I’d had my locs for almost three years, always kept neat, always freshly retwisted before any event, before a friend casually mentioned she loved my hair “way more” on the days I hadn’t touched it in a week. I remember being a little offended in the moment, mostly because I’d spent real time and money keeping them looking crisp and polished every two weeks like clockwork. But she wasn’t wrong, and once I actually looked back at photos from both versions side by side, the looser, slightly undone version genuinely did look better. More relaxed, more like it belonged to someone comfortable in their own skin rather than someone who’d just left an appointment. That conversation is basically what led me down the rabbit hole of understanding what people online had started calling the “nonchalant” look, and once I understood it, I stopped fighting the natural, lived-in phase of my locs and started actually working with it instead.
If you’ve been seeing this term floating around and wondering what it actually refers to, or you’re someone with locs trying to figure out why your hair sometimes looks better a week after a retwist than the day you leave the salon, here’s what’s actually behind it.
What “Nonchalant” Actually Means in This Context
The term describes a specific aesthetic within loc styling that intentionally leans into a relaxed, undone, effortless quality rather than the crisp, freshly-retwisted uniformity that’s often treated as the default standard for how locs “should” look. Instead of every loc looking identical, tightly coiled, and precisely uniform, the nonchalant look embraces natural texture, slight frizz, uneven partings, and the kind of organic movement that develops naturally between retwist appointments.
It’s not about neglecting your hair or letting locs go unmaintained. It’s a deliberate styling and grooming choice that values a more relaxed, natural-looking result over the tightly uniform look that a lot of loc culture, particularly barbershop culture, has historically treated as the gold standard.
Why It Became So Popular
Part of what’s driven this shift is a broader move across a lot of hair trends generally, away from anything that looks overly done or artificially perfect and toward styles that read as more natural, more like the person just woke up looking effortlessly good rather than having spent hours or significant money achieving a specific, precise result.
There’s also something specific to loc culture itself at play. For a long time, the expectation in a lot of barbershops and salons was that freshly retwisted, uniformly tight locs represented the “correct” or most polished way to wear the style, with looser, more textured, or slightly frizzy locs treated as something that needed fixing rather than as a legitimate aesthetic choice on its own. The nonchalant trend has pushed back against that framing directly, treating the natural, relaxed phase of locs, the week or two after a retwist when things start loosening and taking on more organic texture, as genuinely more attractive rather than something to rush past as quickly as possible.
Social media played a real role in this shift becoming visible at scale. Once people started specifically showcasing and naming this relaxed aesthetic rather than just quietly preferring it, it gave language to something a lot of people, myself included before that conversation with my friend, had noticed but never really had a name for.
What Actually Creates the Look
Time since the last retwist matters enormously. Freshly retwisted locs tend to look their most uniform and tightly coiled immediately after an appointment, while the nonchalant aesthetic typically develops somewhere between one and three weeks afterward, once the roots have softened slightly and some natural frizz and texture have had a chance to develop.
Looser retwisting technique from the start can help achieve this look more consistently, rather than waiting for tightly retwisted locs to loosen naturally over time. Some barbers and stylists now specifically offer a looser palm-rolling or interlocking technique aimed at this more relaxed result from the beginning.
Minimal manipulation between appointments allows locs to settle into a more natural shape and texture organically, rather than frequently re-styling, re-parting, or manipulating them in ways that keep recreating that just-done uniformity.
Some natural frizz and flyaways, rather than being smoothed down completely, are often left alone or only lightly addressed, since a completely frizz-free result tends to read as more polished and less relaxed than the nonchalant aesthetic is generally going for.
How to Actually Get This Look on Your Own Locs
If you already have established locs and are simply trying to embrace this more relaxed phase rather than rushing to your next retwist appointment the moment things start loosening, the simplest approach is often just patience and a slightly longer gap between appointments than you might have kept previously.
Talking to your barber or loctician about wanting a looser retwist specifically, rather than the tightest, most uniform result possible, can shift how your locs look immediately following an appointment rather than only after several weeks of natural settling.
A light hold styling product, rather than a heavy gel meant to slick down every strand and flyaway, allows the locs to move and settle more naturally throughout the day without looking artificially controlled or overly polished.
For styling, simple, relaxed options work best with this aesthetic specifically. A loose half-up style, or simply letting locs fall naturally without pulling them back into anything too structured or precise, tends to complement the overall relaxed quality far better than anything requiring careful, symmetrical styling.
Is This Look Appropriate for Every Setting?
This is a genuinely fair question, and the honest answer depends heavily on your specific workplace or social context, similar to how any more relaxed or textured hairstyle might be received differently across different professional or cultural settings.
In more casual or creative environments, this look tends to read as effortlessly cool and intentional, in line with a broader cultural shift toward more relaxed, natural aesthetics across a lot of style choices, not just hair.
In more conservative or traditional professional settings, it’s worth being aware that some environments still hold onto older expectations around what “polished” hair looks like, and a slightly more put-together version, even within the nonchalant aesthetic broadly, retwisted a bit more recently or with a little more intentional shaping, might feel like a better fit depending on your specific workplace culture.
Ultimately, this is a personal styling choice, and understanding your own environment and comfort level matters more than any universal rule about when this look is or isn’t appropriate.
Maintaining Healthy Locs While Embracing a Looser Look
One thing worth being clear about is that “nonchalant” doesn’t mean neglecting your hair’s actual health, and there’s a real difference between intentionally relaxed styling and locs that are genuinely under-maintained in a way that could lead to buildup, thinning, or breakage over time.
Regular washing remains important regardless of how tightly or loosely you’re maintaining the style, since product buildup and scalp health don’t take a break just because you’re embracing a more relaxed aesthetic between retwists.
Checking in on your locs’ actual health periodically, even while extending time between retwist appointments, helps catch any thinning, unraveling at the roots beyond what’s aesthetically intentional, or other issues before they become bigger problems.
A lightweight, non-greasy oil applied to the scalp and roots specifically, rather than throughout the entire loc length, helps maintain moisture without weighing down the natural texture and movement that defines this look.
Common Misconceptions About the Nonchalant Look
Assuming it means no maintenance at all is probably the biggest misunderstanding. It’s a specific aesthetic choice within a maintained loc journey, not an excuse to skip washing, ignore scalp health, or let locs go entirely untouched for excessively long periods.
Thinking it only works on certain loc types or lengths is another common misconception. The relaxed, natural aesthetic can genuinely work across various loc styles, whether starter locs, more mature locs, or even faux locs, though the specific texture and how quickly the “loosened” look develops does vary somewhat based on your locs’ age and thickness.
Believing it’s purely about not caring how your hair looks overlooks the fact that this is, for a lot of people, a deliberate and considered styling preference, not indifference. Choosing a more relaxed aesthetic is still a choice, and often one that takes just as much thought as choosing a more precise, polished look would.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long after a retwist does the nonchalant look typically develop? This varies depending on your specific hair and how tightly your locs were originally retwisted, but many people notice the more relaxed, natural texture beginning to show somewhere between one and three weeks after a fresh retwist appointment.
Can I ask my barber specifically for a looser retwist to achieve this look faster? Yes, and many barbers and locticians who work regularly with this aesthetic can adjust their technique, using a slightly looser palm roll or interlocking method, to create a more relaxed starting point rather than requiring weeks of natural loosening afterward.
Does embracing a looser, more relaxed style mean my locs are less healthy? Not inherently. A relaxed aesthetic and healthy locs aren’t mutually exclusive, and plenty of people maintain both a nonchalant look and genuinely well-cared-for, healthy locs at the same time, as long as basic maintenance like washing and scalp care continues regardless of retwist frequency.
Will extending time between retwists damage my locs? Generally, extending the time between retwists within a reasonable range doesn’t damage healthy locs, though it’s worth discussing your specific hair and loc maturity with your loctician, since very new or thin locs sometimes benefit from more frequent maintenance than more established ones.
Is this look only for certain hair textures, or can anyone with locs try it? The general aesthetic can work across different hair textures and loc types, though how quickly the relaxed, natural texture develops and what it looks like specifically will vary somewhat depending on your individual hair’s characteristics and how your locs were originally started.
Final Thoughts
That one offhand comment from my friend genuinely changed how I’ve approached my locs ever since, and looking back, I think I’d been treating “freshly done” as automatically synonymous with “best version” without ever really questioning it. There’s real value in occasionally sitting with the more relaxed, natural phase of your hair rather than rushing to correct it the moment it starts looking a little undone, and for a lot of people with locs, that in-between phase turns out to be the version they actually like the most.