Contemplating between Retwisting with oil & water (no products) vs Crochet maintenance vs Semi-free form
I've never been a fan of gel or heavy products in my hair. When I started my locs, I knew I wouldn't really like the gel, my hair tends to flake up/product build up quite quickly). I didn't initially know much about the other maintenance methods so I just endured it/I can wash it out on wash day mindset)
The last few retwists I had where too tight, too much tension and too much gel. (Side-note - I'm tenderheaded so when I'm getting my hair done, I notice how much the separation/neatening up the parts hurts. Its much later after my appointment that I'm like oh damn yeah that was done too tight). My last retwist my scalp was not happy, both from tension and the gel plus a style for the first time, yeah not happy. Which leads on to topic of this post.
I would like to ideally continue with self maintenance, so I can control the tension/products in my hair.
What are your experiences, pros/cons of doing the following methods (bonus if we have similar hair texture)
• Retwisting with only oil and water (or natural gels like aloe vera/flaxseed)
• Crochet maintenance (just regrowth) - may go to a loctician initially if I decide to go this route
• Semi-free forming
More context: Nearly at the 5 month mark. Starter locs were interlocked and maintenance has been retwists/palm rolling. Hair texture is all the 3s, fine medium density. Photo is post washing