The Benefits of Tracking Your Curly Hair Journey

If you’re new to embracing your curly hair, you’re likely feeling overwhelmed with all the products, methods, techniques, acronyms, and words (plopping, STC???).

It’s a lot of information to sort through and it’s easy to go down the rabbit hole and try all the things in an effort to succeed in your curly hair journey.

Some people are successful right away and for others, it takes a much longer time.

So what’s the secret to success on your curly hair journey?

Tracking what you’re doing from the beginning.

But first, if you want to start caring for your curly hair the right way, download my Quick Start Guide To Mastering Your Curls which outlines my simple 5-step system to get you started right now.

This guide simplifies the process for you and outlines exactly what you need to do, in an easy to follow format. It also includes a curly hair glossary and the ingredients you should avoid. Sign up below to get your FREE copy!

Why Track Your Curly Hair Journey?

1. Understanding Your Curls:

When it comes to curly hair, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Your curls are unique, and what works for one curly head may not work for another. Keeping a journal helps you understand your hair’s specific needs, responses, and patterns.

2. Documenting Progress and Setbacks:

By tracking your curly hair journey, you get to see your progress in real time. It’s motivating to see how far you’ve come! Plus, if you ever experience a setback, your journal can help you identify what may have caused it.

3. Identifying the Best Products and Techniques:

Your journal becomes a treasure trove of information about what products and techniques work best for your curls. You can experiment, track, and finally nail down that perfect routine.

How to Track Your Curly Hair Journey

Ensuring success and truly making progress with your curly hair is actually pretty simple. You just have to track what you are doing. That’s it!

You simply need to record pictures of your hair, the products and methods you’re using, and your schedule.

Without doing this, you risk overdoing moisture, creating buildup, not finding what methods and products truly work, and not actually learning about your hair.

The point of your curly hair journey is to have healthy, beautiful hair in its natural state. If you never learn about your hair how will that happen?

If all you’re doing is slapping different products you hear about and rotating through products and methods you see on YouTube without a real plan then what are you actually going to get out of that?

You might eventually get to the endpoint but how long will that take you? How much money and time will you waste? And all the frustration along the way…

I did not track my journey in my first year of embracing my curly hair and progress was slow.

I would try a product once or twice, then toss it aside.

I didn’t see the relationship between certain ingredients and humidity.

I over moisturized my hair because I wasn’t paying attention to how it felt and looked and had no idea what it needed.

All of that could have easily been avoided if I was tracking my journey.

I saw much more improvement in my second year, which was when I started tracking what I was doing.

This ended up happening because I was blogging but it turned out to be a huge turning point in my curly hair journey.

I started having more consistent results, even when trying new products.

I figured out the techniques that really worked for me and stuck with those (unless I was testing a new method).

Seriously, keeping a record with photos and the details of the products and techniques was the best thing I did that year!

Start with the Basics

Make a note of your hair texture, density, porosity, and current hair health. These factors will guide your product choices and techniques.

Take photos and keep them organized

A picture is worth a thousand words! Snap some photos of your curls before and after styling. This will help you visually track your progress and see what’s working

There are a few ways to do this easily.

You can take photos and keep them in a folder/album on your phone, or create a private Instagram account to upload your photos with captions (this is my favorite option).

I like the private Instagram idea because you can list the products and methods used in the caption and it doesn’t take up space on your phone. It already has the date and you can see the visual by scrolling so it’s easy to see progress.

Track Your Daily Routine

Note down the products you use each day, the techniques you try, and the results. Be sure to include any changes in weather, as this can significantly impact your curls.

You can write a note in your calendar app, use the private Instagram account idea, or use any note-taking app to do this.

It’s super important to do this because you can see if there is a certain product linked to limp curls, frizz, or other problems you may be having. Without tracking you can’t pinpoint the specific problem as easily.

It’s also great to compare results as you test new products and methods. Sometimes it’s an ingredient and not necessarily the product so seeing that you had the same problem when using three products that have one particular ingredient in common is valuable.

Experiment and Note Your Observations

Try different products, techniques, and routines, and jot down how your curls respond. This will help you identify your hair’s likes and dislikes.

Create a schedule to ensure you maintain balance

I can’t tell you how many times I talk to people who have been struggling with their hair for a few weeks and when I ask them when was the last time they clarified or deep conditioned they can’t remember!

It’s so important to keep a schedule so that you maintain balance.

If you’re not regularly clarifying, deep conditioning, and doing other treatments that your hair needs you’ll eventually start to have problems like frizz, dryness, limp curls, tangles, and more.

You can do all of these easily with my Curly Journey Journal!

Simplify your curly hair journey with this easy monthly & daily curl tracking system that will save you time & money!

You can choose the PDF version which is either printed or editable on a computer, or the spreadsheet version which uses Google Sheets, so you can use it on any mobile device.

The Curly Journey Journal contains:

• a curl assessment
• monthly & weekly schedule
• daily tracking sheet
• a “how to use this resource” video
• sample pre filled pages
• and it’s fully editable on the computer (or phone)!

The Curly Journey Journal will help you:

• easily identify which products work & which products don’t work on your hair
• have more consistent wash day results
• determine which styling methods work best for you
• simplify your curly hair journey
• determine if the weather is affecting your hair
• make adjustments to your routine as needed
• assess when trying something new if it is working or not
• avoid wasting time trying a million different things
• track your progress
• quickly spot problems in your routine

Bottom Line

Your curly hair journey is a beautiful process of self-discovery and self-love. A curly hair journal can be your best companion on this journey, helping you understand your curls better and build a routine that gives you consistently gorgeous results.

Remember, every curl has its story. Start tracking your curly hair journey today and unlock the magic of your unique curls!

Are you ready to start your curly hair journal? Let’s embrace our curls together!