1
Step 1
Upload a front-facing photo
Even light, hair visible from root to end, hairline clear so the pass can see where every loc begins. Short hair is fine: a short crop can come back with shoulder-length locs.
AI Dreadlocks Filter
Starter locs, freeform, sisterlocks or a high loc bun — see the version of yourself you have been trying to imagine, and know for sure before you commit the years. Straight in the browser, no account.
Before / after
Loose wavy hair, rebuilt as shoulder-length locs
A real run on Kavel. Drag the divider and watch the roots: the sections part the scalp, the locs vary in thickness the way grown ones do, and the stubble, grey t-shirt and backdrop are untouched. Every run is generated fresh, so you can keep comparing thickness, length and framing on your own face until one look is unmistakably yours.
Drag to compare before and after
AI photo tool
What does an AI loc generator do?
It rebuilds the hair in one photo as dreadlocks — the sectioning at the root, the thickness of each strand, the length and the ends — while leaving your face, skin tone, clothing and background exactly as they were. Below: four stages run from the one source photo above.
Image tool
Locs are the hairstyle with the longest undo. A cut grows back in months and colour washes out, but starting locs is a decision measured in years, and the way out of it is usually scissors. That asymmetry is why the preview matters more here than for any other style. The loc pass runs on the Nano Banana 2 model in the browser with free credits on a new account, and it builds the hair rather than shading it: sections that reach the scalp, strands of genuinely uneven thickness, ends that stop bluntly instead of tapering into nothing.
Take the preview straight to your loctician and show them exactly the thickness and style you are aiming for.
Creative engine
How the loc pass works
Upload a clear front-facing photo, name the loc stage and length, and the estimate updates before you run it.
1 photo
Source shot in
Any stage
Starter to mature
Credits back
Render errors
Starter locs, about two inches
The stage nobody photographs, because it is the one that looks least finished. Coiled buds on a visible parting grid, no length to hide behind. Worth looking at honestly before you begin, since this is what the first several months actually are.
Sisterlocks, thin and uniform
At the opposite extreme: locs a few millimetres wide, dense across the whole head, hanging straight. The same face reads completely differently at this thickness, which is exactly the comparison words cannot carry.
Freeform, thick and irregular
Strands of clearly uneven width, some fused into wider ropes, matted heavily and reaching the chest. This is what most reference photos on the internet are showing you, usually on somebody whose face is not yours.
Tied up, off the shoulders
The question people ask second, once they have decided on locs at all: what it looks like pulled up. Root sections show along the sides, and two locs are left down to frame the face.
Weighing locs against other long-hair options? Compare plaited styles in the AI braids filter and defined texture in the curly hair filter.
How to use
Put dreadlocks on your photo in three steps
From one clear photo to something you can show a loctician.
2
Step 2
Say which stage of locs
Name the stage and the length — two-inch starter locs, mid-back sisterlocks, waist-length freeform, or thick locs tied into a high bun. The preset prompt is already written; edit the length and thickness in it rather than starting from a blank box.
3
Step 3
Run it, then run it again
Locs read completely differently at different thicknesses on the same face, so the useful move is three runs and a comparison, not one run and a verdict. Press Random for a fresh loc style written for this page.
Who's for
Who runs their photo through the loc pass
Mostly people staring down a decision that takes years to reverse.
About to start locs
The single biggest question is thickness, and it is the one nobody can answer in words. Seeing thin sisterlocks and thick freeform locs on the same face, ten seconds apart, settles an argument that otherwise runs for months.
Growing them out already
Starter locs look nothing like mature ones, and the year in between is where most people quit. A preview of the far end of the process is a reason to keep going through the part that looks unfinished.
Taking a reference to a loctician
Every reference photo on the internet is somebody else's hair on somebody else's head. Walking in with locs rendered on your own face changes the consultation from describing to pointing.
Casting and costume
Stylists and casting directors testing a look across several faces before committing to wigs or extensions, where the alternative is buying the hair to find out.
Just curious
Curiosity is reason enough. See yourself in locs once and stop wondering how they would change your face.
Answers
Dreadlock hairstyle FAQ
Common questions about rendering locs onto your own photo with Kavel.
Two-inch starter locs, mature mid-length locs, waist-length freeform, sisterlocks, microlocs, faux locs, and locs tied into a high bun or half-up. Name the style if you know it, or describe the thickness and where it ends if you do not — both get you there.
Yes. The pass rebuilds the hair instead of restyling what is there, so a short crop can come back with shoulder-length locs. That is also the realistic case: most people asking the question have hair far shorter than the result they are considering.
By default yes — colour, skin tone and lighting all carry over. If you want a different shade, say so in the prompt and it changes with the style, though settling the colour separately first is usually the cleaner way to decide.
Real enough to judge thickness, length and exactly how locs frame your face: matted strands of uneven width, blunt ends, their own weight and shadow. Settle the look here, then take it into your loctician consultation.
Every output is generated fresh, so two runs of the same prompt give two slightly different heads of hair. That is a feature when you are comparing options and a nuisance when you found one you liked — save the result you want before running another.
The filter will render locs onto any photo. Whether that particular result is achievable with your hair is a separate question, and the honest answer is that hair texture decides it — which is what the consultation with a loctician is for.
A new account starts with free credits, which is enough to run several loc styles before deciding whether to pay for more. There is no app to install and nothing to download.
It is used to produce your result and nothing else. You can delete it from your history whenever you like, and deleting it removes it from our storage too.
One purchase, and everything you make here is yours to post
Any plan or pack — even a $19.90 one — unlocks a clean copy of every image you have made here, starts each new run instantly, and refunds one that fails.
50% OFFYour first purchase is half price
Starter
$8.33/month
$100/year billed yearly
- 23,100 Credits Per Year · 1,925/mo
- Up to 2,310 videos
- Up to 4,620 images
- No Queue, Instant Start
- HD, Watermark-Free Downloads
- Commercial Use License
20% OFF - Save $70.8
Creator
$24.0/month
$288/year billed yearly
- 75,000 Credits Per Year · 6,250/mo
- Up to 7,500 videos
- Up to 15,000 images
- No Queue, Instant Start
- HD, Watermark-Free Downloads
- Commercial Use License
40% OFF
Pro
$30.0/month
$360/year billed yearly
- 94,500 Credits Per Year · 7,875/mo
- Up to 9,450 videos
- Up to 18,900 images
- No Queue, Instant Start
- HD, Watermark-Free Downloads
- Commercial Use License
Free plan
- Get 100 credits a week with check-ins
- 20 Free Credits with login
- Up to 2 videos
- Up to 4 images
- No Card, No Account
- Free Images And 4s Videos When Signed In
- Free Engine Every Day
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Other hair decisions worth previewing
The neighbouring decisions people preview before they commit to one.
See the locs before you commit the years
One photo in, any stage and thickness out. Judge it on your own face instead of on somebody else's reference photo. Your free credits cover the first looks, so compare several stages on your own face today.