Hair Journals – The Secret To Hair Growth Success – Learn How to Keep Yours

Contents

• Hair Journals – The Secret To Hair Growth Success
• Benefits of Keeping a Hair Journal
• Tools for Keeping a Hair Journal
• Organizing It
• Final Considerations

Hair Journals – The Secret To Hair Growth Success

New years resolutions are notoriously difficult to stick to. Whether you decide never to eat a donut again or you are contemplating adding high intensity workouts to your daily fitness routine, it is likely that by February donuts are now your go to breakfast and workouts are nothing but a distant memory. The truth is that life just gets in the way and sometimes goals fall by the wayside.

Yet when you think of it, perhaps we would have accomplished more if our plans had been carefully thought through and if continuous assessment and adjustment was done. Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew when all we need to do is tackle one task at a time instead of trying to force a superhero complex and tackle everything all at once. With that said, how about you commit to keeping a hair journal?

One of the things many women who have been successful on their personal healthy hair journeys recommend is to keep a hair journal. This idea sounds great in principal, but exactly what does that mean?  What should go in it?  How will it help you on your hair journey?

Well, when we suggest keeping a hair journal, we don’t exactly mean to write long entries of rambling, random hair thoughts. We mean short consice notes on how your hair feels, how it looks, how you are wearing it perhaps 1-2 times per week. The best times would be straight after your wash day and mid-week. There is something about jotting down ideas and keeping track on paper makes it more authentic and somehow seems to help you organize better and if you are that person who doesn’t mind writing down a few ideas a couple of times a week then grab yourself a cute hair journal and get started.

Kinky Coily Natural Hair Journal

Price: $8.99

Price Disclaimer

But I get it, not everybody enjoys writing or you may be pressed for time, in this case, technology makes journaling way easier.

Benefits of Keeping a Hair Journal

Before we get into the ins and outs of journaling, lets see why keeping a hair journal is a great idea.

• Builds awareness to foster a healthier happier you: you will always have a reference point that is specifically suited to you. You will know what works in terms of products and processes which will help you make informed decisions and adjustments as needed.
• Fulfilment from attaining targets set: there is a certain sense of satisfaction to be had when you succeed at doing something you said you would do. It also helps to boost your confidence.
• Fosters responsibility and accountability: as it pushes you to take the steps you need to do in order to get things done, particularly if you choose to publish your journal via one of the social media platforms. When you have people following your progress it is usually the driving factor in helping you stay on task and on schedule.
• It makes it way easier to troubleshoot problems or setbacks that you may face in the future. Are you seeing an increase in dandruff? Just check what you did that was different this past week. Are you seeing an increase in breakage? Just check to see if you moisturized daily etc etc.

Tools for Keeping a Hair Journal

Social Media – This is a rather powerful tool. Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, are all platforms that can be used for journaling. They take out the dullness from traditional journaling by allowing you to add pictures, videos and publish to an audience. It is interactive as it allows others to see what you are doing and make suggestions or just partake in your journey by giving feedback.

Speech to Text Apps – This is great if you are on the go and can’t find time to sit and write. It’s even better if you hate writing. Most smart devices have a speech-to-text app that allows you to speak and it turns the audio into text.

Hair Care Apps – We have more app developers creating apps that allow you to chronicle your hair journey.

Whatever you choose there are some things that are important for you to keep track of.

Organizing It

Here is how I suggest you keep your hair journal:

Color code

Use red for major maintenance, such as protein treatments, trims, color, Brazillian Keratin Treatments or relaxer touch-ups for example. This makes it easy see and you definitely want to keep track of chemical services because doing them too close together, too soon, or even waiting too long can cause damage and/or a setback.

Decide on a second color for wash day products and a third for thoughts.  For example, use blue for the items you used on wash day (shampoo, conditioner, leave-ins, oils*, etc) and green for thoughts – “My hair felt strong and soft after deep conditioning* with product x, a definite keeper” or “Shampoo Y stripped my hair.”

Color coding keeps your thoughts organized and easy to sort through quickly when you are looking for something specific.  Also, using a calendar helps you to note how long you’ve been using a particular product and if your hair begins to have problems you will be able to see if you’ve done anything differently very easily.

Keep track of moisture versus protein products

Finding and maintaining a proper moisture-protein balance is difficult so knowing when you used a heavy (aka hard) protein treatment or conditioner is important.

Examples of such hard protein conditioners are ApHogee 2 Step Protein Treatment, Nexxus Emergencee, Affirm 5 in 1 Reconstructor, or Indigo* The Stopper, just to name a few.  Knowing when you gave your hair protein versus moisture is the first step in finding a proper balance.

Mark your daily routine

We’ve all placed ‘x’ marks on our calendar, either when we are tracking something or counting down to a specific date. This is another reason using a calendar book is helpful.  Make checkmarks (✓) for taking your vitamins and/or supplements*; make an ‘x’ for using your growth aid.

If you forget to moisturize and seal or only do it every few days, mark that as well.  You can use different marks for different things or use the same for all, but keeping track of when you do it helps you to remain consistent.

Final Considerations

Remember that a thought written down becomes a plan and a plan acted on becomes a goal which with consistency yields results. These are just some basic suggestions for how to keep a hair journal and what should be included.  Like everything else with your healthy hair journey, you will need to find what works best for you but I think these tips are a great place to start.  Happy growing!