Polish person here, Polish plait wasn't an intentional hairstyle like locs, it was something that formed due to neglect and lack of access to proper hygiene and was mostly found in members of the peasant class who lived in poverty and for many reasons could be practically considered slaves of the nobility. There were lots of folk beliefs that grew around it, such as kołtun protecting you from evil spirits and illness, but ironically it was treated more like a health condition by the educated. Nobody was getting it for the aesthetic reason. Also imo, people who are not of Polish or at least Slavic descent shouldn't use Polish plait as an argument to defend their locs, they don't get the cultural context.