the loc so it looks compressed and neat straight away. It’s used both to start instant locs and to tidy up frizz on mature ones, and it gives the most immediately “finished” result of the three.
The catch is that crochet is the most aggressive on the hair. The hook can snag and weaken strands if it’s used heavily or by someone without much experience, so it’s the method where the skill of the person doing it matters most. Used well and sparingly, it’s a good way to neaten locs without the wait; used too often or too roughly, it can cause breakage. It sits at the opposite end from palm rolling: fastest and neatest, but the hardest on the hair.
Because of that, crochet is best thought of as an occasional tool rather than your regular maintenance. Plenty of people have their locs palm-rolled or interlocked most of the time and turn to crochet now and then to pull in loose frizz or tidy up before an event. Relying on it for every session, especially at home without much practice, is where it starts to do harm.
Interlocking vs palm rolling vs crochet: side by side
Here’s the quick comparison if you just want the shape of it.
| Method | Look | Holds when wet? | How often | Session length | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palm rolling | Soft, rounded | No, unravels | Every 2 to 4 weeks | Under 1.5 hours | Thinning if done too often or tight |
| Interlocking | Firm, ropey | Yes | Every 6 to 8 weeks | 3 to 4 hours | Holes or breakage if overdone |
| Crochet | Tight, neat | Yes | As needed | Varies | Most aggressive on the hair |
How to choose for your hair and your life
Start with your texture. Thick, coily hair holds a palm roll beautifully and does well with the gentlest method. Finer, softer or looser hair often won’t hold a palm roll and leans towards interlocking or crochet, which grip the hair rather than relying on it to lock on its own.
Then think about your life. If you swim, train hard or wash often, interlocking’s biggest selling point is that it survives all of that without unravelling. If you’re not especially active and you like soft, natural locs, palm rolling’s more frequent upkeep may be no bother.
Then weigh up the upkeep itself. Palm rolling is quick and cheap per session but needs doing more often; interlocking costs more time and money each visit but you go far longer between them. Crochet is somewhere in between, and best thought of as a neatening tool rather than a full maintenance routine.
If cost is a factor, work out the yearly picture rather than the price of a single appointment, and keep it consistent with our guide to how much a retwist costs in the UK.
None of this locks you in forever. Plenty of people use different methods over the life of their locs, or mix them, palm rolling most of the time with the odd crochet tidy-up before an event. Locticians tag which maintenance methods they use on their profiles, so once you know what you want you can filter for someone who offers it.
Can you switch methods?
Yes, and people do, but some switches need care. Moving from interlocking to palm rolling is the trickiest, because interlocked roots are structured differently and won’t simply start palm-rolling into shape, so there’s usually a transition period while the new growth takes over.
Going the other way, from palm rolling to interlocking, is more straightforward. Either way, a loctician should manage the change rather than you attempting it at home, especially if your locs are already established.
The common reason people switch is that their needs change. Someone who took up swimming might move to interlocking so their roots stop unravelling; someone whose hair has thinned from years of interlocking might move to gentler palm rolling to give their roots a rest.
Both are sensible. The point is that the method isn’t a lifelong commitment, so if what you started with no longer suits your hair or your routine, it’s fine to change, just do it with a loctician’s guidance rather than experimenting on established locs.
Can you do these yourself?
Some more easily than others. Palm rolling is the most DIY-friendly of the three, and a lot of people maintain their own locs this way between salon visits, since it’s forgiving and hard to do real harm with if you keep the tension light.
Retwisting your own edges is where people slip up, because you’re working blind at the hairline and it’s easy to pull too tight, so go especially gently there.
Interlocking and crochet are harder to get right on your own. Both rely on technique that takes practice, and both can damage the hair when done wrong, interlocking by repeating the same direction, crochet by snagging strands. If you want either of those, it’s worth having a loctician do it, at least until you’ve watched how it’s done and understood the pitfalls.
There’s no shame in a hybrid approach: a professional every few months for the technical work, and light palm rolling at home in between to keep things tidy.
The one thing that matters more than the method
Whichever method you choose, the thing that actually protects or damages your hair is the same: tension and frequency. Too tight, too often, and any of these three can thin your hair and cause traction alopecia, the gradual hair loss that comes from constant pulling at the root. It shows up most at the hairline and nape, where the hair is finest.
So the real rule isn’t “interlock” or “palm roll”, it’s gentle hands and sensible gaps between sessions. If maintenance ever hurts, or you notice thinning or soreness at the roots, that’s a sign the tension is too high, and you should say so or change who’s doing it. A good loctician will never leave your scalp sore.
Once thinning or breakage starts, it’s worth reading up on thinning roots and loc breakage to catch it early.
If you’re still early in the process and choosing how to start as well as how to maintain, the guide to starting locs in the UK pulls the whole picture together.
The short version on maintenance: pick the method that suits your hair and your routine, keep the tension gentle, and don’t let a neat root come at the cost of your hairline.
