'I kept a hair journal for 2 weeks—here's what happened'

There are diaries for just about everything nowadays—dreams, food, workouts and, oh yeah, hair. I have fine, but loose curls, and so I’m always trying to find ways to trick them into doing what I want.

Occasionally, I’ll browse the message boards on NaturallyCurly.com to pick up new tricks, and recently I came upon an entry about “hair journaling.

Hair journaling is simple: You track the products you use, when you wash, and at the end of the day how you like the finished result. The hope is that by paying better attention to your habits, you can see what's working for you and what's not.

It struck me as pure genius, because of course the products I use, my environment (read: humidity levels), and the time in-between washes affect how my hair looks.

So, I started a journal of my own, hoping that, when I struck the right chord with my products, I’d be able to recreate my hair nirvana more easily from there on out.

I’ll be straight with you: It takes a lot of time to keep track of all of this, and it’s the biggest commitment I’ve made to my hair in a while. For two weeks, I'd jot down my products, how much I used, if it were a particularly hot or humid day, and then what I liked about my hair and what I didn't.

I regularly air dry my hair and almost never blow it out, so I try to use a lot of texture-building products to help my curls stay put. But with my daily notes, I was realizing that these were leaving my hair a bit parched, however.

Thanks to my hair journal, I swapped my volumizing shampoo out for a hydrating formula. In just a wash or two, my waves felt more defined and moisturized.

Then, I brought the grit, spraying David Mallett Australian Salt Spray, which gave me just enough added oomph that my curls looked bouncy and well-defined.

I’m still working on my journal, making swaps and little adjustments here and there, but I can’t recommend highly enough working on a hair journal of your very own to find your best hair yet.